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Novel Writing
with John Paxton Sheriff

REGISTRATION:

COST, LENGTH, PREREQUISITES:

No prerequisites.

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

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

John Paxton Sheriff is at red-herrings@hotmail.co.uk

Some sage once said that everyone has a novel inside them. We all know that, but the problem is in getting it out, down on paper via the friendly computer, and then accepted by a publisher. This course sets out first of all to show you how the daunting prospect of writing 100,000 words or more can be broken down and made much simpler, more manageable. From there, all the various techniques of novel writing are explained and illustrated by examples that make them easy to understand, and show you how and where they should be used. Once understood, they can be incorporated in your unfolding saga in a way that compels your readers to turn the page. And at the end of the course, with that firm grounding in basic techniques, you can be confident that when your finished novel lands on your chosen publisher's desk they will know at once that they are reading work by a competent writer.

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 hs 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.