Course Description for

Novel Writing

with John Paxton Sheriff

Registration Fee and Course Length

Prerequisites

Standard course: $180 / 6 weeks. Click here to register.

Extended schedule: $224 / 12 weeks. Click here to register.
Extended course is designed for busy people and gives you two weeks to do each lesson but contains NO additional material.

No prerequisites.

Course Contacts

Course Description

Module One Getting started

How to make writing 100,000 words look easy
Writing with an outline
Writing without an outline
Beginning with a plot idea
Beginning with a character
Beginning with a premise
Beginning at the end
Necessary research

Module Two The mechanics of writing - five essentials for telling the tale

Dialogue
Narrative
Introspection (Your characters' thoughts)
Flashbacks
Transitions

Module Three Six ways to keep your readers interested

Make all situations believable
Use significant details to establish your authority
Create at least two memorable main characters
Have a small cast of fascinating minor characters
Reveal main characters layer by layer
Never, ever, confuse your readers

Module Four Creating suspense

Put all characters in constant conflict with each other
Set impossible tasks
Impose time limits
Always begin chapters with a hook
Always end chapters at the edge of a cliff
At suitable places, use overlapping chapters

Module Five The structure of your story

Choosing the viewpoint
Establishing the setting
Where and how to begin
Present all necessary information as early as possible
Plot
Beginning, middle, end
Pace
Achieving a satisfactory conclusion
Sit down, relax - and tell the tale

Module Six The second draft

Cutting
Continuity
Chronology
Foreshadowing
Ensuring plausibility
Polishing your vocabulary
Strengthening the climax
On getting published
Perfecting the presentation
Finding an agent or publisher
Following the MS from sale to print
Working on your next book

John Paxton Sheriff was born in England. After Fifteen years in the British army he and his family moved to Australia where he first started writing and being published.

"In Australia, my short stories took off. Some general stories were published in the top glossy magazines for women, short crime stories were published in Adam, a pulp magazine for men."

Sheriff returned to England and continued writing. By 1986 he had moved from fiction to writing articles for national magazines and two newspaper groups.

"I was writing short feature articles for them, as many as ten, 500-word articles a week. I had to be economical with words, and I'm sure that economy with words helped me when I began writing short Western novels. One thing I do know is that writing short Western novels helped me when I turned to crime writing. And now it's working the other way: creating complicated plots for crime novels means that my Western novels are becoming more complex – and so far, fingers crossed, that's a good thing."

Sheriff's work includes:

Short stories in magazines such as: Australian Women's Weekly, Australian Woman's Day, Adam (Australia) , Woman and Home (UK), Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine (New York)

Western Novels: Thirty-three published in the past 15 years, three more due out by early 2011.

Crime Novels: Seven published in the past 5 years. Two series, one featuring PI Jack Scott, the other featuring female PI Penny Lane ( I like writing in the first person!).

Teaching: In addition to the above, for ten years Sheriff was a tutor, teaching novel writing, short story writing and article writing by correspondence.

johnpaxtonsheriff.com