Year-Long Novel Incubator: Transform Your Early Draft Into a Polished, Publication-Ready Novel — 12-Month Online Fiction Mentorship with Joss Lake Starts Tuesday, January 12th, 2027
Year-Long Novel Incubator: Finish Your Novel | January 2027 Online
Year-Long Novel Incubator: An MFA-Level Fiction Mentorship with Joss Lake
Begins Tuesday, January 12, 2027
Classes meet every other Tuesday via Zoom, 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM ET
January 2027 – December 2027
🌎 Class Times by Time Zone:
- Los Angeles (PT): 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM
- Chicago (CT): 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
- New York (ET): 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Applications Now Open!
Please do not pay for the program until you receive a formal acceptance notification via email.
Apply for the Year-Long Novel Incubator. Early applications are encouraged as space is limited.
Any questions about this mentorship? Use the Chat Button to talk with us.
Year-Long Novel Incubator – MFA-Level Workshop
YEAR-LONG NOVEL INCUBATOR is a comprehensive MFA-level workshop for 6–12 fiction writers serious about transforming their early drafts into polished, structurally sound manuscripts ready for publication in 2027.
Led by Joss Lake, novelist and educator, whose debut novel Future Feeling was long-listed for the PEN/Hemingway Award for debut novel. He was named one of the Strand's “30 Writers to Watch.” Columbia University, New York Foundation for the Arts, and Queens Council for the Arts have supported his work. He was a 2022 Jacob Julien Visiting Writer at Wesleyan University.
As a writing instructor, Joss teaches fiction in the undergraduate and graduate programs at Columbia University and serves as a writing consultant at Baruch College, working with students from diverse backgrounds. He has taught at the School of Visual Arts, the School of the New York Times, Catapult, and through various nonprofits, including Behind the Book.
Read an interview with Joss Lake about the Year-Long Novel Incubator
Are You Ready To Finish Your Book?
This is the year you finish your novel.
You bring your early draft, enthusiasm, and willingness to commit. Joss brings extensive teaching experience and a deep understanding of what makes novels work—plus practical insights into the revision and publication process.
Together, we'll create a supportive community of writers that will hold each other accountable every step of the way. Expect intensive craft analysis, invaluable revision guidance, access to industry experts, individualized developmental feedback, and continuous encouragement to keep you on track to complete your polished manuscript.
This course is for those who are prepared to rigorously revise and hopefully finish their books. We'll identify your novel's current strengths and weaknesses and craft a plan for revision over our year together. By workshopping with motivated peers and receiving individualized instruction, you'll be able to transform your work to its most realized form. We'll also discuss best practices of workshopping to make sure that the writer is getting the kind of feedback that they desire. This space is about mutual thriving, not competition.
We'll dig into questions of structural unity, work to develop the “aliveness” of your characters, and dial up your book's authenticity, ensuring that the reader immerses in your prose. Esteemed novelists and editors will provide their own insights into the revision and publication process.
Apply for the Year-Long Novel Incubator
Course Structure
Phase 1: Goal-Setting and Accountability (January–March 2027, 6 meetings)
- Initial workshops focused on global feedback and identifying strengths and weaknesses.
- Diagnostic tools: identifying where you are and where you want to go.
- Practices for getting through places of stuckness.
- Shaping and sharpening characters and their desires.
- One full developmental read at the beginning of the incubator.
- Accountability tools to add 5,000 words/month to the draft (15,000 added in phase 1).
- Individual meetings with Joss.
- Craft talks, exercises, readings, and guest speaker visits.
Phase 2: Structural Work (April–June 2027, 7 meetings)
- Outlining and evaluating structural unity
- Second workshop focusing on the novel's structure (narrative threads, transition, momentum)
- Advanced techniques for building momentum without tying things up in a bow
- Accountability tools to add 5,000 words/month to the draft (15,000 added in phase 2)
- Individual meetings with the instructor
- Craft talks, exercises, readings, and guest speaker visits
Phase 3: Working In-Scene (July–September 2027, 6 meetings)
- Expressing specificity on the page
- Third workshop focusing on scenes (immersion, pacing, detail, dialogue, and other elements)
- Tapping into your sense of authenticity and carrying that over in-scene
- Identifying where to cut and where to expand in-scene
- Individual meetings with Joss
- Craft talks, exercises, readings, and guest speaker visits
Phase 4: Polishing and Publishing (October–December 2027, 7 meetings)
- How to edit on the sentence level
- Amplifying your style
- Fourth workshop focusing on sentence-level revision
- Where to go from here: query letters and beyond
- Individual meetings with Joss
- Craft talks, exercises, readings, and guest speaker visits
2027 Guest Faculty
- Daphne P. Andreades, novelist
- Zaina Arafat, novelist and essayist
- Anelise Chen, novelist and assistant professor at Columbia University
- Denne Michele Norris, novelist and editor-in-chief of Electric Literature
- Zefyr Lisowski, novelist, poet, and essayist
- And more to be announced…
Course Readings
Excerpts by Akwaeke Emezi, Jenny Zhang, N.K. Jemisin and others will be provided. We'll also use portions of George Saunders' A Swim in the Pond in the Rain, Jeff VanderMeer's Wonderbook, and Jessica Brody's Save the Cat! Writes a Novel as craft resources.
