Write Your Novel!

If you want to get a good start on a novel in just ten weeks, or revise a portion of a novel you’ve already written, you’ll benefit from taking this course.  Give your imagination free rein.  Move steadily ahead and count the pages!

You should focus on character and story, but each week you’ll be asked to think about another element of fiction as it relates to your novel-in-progress.  If you want to go back and make changes, that’s fine, but the main thing is to stay up as much as possible in order to complete as much of a rough draft as possible in the time allowed.  You can always make changes later.

Built into the course is the final assignment on revision strategies.  Most novelists do more than one revision, so even if you’re intending to take the class to revise a novel you’ve written, you’ll probably need to do more revision.

This is a highly interactive class: you’ll receive feedback at all stages from your fellow writers and your instructor.

Open to beginning as well as advanced writers. The course will work for memoir writing as well.

Course Outline

Week One: Getting started

Start with a primer on the basic elements of fiction and the process of writing fiction.  Write a preliminary outline for your novel. Think in terms of the five-stage plot structure.

Week Two: Your first 3,000 words

Knock out 500 words a day (or revise an existing novel) with your focus on character and story.  Keep your eye out for conflict—for complication and rising action. 

Week Three:  Your second 3,000 words

Keep going with your story.  Think about making your protagonist more complex.  As you do, your story might make an unexpected turn.

Week Four: Your third 3,000 words

Watch for ways to make secondary characters—supporting characters and your antagonist (if you have one)—more interesting.

Week Five: Your fourth 3,000 words

Heighten the tension.  Has your protagonist overcome an obstacle?  Look for a rug-pulling or reversal.  It may occur in later pages.  Don’t force anything.  Focus on the difference between narrative summary and narrative scene.

Week Six:  Your fifth 3,000 words

Keep going.  Focus on scenes with dialogue of two types: dialogue and minimal action (dramatic point of view); dialogue with interspersed action, description, and character thoughts (one character’s point of view).

Week Seven: Your sixth 3,000 words

Focus on good prose: exposition and description (of setting as well as character). (Note: if you’re working on the second half of your novel, keep in mind the climax of the 5-stage plot structure. It may occur soon.)

Week Eight: Your seventh 3,000 words

Now focus on voice. Do you like the voice so far? What would it take to make it more interesting?  Is it the prose itself?  What about the scenes—the dialogue?  Is it something about the protagonist?  (Note: if you’re working on the second half of your novel, keep in mind the falling action of the five-stage plot structure.)

Week Nine: Your eighth 3,000 words

Focus again on plot.  Has your protagonist overcome an obstacle?  Look for a reversal, but again don’t force anything.  Look for ways to foreshadow future plot developments and/or echo previous ones.  Don’t engineer anything.  Subtlety is the key. (Note: if you’re working on the second half of your novel, keep in mind the resolution.)

Week Ten:  Develop revision plans for your completed half.