“Thank you so much for your workshop on the weekend. We received really outstanding feedback from the attendees. Thank you so much for delivering such a high quality workshop and representing our organisation well.” -Vanessa Jones, Program Manager, SA Writers Centre

“Alan’s writing workshop for young adults was fun, relevant and kept all of its participants engaged for hours. Alan’s experience, and natural and relaxed manner made him immediately accessible to our young people and promoted a confidence in their creativity. Many thanks, and we will most definitely see him again!” – Carla Decasti, Nowra Library

“The best way for a writer to learn what’s really involved in brawling, short of going down the pub and starting something.” – Pete, WA (on Write the Fight Right)

I have run successful workshops at Writers Centres, libraries, schools and a wide variety of conventions and conferences, including Worldcon. Would you like me to come and speak to your school or library? Your writers’ centre? Your writing group? I am an experienced workshop presenter and keynote speaker, armed with entertainment and slides if required, and I can speak on a variety of topics.

I am a writer of novels and short fiction, videogames and freelance non-fiction. I’ve run workshops on many writing-related subjects and can tailor any of my workshops for participants of any age (school, teen, adult) and for any duration (two-hour, half-day, full-day, etc.)

My previously successful workshops have covered subjects such as:

  • Writing Speculative Fiction – Fantasy, Science Fiction & Horror;
  • Write the Fight Right – Writing convincing and realistic fight and action scenes;
  • Short Story Clinic – What makes a short story shine and how to develop the craft;
  • Novel Writing – How to plan, develop and structure a successful novel;
  • Social Media for Authors – How to manage and maintain a strong and effective online presence;
  • The Hybrid Author: Publishing in the Modern Era – Traditional, small press and self-publishing, print and ebooks, explored in detail;

and more.

If you you would like me for any workshop, a panel or festival presentation, please get in touch. Contact Alan.

Above, in the first picture, Alan teaching a workshop on writing fight scenes at Worldcon in Melbourne (with help from Laura Goodin). In the second photo, a Martial Arts in Fiction group panel (Alan pictured with Sean McMullen).

I’ve been a guest speaker on dozens of panels, discussing a wide variety of subjects with my usual “confident and entertaining style” (someone else said that about me, but I like it!) I’ve been Guest of Honour at several conventions in Australia and New Zealand (Conflux, Swancon, GeyserCon) and have travelled to events in the UK and the US as well. I’ve also hosted and moderated a variety of panel discussions, so feel free to consider me for those roles too.

(Pictured here at Supanova, with YA Bestseller, Lynnette Noni)

Also, in this ever-changing world, online panels and Zoom workshops are becoming more mainstream. I’ve done a number of these and plan to develop more as I go along. 

My workshops are always friendly, fun and informal, with lots of practical exercises and interaction. Attendees are encouraged to use their own ideas and writing samples to more deeply explore the subject at hand.

Attendees can expect to come away with a far greater understanding of the subject matter and a solid plan for moving on with their craft and career. I’m happy to discuss openly my own career and answer any questions on the writing craft and business.

Depending on the workshop in question, attendees can expect to achieve, among other things:

  • Understanding of language and structure;
  • Understanding of story structure with practical examples;
  • Understanding of conflict and character development;
  • An ability to critically analyse their writing and the work of others;
  • Greater comprehension of narrative and dialogue;
  • Recognition of their audience and the business (publishers, etc.);
  • Recognition of themselves as author and their position;
  • Confidence and a plan for development.

 

Pictured below, Alan giving a Guest of Honour keynote talk to high school students in Rotorua, NZ, as part of GeyserCon.

If you would like to book me to run a workshop for you, please drop me an email.

Learn more about Alan and his work by exploring this website. 

“Having taken two of Alan Baxter’s workshops now – Writing Fight Scenes and Writing Short Stories – I cannot recommend them enough. These are both areas of expertise from the award-winning author and martial arts instructor and it shows. Alan is very generous with his time and delivers the information in a clear and practical way, with exercises designed to really help writers of any skill level grasp the concepts. Coming across his classes has enabled me to ground my fight scenes and make them more realistic, while my short stories have already become clearer and structured better for maximum impact.” – T J Edwards @thetjedwards

*****

Alan Baxter is a British-Australian multi-award-winning author of horror, supernatural thrillers, and dark fantasy. He’s also a martial arts expert, a whisky-soaked swear monkey, and dog lover. He creates dark, weird stories among dairy paddocks on the beautiful south coast of NSW, Australia, where he lives with his wife, son, hound and other creatures. He is the author of the dark fantasy thriller trilogy, BoundObsidian and Abduction (The Alex Caine Series), the supernatural duology, RealmShift and MageSign (The Balance 1 and 2), the horror noir novel, Hidden City, the cosmic horror novella, The Book Club, and the supernatural noir novella, Manifest Recall, and the wildly popular gonzo horror novella, The Roo. His latest novel is Devouring Dark, an urban horror thriller. Alan has had around 80 short fiction publications in journals and anthologies in Australia, the US, the UK, France, Germany and Japan, including The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Daily Science Fiction, and many others, and around thirty anthologies. Alan has two volumes of collected short fiction, Crow Shine and Served Cold. At times, Alan collaborates with US action/adventure bestselling author, David Wood. Together they have co-authored the short horror novel, Dark Rite, four action thrillers in The Jake Crowley Adventures, and the Sam Aston Investigations giant monster thrillers Primordial and Overlord. Alan has been an eight-time finalist in the Aurealis Awards, a eight-time finalist in the Australian Shadows Awards and a seven-time finalist in the Ditmar Awards. From those shortlistings he won the 2014 Australian Shadows Award for Best Short Story (“Shadows of the Lonely Dead”), the 2015 Australian Shadows Paul Haines Award For Long Fiction (“In Vaulted Halls Entombed”), the 2016 Australian Shadows Award for Best Collection (Crow Shine), and the 2019 Australian Shadows Award for Best Collection (Served Cold). He is also a past winner of the AHWA Short Story Competition (“It’s Always the Children Who Suffer”). Alan’s first collection, Crow Shine, also made the preliminary ballot for the 2016 Bram Stoker Award (TM) for Best Collection. Read extracts from his novels and novellas, and find free short stories at his website – www.warriorscribe.com – or find him on Twitter @AlanBaxter and Facebook, and feel free to tell him what you think. About anything.