July 2025 at the Academe
A Quick Look at the Academe classes coming up next month.
Dublin’s history has been intertwined with the history of England since the twelfth century, when Richard “Strongbow” de Clare took an army to invade the kingdom of Leinster. Growing and developing practically side-by-side, Dublin and London shared many similarities yet there were also marked differences.
In this class we’ll discuss the history of Dublin and how the city compares to London during the late Georgian period, with special emphasis on some of the marginalized populations of the time. To cap it off, you will summon your muse and use what you’ve learned to create your own WIP-ready Irish character.
Registration closes July 11, 2025
Got a great character concept, but no idea what sort of story to tell about that character? Or… want to write a story set in a specific context, but have no idea how to create sensible character plot conflicts within that setting? Do you struggle to come up with enough ‘incidents’ to fill your story line, while keeping character behaviour consistent?
if you answered yes to any of those, then this course is for you.
Step back from more traditional and complex seeming approaches to plotting, and try something different (that even works for pantsers!) You will learn how to create a story / plot fast, easily, and in a way that will make your characters feel well rounded and deeply real.
- Pantser? Discover how to get your characters to reveal the plot, ahead of time!
- Plotter – but struggle to come up with enough ideas for plot points? Learn how to tap into endless ideas….
The course will comprise an introduction plus 8 lessons (delivered as PDF with online discussion), a conclusion and limited direct assistance with the implementation of what has been learned. There are three optional assignments, and if participants wish to do them, they should have a specific WIP or idea that they will work on for those assignments. There will be a Zoom call to allow Q and A, in a more direct fashion than posts on the course platform.
The course is unique in that most courses on plotting are very focused on story structure, and on rise and fall of tension. This course sees those things as secondary—they are what you do to present the plot incidents in a manner that keeps the reader flowing through the story—but they are not what creates those incidents in the first place.
What is primary, in this course, is allowing the characters, as you define them, to provide you with all of the ideas you will need, to then layer into any story structure you like, to result in a cohesive, consistent, and tension filled plot/story, with minimal mental effort on your part.
Registration closes July 11, 2025
