The Power of a Good Outline with Anthony Mullins

This 6-week workshop series with BAFTA award-winning screenwriter and author, Anthony Mullins, will introduce you to the power of story outlines, be it for planning, problem solving, analysis or pitching. Whether you’re writing a novel, a screenplay, or a play, an outline can give you the ability to see the big picture and remember why you wanted to write this story in the first place.   

Dates: 6:00-8:00pm (AEST), Thursdays 17 September – 22 October 2026
Delivery: Online
Fees: $995 or $945 for Varuna Alumni. Payment terms are negotiable if you cannot pay the whole fee upfront
Applications close: 5:00pm AEST, Tuesday 11 August 2026
Places: 8 participants will be selected (small group)

Keeping track of a story is really hard. All those characters, all their individual traits, their narrative arcs, the plot developments, the twists, the turns, the themes!  It’s a lot to keep in your head and it’s even harder to describe it to someone else.

A good outline can help. Not just when you’re planning your story, but also as you’re writing it, or when you’ve become lost and need to see the big picture again, or when you’ve finished and you need to pitch it to a potential publisher. A good outline allows you to “zoom out” and describe the essential elements of your story, its premise, its characters, its themes, and what makes it unique.

Using the well-known, but often misunderstood, concept of character arcs, award-winning writer and course leader Anthony Mullins will show you how to identify the essential elements of your story and how to communicate them in an engaging 3-4 page outline that captures everything you wanted to say.

Using case studies, class exercises and student presentations, this six week course will involve you drafting and presenting a full outline of your story and presenting it for discussion and feedback.