What You Will Receive
- Five 1:1 meetings with the instructor throughout the year
- 3–4 workshop opportunities to receive peer and instructor feedback
- One full developmental read of your manuscript at the beginning of the incubator
- Access to ask questions to guest authors and editors
- Writing tools and revision strategies that will last a lifetime
- A supportive community of serious fiction writers
- Substantial progress toward a complete, polished manuscript
- A sense of accomplishment and pride that comes with transforming your work
Who This Program Is For
This workshop is designed for writers who are:
- Serious about making substantial progress on your novel
- Able to commit 10–15 hours per week to their project
- Ready with a draft that they're ready to revise
- Open to learning and collaborative feedback
- Eager to contribute to an encouraging writing community
It's recommended to have at least 25,000 words going into the course so that you can devote significant time to the revision process.
Apply for the Year-Long Novel Incubator
Student Testimonials
“My relationship with my writing developed to be more authentically aligned with my values – compassionate, honest, evolving, non-perfectionistic, which was all very healing for me.” — Jay
“This is an incredibly welcoming and comforting space to grow while also creating some structure around accountability that I find helpful.” — Jess
“After this program, I became less nervous about writing and felt gradually that ‘writer’ is something I could call myself.” — AJ
“Yes! This program provided a safe and nurturing space for me to learn about my relationship to my creative practice while providing outside accountability. Joss is a clear and thoughtful communicator with a wealth of knowledge around the writing process.” — Diane
“I found this to be a wonderful community of like-minded writers who all wanted to improve their writing while figuring out how to do so within the energetic boundaries of workaday life.” — Liz
Frequently Asked Questions
Why not an MFA program?
This program combines the best things about an MFA program—community, mentorship, and intensive craft analysis—with specialized and practical publishing advice.
Why does this class cost so much?
The 12-month mentorship is an MFA-level course, taught by a published novelist who is also an experienced educator with years of creative writing teaching experience at the graduate and undergraduate levels. Your tuition helps pay your instructor a living wage, and covers the cost of booking guest speakers, arranging developmental reads, scheduling events, and administering the program.
Can I get a refund if I do not complete the program?
Once paid, your full tuition is nonrefundable. This is a selective program with limited spots. We are making a commitment to you for the full year and expect that you will do the same. For this reason, there are no refunds after your tuition has been paid.
I finished the mentorship. When will I get published?
We can't promise that every writer who leaves the 12-month manuscript generator will get published right away, or ever. Publishing is a tricky business, involving lots of luck and time—as students who enroll in this course will learn! That said, as writers ourselves, we strongly believe that we can help prepare emerging novelists to better navigate the publishing industry, and that our program and the connections made here will increase your chances of success.
In the course description, there are mentions of meetings with guest speakers. I want the details right now! Why can't I have them?
People who work in publishing are busy, and we confirm guest speakers on a rolling basis, as their schedules permit.
I barely have an idea for a full-length book or collection. Is this class too advanced?
Maybe. How serious are you about the idea? If you just have an inkling, but you're committed to coming in and focusing on that idea over the course of the year, this class might be the right fit for you. The key thing is that on the first day, you come ready to write. No one will write the pages of your collection for you, but this course can help you apply structure to your idea, and motivate you to finish the draft.
I have written several drafts of a novel, and I can't seem to find an agent or figure out the next steps. Should I take this class?
Absolutely. Sometimes taking a novel to the next level requires cracking it open and figuring out how it works, and the insight of new readers can help that process along. This class will give you a new perspective on your work and offer concrete next steps for you and your novel.
PAYMENT OPTIONS:
Tuition is $7,200 USD. 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. Payment is due only after you receive an acceptance notification.
Accepted writers must commit to the full year and meet all assigned deadlines.
ONLINE COURSE STRUCTURE:
- Instructor: Joss Lake
- Begins Tuesday, January 12, 2027
- Class will meet every other Tuesday via Zoom, 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM ET
- Four phases of 6–7 class meetings each, 26 total meetings across the year
- Between 6–12 writers will be accepted
- The mentorship is fully online and students may participate from anywhere
- Level: Intermediate to Advanced fiction writers
- Tuition is $7,200 USD.
- Please note: shifting some dates may be necessary, but any changes will be communicated well in advance.