public workshop

COURSE SYNOPSIS

This intimate novel-writing course is designed for developing to advanced writers who want to dedicate time and attention to their work.

Across three workshops, you will explore the essential building blocks of long-form fiction: character, setting and conflict. You will work directly on your own project through guided writing exercises and craft discussion, with strong emphasis on connection between you and your work, and within the group itself.

You will receive tailored guidance and feedback from the facilitator throughout. By the end of the course, you will have generated new material, gained confidence in the direction of your novel and developed a clearer sense of how to move forward.

COURSE STRUCTURE

Session 1: Character
Through generative writing prompts and craft discussion, this opening session invites you to explore how character drives long-form fiction. You will write into your own project, examining how your characters are built, how they move through the world and how they generate the story around them.

Session 2: Setting and Conflict
Building on the first session, this workshop focuses on the interplay between setting and conflict in your novel. Through writing exercises and peer workshopping, you will explore how setting shapes character and how conflict sustains narrative momentum across a long-form work.

Session 3: Sharing and Feedback
In this extended three-hour session, you will share an excerpt from your work-in-progress and receive feedback from both peers and the facilitator in a constructive, supportive environment. Each participant can expect tailored written feedback and guidance on how to carry their work forward.

Follow-up Feedback
Approximately one month after the final workshop, you will submit an excerpt of up to 2,500 words by email. You will receive detailed written feedback from the facilitator, designed to consolidate your learning and give you clarity and momentum as you continue your novel.

This course is eligible for SkillsFuture Credit. All Singaporeans aged 25 and above can use their SkillsFuture Credits from the government to pay for a wide range of approved skills-related courses. You may visit the course listing on the MySkillsFuture website here to find out more.

For enquiries, please email bookawriter@singlitstation.com.

COURSE DETAILS

Venue: Sing Lit Station, 22 Dickson Road #02-01, Singapore 209506

Schedule
Session 1: 27 June 2026, xxxx 1.30pm - 4pm
Session 2: 4 July 2026, xxxx 10am - 12pm
Session 3: 11 July 2026, xxxx 2pm - 4.30pm

COURSE FEE

Full Course Fee: $950

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR

Balli Kaur Jaswal is the author of five novels including the international bestseller Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows and Sugarbread, shortlisted for the Singapore Literature Prize.

An experienced educator, Jaswal has taught creative writing at Yale-NUS College and the University of Melbourne, and has twice mentored writers in Sing Lit Station's Manuscript Bootcamp. She has delivered workshops and talks at international literary festivals including the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature, the Galle Literary Festival and the Hong Kong Book Fair.