Writing Workshop Information.
We've set out the Novel Writing syllabus below. The Novel Writing course is a four week interactive made up of key elements of both writing and story structure. Peruse the syllabus, and if you're interested in attending, please register via the form at the bottom of the page. Any questions? By all means, contact us.
Novel Writing Syllabus (4 week novel writing interactive)
Class 1: Introduction
The four categories of things that will make your stories engage the reader: Plot, characters, setting, and language. A discussion of these four elements, what each one includes and how they intersect.
Why do you want to write a novel? A discussion about goals and success as a writer.
Class 2: First lecture/interactive:
Plot and structure: Why it’s important, how tension is developed, how to increase tension, the limits of plot, different story structures, additional reading, exercises.
Class 3: Second lecture/interactive
Characters: How to develop your characters, characterization in third person, first person, and omniscient voices, point of view, character histories, characters on and off the page, readings, exercises.
Class 4: Third lecture/interactive
Setting and world building: Creating the atmosphere of your story with time and place, realistic versus fantastical worlds, enough description instead of too much or too little, place on and off the page, time on and off the page, readings, exercises
Class 5: Fourth lecture/interactive
Language – Voice, simplicity, tropes: The qualities of the words, sentences, paragraphs, and scenes that will keep your readers reading, metaphors and similes (and why you shouldn’t overuse them), why language is the most misunderstood aspect of writing, how the language used in written stories differs from other uses of language, how to break your language habits, how to read like a writer.
Next workshop date: TBA
The four categories of things that will make your stories engage the reader: Plot, characters, setting, and language. A discussion of these four elements, what each one includes and how they intersect.
Why do you want to write a novel? A discussion about goals and success as a writer.
Class 2: First lecture/interactive:
Plot and structure: Why it’s important, how tension is developed, how to increase tension, the limits of plot, different story structures, additional reading, exercises.
Class 3: Second lecture/interactive
Characters: How to develop your characters, characterization in third person, first person, and omniscient voices, point of view, character histories, characters on and off the page, readings, exercises.
Class 4: Third lecture/interactive
Setting and world building: Creating the atmosphere of your story with time and place, realistic versus fantastical worlds, enough description instead of too much or too little, place on and off the page, time on and off the page, readings, exercises
Class 5: Fourth lecture/interactive
Language – Voice, simplicity, tropes: The qualities of the words, sentences, paragraphs, and scenes that will keep your readers reading, metaphors and similes (and why you shouldn’t overuse them), why language is the most misunderstood aspect of writing, how the language used in written stories differs from other uses of language, how to break your language habits, how to read like a writer.
Next workshop date: TBA