Masterclass: Triangles and Squares in Fiction
One of a series of ten intensive, impactful masterclasses from Faber Academy's Director of Fiction.
Level
What do these levels mean?
Location
Length
After eleven years directing our flagship Writing a Novel course, helping over a hundred students gain publication deals, Richard Skinner has developed our new series of ten masterclasses. Covering the essential elements of fiction in his fullest, most impactful workshops, this series is perfect if you’re looking to sharpen your skills, improve particular elements of your writing, or aren’t able to commit to one of our longer courses.
How far will you rely on the narrator to tell your story? Will you assign them the role of stenographer, reporter or interpreter? Using the semiotic square, we look at the deep structure in work by Alice Munro, Andre Dubus, Han Kang & Julian Barnes.
There is compulsory reading as part of this course and, as such, bookings will be closed one week before the course begins to allow time for students to read the material before the masterclass.
Masterclass Tutor
Richard Skinner
Richard Skinner is a novelist, poet and critic. His most recent book, The Mirror, was described as ‘beautifully written . . . immersive . . . captivating’ by the Guardian. As Director of the Fiction Programme at Faber Academy, he created the flagship ‘Writing a Novel’ six-month course in 2009 and since then has helped hundreds of writers find their voice.
Schedule
The course will take place on Zoom, using a mix of teaching and discussion time with practical exercises to get you writing.
18.30–18.45
Welcome and introductions
18.45–19.45
Finding your place
In every narrative, there is a set of relationships between character, narrator & reader. We will look at this triangular relationship and you will find your place somewhere within this triangle.
19.45–20.00
Break
20.00–21.00
Diving in deep
Many novels are built on a single character, a couple or a love triangle, but many are also based on a square of four people. We will use this model to look closely at the deep structure of many and various writers, exploring this four-way split.
Richard Skinner is a great teacher [...] After every one of his classes, I return to my writing feeling inspired
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