arrow-right cart chevron-down chevron-left chevron-right chevron-up close menu minus play plus search share user email pinterest facebook instagram snapchat tumblr twitter vimeo youtube subscribe dogecoin dwolla forbrugsforeningen litecoin amazon_payments american_express bitcoin cirrus discover fancy interac jcb master paypal stripe visa diners_club dankort maestro trash

Shopping Cart


Start Your Novel 6-Week Generative Zoom Workshop, Starts Monday, April 1st, 2024
Regular price
$395.00

Start Your Novel 6-Week Generative Zoom Workshop, Starts Monday, April 1st, 2024


Unit price per

Begins Monday, April 1, 2024

Class will meet weekly via Zoom for 2 Hours on Mondays starting at 5:30PM PST / 8:30PM EST

Now Enrolling!

Any questions about this class? Use the Chat Button (lower left) to talk with us.

Led by Swan Huntley, the author of the novels Getting Clean With Stevie Green, The Goddesses, We Could Be Beautiful, and I Want You More (2024). She is also the writer and illustrator of the journal-style mini-tomes The Bad Mood Book and You’re Grounded (2024). Swan earned an MFA at Columbia University and has received fellowships from MacDowell and Yaddo, where she was the 2019 recipient of The LeSage-Fullilove Residency. She lives in Los Angeles.

This 6-week course is for people who want to write a novel and are wondering about how best to start. 

During our time together, we’ll consider the novel comprehensively. You’ll take the pieces you have so far (maybe it’s notes, character sketches, a few chapters, or maybe it’s just an idea for a scene) and build on them to create an outline. The initial stages of writing a novel include making a lot of foundational choices about character, voice, pacing, and structure. We will make all these choices together.

This is a hybrid craft / workshop course, so the first half will be dedicated to figuring out the basics and the second half will be a workshop, for which you’ll be submitting the first few pages of your novel. If all of this seems daunting to you, then I encourage you to take the leap and sign up anyway!

COURSE OUTLINE:

Week 1: Character + Story In the first class, we’ll introduce ourselves and talk about where we are in the process of writing our novels. I’ve found it’s helpful to hear about how other people have been thinking about the task of completing a book, and what’s been keeping them from doing it. Then we’ll answer these questions: 1. Who is the main character in your story and what do they want? 2. What do you know about your story so far? Assignment: 1. Write out a list of your characters, starting with the protagonist and working your way to the most minor character. Include identifying characteristics (age, job, physical description, etc.) as well as any other information that seems important. 2. Write out the basic plot of your novel in 1-2 paragraphs.

Week 2: POV + Dialogue We’ll start by going over the homework and then we will answer these questions: 1. What is the POV? First, second, third-person? Why have you made this choice? 2. How many narrators are telling this story? Why? 3. What does your main character sound like? Is this different from how the other characters sound? (I will ask you to write out a few lines of dialogue for each of your characters.) Assignment: Refine and expand your plot.

Week 3: Time & Structure After going over our homework, we will answer these questions: What is the time span of your novel? Why? How is time broken up within this span? Are you using a 3-Act structure? A 5-Act? Neither? Assignment: Write the first few pages of your novel. Just one page is fine. Five pages is the max. Yes, the time I am giving you is enough time to do this, I promise.

Weeks 4, 5, and 6: Workshops By this point, we’ll all have a good sense of what each of our fellow students is hoping to achieve in their novel, so we can give super-thoughtful feedback. Knowing how to give feedback, I’ve learned, is just as helpful as knowing how to receive it. We’ll talk about that before we start workshopping, and about the importance of having a writing community, which will be helpful once the class is over.

COURSE TAKEAWAYS:

  • An outline of your novel, the first few pages, and a clear plan for completing your novel.
ONLINE COURSE STRUCTURE:

This class meets weekly via Zoom. Come prepared for a super fun class with live interaction on Zoom each week and plenty of writing, reading, and talking!

PAYMENT OPTIONS:

You can pay for the course in full or use Shop Pay or Affirm to pay over time with equal Monthly Payments. Both options are available at checkout.
  • Instructor: Swan Huntley

  • Begins Monday, April 1, 2024

  • Class will meet weekly via Zoom for 2 Hours on Mondays starting at 5:30PM PST / 8:30PM EST

Contact us HERE if you have any questions about this class.

Instructor Swan Huntley is the author of the novels Getting Clean With Stevie Green, The Goddesses, We Could Be Beautiful, and I Want You More (2024). She is also the writer and illustrator of the journal-style mini-tomes The Bad Mood Book and You’re Grounded (2024). Swan earned an MFA at Columbia University and has received fellowships from MacDowell and Yaddo, where she was the 2019 recipient of The LeSage-Fullilove Residency. She lives in Los Angeles.