What is Novel November?
Novel November is a month-long creative residency project by award winning Riverland writer, performance maker and creative producer Alysha Herrmann. Across November 2021 Alysha will be creating a fantasy world inspired by her home here in the beautiful Riverland region of South Australia, and writing a series of creative responses including short stories, poetry and scripts. You can follow Alysha’s behind the scenes writing and ideas as they develop at this link and join in with virtual & in-person writing lock-ins.
Throughout the residency Alysha is also inviting writers, creatives, artists, ideas people and general public to participate in weekend workshops to contribute to the overall project and create their own outcomes within this shared world.
Novel November is the first stage of an ambitious multi-year speculative fiction project here in the Riverland. Check out the FAQ blog from Alysha for more background.
Alysha Herrmann’s Novel November Residency in 2021 is supported by the Australian Government’s Regional Arts Fund, through the National Regional Arts Fellowship Program, with additional support from Writers SA through Alysha’s role as Writers SA Riverland Coordinator.
Follow the progress:
Alysha’s writing throughout the month can be followed HERE. This is a live Google doc so you can see every word, deletion and keystroke as it happens during Alysha’s advertised writing sessions, or you can just check in whenever you like to catch up and read at your leisure.
Descriptions of the world, its peoples, creatures and features as they develop can be found HERE.
Behind the scenes blogs:
Blog #1 – the building of new worlds
Blog #3 – what does work look like?
Blog #4 – we are all made of stardust
Other updates, including illustrations by Samuel Wannan on our Facebook and Instagram accounts.
Get involved:
Check out the workshop schedule below and sign up for the sessions you’re keen on! Please note that the final schedule is subject to change so you need to sign up to make sure you get all the relevant updates. Sign up for workshops here.
You are also welcome to join Alysha during advertised times for self-directed writing. Alysha will be working on Novel November, you can work on your own Novel November stories or independent projects. Times for this will be advertised at the beginning of each week on our Facebook page.
All of the below activities are aimed at adults and young people aged 15+. Children under 15 are welcome to attend with an adult guardian. BYO lunch. There is no cost to participate. All participants will be asked to sign a workshop participation deed which will outline ways Alysha and other Novel November participants can use any shared material created during workshops. This will be explained at the beginning of each workshop for new participants.
World Building Weekend.
Saturday 30th & Sunday 31st October
10am – 4pm both days.
Spend the weekend with Alysha co-creating the world for Novel November. This will include developing core characters, drafting a rough timeline, and ideating creatures and features of the magical world. Everyone who attends on Sunday will also get to vote on the name of the world.
Short Stories
Saturday 6th November
10am – 4pm
A full day focused on writing fantasy short stories. The morning session will be a guided workshop led by Alysha, with an afternoon for self-led writing inspired by the world of Novel November.
Graphic Storytelling & Branching Narratives
Sunday 7th November
10am – 4pm
The morning session will be a guided workshop led by Alysha, with an afternoon for self-led writing inspired by the world of Novel November. This day will focus on graphic storytelling (comics, digital stories, photo essays etc) and branching narratives (writing for games, hyperlinked stories and choose your own adventure formats).
Poetry & Experimental Writing
Saturday 13th November
10am – 4pm
The morning session will be a guided workshop led by Alysha, with an afternoon for self-led writing inspired by the world of Novel November. This day will focus on poetry and forms of experimental writing.
Scriptwriting (stage & screen)
Sunday 14th November
10am – 4pm
The morning session will be a guided workshop led by Alysha, with an afternoon for self-led writing inspired by the world of Novel November. This day will focus on scriptwriting for stage & screen.
Make It Happen
Saturday 27th November
10am – 4pm
A writing lock-in to further refine anything started during Novel November from 10am – 2pm. Alysha will facilitate a producing workshop/discussion from 2pm – 4pm to look at bringing ideas from Novel November to life in other ways in 2022 and beyond.
Let’s Celebrate
Sunday 28th November
2pm – 5pm
Celebration and sharing some of the outcomes.
Join Alysha and other Novel November co-creators for a casual Sunday afternoon sharing and some snacks. Novel November participants will have the opportunity to share something they’ve worked on during the project and Alysha will talk about next steps.
All activities will be at Part of Things, Hawdon Chambers Barmera. This venue has limited capacity even without COVID, so registering is essential. Part of Things is an upstairs venue that does not have any lift access. If you would like to participate in Novel November but the venue excludes you, Alysha can Zoom you in and she would also love to organise 1:1 or small group sessions in other locations for anyone who cannot physically attend sessions at Part of Things. Please email her directly to request this via her website (scroll to bottom for contact info).
Behind the scenes blog:
Blog #1 – Novel November: the building of new worlds
Blog #2 – Novel November: bringing myself in
Part of Things 