Wednesdays, Nov. 6th - Dec. 18th | Limited to four students.
Discover a story roadmap, unlock your creativity, and write the best version of your novel.
Starting a novel is an exciting venture—and one that can soon turn daunting. Unlike the compressed energy of a short story, the novel’s world spools out over time and often involves the management of layered plots and a large cast of characters. But these challenges are also opportunities. In this course, we will look at published novel beginnings to discover the narrative engines of the early chapters. We will also investigate the way writers such as Brit Bennett, Scott Turow, and Jhumpa Lahiri maintain narrative tension throughout their books. We will talk about how this tension shapes finished work from these writers and from students’ own favorite writers. Through short writing assignments, we will try out different approaches to our own novel beginnings, and each student will be able to workshop one early chapter for helpful feedback.
This course is designed for writers who are just starting out on their novels, as well as those who have novels well underway and are already thinking about revision.