Led by Swan Huntley, the author of the novels Getting Clean With Stevie Green (Simon & Schuster), The Goddesses (Penguin Random House), We Could Be Beautiful (Penguin Random House), and I Want You More (2024). She is also the writer and illustrator of the journal-style mini-tomes The Bad Mood Book (Penguin Random House) 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.

WHO SHOULD APPLY

Writers at any stage of the novel writing process, at any level. Whether you have a complete draft that needs to get better, a novel living only in your head, or something in between, this one-on-one mentorship meets you where you are. The only real requirement is that you can dedicate yourself to the work for three months.

WHAT TO EXPECT

Once you're accepted, you and Swan begin with a conversation about where you are in your novel and where you want to be. Out of that conversation comes a plan. If you don't already have an outline, building one is the first order of business — it becomes the map for everything that follows.

From there, the work is structured around deadlines. You'll turn in pages every two weeks. Swan reads them and you talk them through together on a call, so you finish each cycle knowing exactly what your next step is. This is the engine of the program: consistent deadlines, a reader who is paying close attention, and regular course-correction before small problems become structural ones.

Across the three months, Swan is available to talk through your progress. She may suggest readings where they'd be useful, and she's glad to answer questions about her own experience publishing books — six of them, with Gallery/Simon & Schuster, Penguin Random House, and Zibby Books. This is a creative writing mentorship built for writers who want accountability and a professional novelist's attention on the actual pages, not general encouragement.

WHAT ARE THE WRITING GOALS?

In this program, students will produce a working outline of their novel, a calendar of deadlines built around their own schedule and draft, and new pages submitted on a two-week cycle across the full three months. Feedback is delivered verbally, in conversation with Swan, following each submission. Students finish with a concrete plan for carrying the novel forward once the mentorship ends.

Click HERE to Apply Now.

PROGRAM OUTLINE

• An initial consult by phone or Zoom to discuss your specific needs
  
• An outline of your novel
  
• A calendar of deadlines
  
• Bi-weekly calls to discuss your work
  
• A final plan for how you're going to move forward when the mentorship ends
  
• Info on publishing books

Swan will:

• Meet deadlines
• Answer your questions in a timely manner
• Be a compassionate and useful reader

You will:

• Not take this too seriously but be very serious about deadlines
• Be willing to dedicate yourself to your novel for 3 months
• Be open to a new experience

Click HERE to Apply Now.

COURSE TAKEAWAYS:

• A structural outline of your novel to write from
  
• A personalized deadline calendar built around your draft and your schedule
  
• New pages produced and discussed on a two-week cycle for three months
  
• Direct one-on-one feedback from a novelist published by Gallery/Simon & Schuster, Penguin Random House, and Zibby Books
  
• Working knowledge of how novels get acquired and published
  
• A clear plan for finishing the book after the mentorship ends

Praise for Swan:

“Huntley is adept at deploying Catherine’s good fortune as a fulcrum of suspense… Huntley deftly establishes Catherine’s tendency to rationalize and repress… Lively… Huntley writes with wit and verve, excelling at economically hilarious descriptions… The book’s strengths lie… in the zippy social satire, in the portrait of a dysfunctional family (Catherine’s relationship with her sister turns out to be especially affecting) and, most of all, in Catherine’s voice–strange and funny and engaging to the very end.” 
—Jennifer DuBois, The New York Times Book Review
 
“Here’s a thriller we can sink into. Deeply psychological and nuanced, Huntley’s We Could Be Beautiful follows one wealthy Manhattan woman who has nearly everything. The one thing she lacks, however, is a relationship. That is, until her white knight comes along one evening. But it never quite works out that way, does it? (Not in a book like this, certainly.) Huntley’s novel is a twisting, turning, secret-filled story that’s worthy of your precious summer reading time.”
—Meredith Turits, Elle
 
“A novel that is deeper than its heiress-meets-man-of-her-dreams setup. The reason: Huntley’s uncanny ability to detect the fault lines in Manhattan’s glitterati as if flaws in a precious diamond—and make us laugh about them.”
—O Magazine
 
“A riveting psychological thriller, Huntley’s debut takes you inside the world of Manhattan’s elite—and keeps you on tenterhooks.”
—People, “Book of the Week”
 
“A sparkling dark romance… Huntley strings you blissfully along (like a great con man)…right up until that epic twist.”
—Redbook
 
“Quite the psychological thriller that keeps readers on edge wondering how far Catherine will go and how much she’ll sacrifice for the truth… Brilliantly exposes the life of an affluent family and what greed, lies and wealth can do to them.”
—Amanda Douville, New York Daily News
 
* “Posh Manhattanite Catherine West has everything but the family she’s always wanted. But when she falls for the man of her supposed dreams, she unravels a web of deception that upends life as she knows it… Mesmerizing… As elegantly plotted as it is—and it is—Huntley’s debut stands out not for its thrills but rather for her hawkish eye for social detail and razor-sharp wit. It is more than a classic psychological thriller: it is also a haunting—and weirdly moving—portrait of love and family among Manhattan’s flailing upper crust. An intoxicating escape; as smart as it is fun.”
—Kirkus (STARRED REVIEW)

Click HERE to Apply Now.