Raeden Richardson: Writing to the Edge of Reality

So often, fiction tells us more about ourselves than any newspaper or documentary. The surreal, the speculative and the weird highlight qualities of life that we can’t find in conventional realism – if such a thing really exists! But what makes a clear yet compelling mirror to life?

In this workshop, you’ll examine fiction’s uncanny ability to defamiliarise, turning ordinary streets and locations into the sites of strangeness and revelation. Drawing on visual art, you’ll develop a new vocabulary for writing the edge of reality, viewing, interpreting and discussing the paintings of international artists.
  
In this workshop, you will build:  

• A vocabulary for discussing ‘realism’, the ’surreal’ and the ’speculative’ while engaging with written and visual texts  
• A nuanced understanding of the literary industry’s effect on genre and fiction 
• A series of writing responses that may serve as future stories, essays or sketches  
• An honest and supportive writing group to continue sharing work and reading recommendations  
• A global reading list of writers who have brought their work to the edge of reality 

This workshop runs for 2.5 hours.

MWF Workshops are presented in partnership with Writers Victoria