Writing Workshop: Fact and Fiction

'Underlying the famously big gap between fiction and nonfiction there's a rather naive belief that fiction is invented-that it's pulled out of thin air.'

Helen Garner

Ever wondered how to combine elements of fact and fiction to make a story? Or what happens when you find freedom in the fictitious form to explore your own life and experiences?

In this workshop, we’ll mix a craft lesson, with generative writing exercises and group discussion about combining fact and fiction to create something else entirely.

We’ll cover:

• Autobiographical fiction and the classic first novel, and why so much fiction that comes early in a writer's life is often drawn from what they know.
• The persona of the author that exists in fiction and what it is: a facsimile, a doppelganger, an evil twin, an idealised version?
• How feelings, facts and fiction overlap.

Participants will have the chance to consider and discuss their own work.

Cheese platter with accompaniments provided, with gluten and nut free options available.

This is an 18+ event as we are a licensed venue.

Hosted by

Pip Finkemeyer is a fiction writer living in Naarm/Melbourne. Her debut Sad Girl Novel was published in Australia and the UK last year, and is forthcoming in the US in 2024. Her fiction has been listed for the Desperate Literature Short Fiction Prize, the Richell Prize for Emerging Writers, the Disquiet Literary Prize, and nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She has a Masters in Publishing and Editing from RMIT. She co-founded the Berlin-based zine Nothing to See Here, for which she led fiction and zine-making workshops. You can find her writing in Harper’s Bazaar, Kill Your Darlings Magazine, Big Issue Magazine and more. She’s currently working on her second novel.

Willows & Wine is a bookstore & wine bar located in Naarm/Melbourne that celebrates stories by black, brown, First Nations, queer, disabled, trans & diverse voices.

Workshops are part of our ‘Making Space’ initiative which offers affordable, unique workshops and salons that introduce people to exciting skills and ideas. Our events will allow people to ‘make space’ for interests which are easily ignored in our busy schedules.