From Novel Pages to First Draft: Finish Your Manuscript

Whether you’ve got a project that’s been gathering dust in a drawer, or have fifty thousand brand-new words that arrived in a bolt from the blue but now need to build a sustainable writing practice in your normal life, this course will give you direction and accountability on your novel.

In a private, half-hour long Zoom consultation at the start of the course, I’ll give you actionable notes on up to fifty thousand words you’ve already written. During the following weeks, I’ll provide inline feedback on up to twelve thousand new or revised words and two craft assignments. Halfway through the course, I’ll write you a detailed letter on writing areas that you can strengthen in your novel.

The course will include two optional Zoom sessions to exchange tips and tricks for what is working in our writing practice and kvetch about what’s not. Weekly check-ins on the Wet.Ink platform’s message board will allow us to all be each other’s accountability buddies. I will also meet with you one-to-one for a final private half-hour at the end of the course to wrap up feedback and check in on your writing plan moving forward.

You will leave the course with a plan for finishing the draft you’re working on, and the momentum to keep writing. 

Who This Course is For:

This course is fiction writers working on completing or revising a novel, and who want to set themselves up to have a polished draft. Whether it’s your first novel or your tenth, all levels are welcome.

Learning and Writing Goals

Learning Goals:

• Develop a writing practice that fits your life.
• Craft a realistic plan to finish the draft you are working on based on professional feedback.
• Gather an arsenal of tactics and tricks to get past the blocks and complications that are a part of any large writing project.

Writing Goals:

• Receive feedback on up to 50,000 words of your novel in process, and begin revising and/or writing new material based on this feedback.
• Write or revise up to 12,000 words on your novel in progress.
• Create a plan and set a routine to complete and/or refine your draft. 

Zoom Schedule

We will meet for two optional Zoom sessions on Thursday, May 14th from 8-10 PM Eastern and Saturday, June 27th, from 2-4 PM Eastern. During the first and last weeks of the course, you will schedule a private Zoom call with me to discuss your novel project.

Weekly Syllabus

Week 1: 50,000 words

This week, you’ll send me up to 50,000 words from your novel and introduce yourself on Wet.Ink. We’ll schedule your first private zoom session.

Week 2: Project Introductions and First Optional Zoom Check-In

This week, you’ll write up a short introduction to your project and process. In our first optional zoom, we’ll talk about how we all got here, our hopes and plans for our time together, and do a short writing exercise. Private Zoom feedback sessions on what you’ve already written will commence.

Week 3: Outline

How do you hold a whole book in your head? On Wet.Ink, we’ll talk using outlines to free your writing instead of constraining it. This week, you’ll submit an outline of your novel and comment on your fellow students’ work. If you didn’t have your private Zoom feedback session last week, we’ll get to it now.

Week 4: First 3,000 Words

This week, you’ll submit three thousand new or revised words for feedback from me. On Wet.Ink, we’ll talk filling our creative wells: where do you find inspiration? Does reading in your genre feed or block you?

Week 5: Second 3,000 Words

You’ll submit another three thousand words for feedback from me. On Wet.Ink, we’ll discuss tactics to build writing time into your life and what to do when life gets in the way of writing.

Week 6: Scenecraft and Dialogue

This week, you’ll submit an exercise in scenecraft, writing the same scene from multiple perspectives. On Wet.Ink, we’ll discuss the vicissitudes of reported vs. on-the-page dialogue. I will send you a detailed midterm letter with feedback on areas you could strengthen that I’ve identified over the first half of your novel and two writing submissions.

Week 7: Third 3,000 Words and Second Optional Zoom Check-in

You’ll submit another three thousand words for feedback from me. In our second optional zoom meeting, we’ll discuss the scenecraft assignment, how writing is going, and do an in-class writing exercise. On Wet.Ink, we’ll talk tips and tricks for tackling writer’s block.

Week 8: Reflection

This week, you’ll submit a reflection on your writing going in to your final 3,000 words. On Wet.Ink, we’ll discuss plans for ways to continue the work on our own after the course ends.

Week 9: Fourth 3,000 Words

You’ll submit your last three thousand words for feedback from me. On Wet.Ink, we’ll discuss opportunities to continue the work in group contexts going forward.

Week 10: Final Private Session

This week, you’ll have a final private half-hour Zoom meeting with me to discuss the work you submitted and your plans for continuing to write.

Why Take a Novel Writing Course with Writers.com?

• We welcome writers of all backgrounds and experience levels, and we are here for one reason: to support you on your writing journey.
• Small groups keep our online writing classes lively and intimate.
• Work through your weekly written lectures, course materials, and writing assignments at your own pace.
• Share and discuss your work with classmates in a supportive class environment.
• Award-winning instructor Paz Pardo will offer you direct, personal feedback and suggestions on every assignment you submit.

Click the Enroll Now button below, enter your details on the Checkout page,
and reserve your spot in the course.

$645.00 Original price was: $645.00.$550.00Current price is: $550.00.Enroll Now