Begins Thursday, December 10th, 2026

Live Seminar via Zoom from 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM ET

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Instructor Amber Wheeler Bacon is a writer and teacher whose work has appeared in Crazyhorse, Ecotone, Epiphany, Five Points, New Ohio Review, Post Road, Prairie Schooner, and Witness. You can find her writing online at Ploughshares and CRAFT. She's the recipient of a Breakout Writers Prize from The Author's Guild and a scholarship from Bread Loaf Environmental. She received the 2022 Lit/South Award for flash fiction and a 2023 Prairie Schooner Award. Amber has an MFA from Bennington College and teaches writing at Coastal Carolina University. She lives by the beach in South Carolina. Her story collection, We Were Vessels, is forthcoming from YesYes Books.

Who is this class for?

This online writing class is for fiction writers who have started or completed a novel draft and need to amp up tension and suspense. Students will leave with strategies for increasing tension and an understanding of macro and micro suspense structures at the book, chapter, and scene level. All levels are welcome.

What to expect:

This session is designed for novelists and story writers who want readers white-knuckling their way from page one to "the end." Using Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca and the Hitchcock movie as our shared texts, we'll dig into the craft tools that keep tension and suspense alive across hundreds of pages. We'll distinguish mystery from confusion, big book-length mysteries from small scene-level ones, and explore Aristotle's discoveries and reversals. Picture your novel as an old-fashioned rabbit hunt: release your questions (also known as rabbits) early, then track and catch them at just the right pace, not too fast, not too obvious.

We'll talk through how a novel sets its big mysteries loose, how individual early scenes seed and pay off later ones, and how to keep your reader guessing without losing them. We'll be turning the lens on your work throughout, with time allotted to discuss your story and to dig through your manuscript for the questions you're really asking readers to chase. Bring your manuscript and your curiosity!

What makes this fiction workshop distinct is its single-text approach. Rather than skimming a dozen craft examples, we'll work closely with one novel and its film adaptation, watching suspense structures operate in real time. Amber brings an illustrated timeline of Rebecca's major events and mysteries, mapping how each reveal answers a reader question while introducing new ones, right through to the final page. You'll then build your own version for your book. Students will receive informal feedback during our live session as part of partner shares using Zoom breakout rooms and through whole group discussions.

What are the writing goals?

In this course, students will produce four concrete tools for their manuscript:

• A list of reader questions or narrative promises introduced in the first 20 pages of their book
  
• A timeline of the events in their book and the questions readers will have as a result of those events
  
• A list of events in one scene and the big mysteries they relate back to
  
• A list of current or possible discoveries and reversals for their characters

Feedback is live and in-session, delivered through Zoom breakout room partner shares and whole group discussion as students build their timelines and question lists.

Readings

Students should read or have familiarity with the novel Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier before the session; we'll screen and discuss clips from Hitchcock's 1940 film adaptation in class.

COURSE OUTLINE

Hour 1: Big and Little Mysteries — Book-level versus scene-level mysteries, and how each gives your novel suspense. The rabbit hunt begins.

Hour 2: Timelines — Examining a timeline of Rebecca, then creating one for your own book.

Hour 3: Discoveries and Reversals — Aristotle's tools applied to your characters and your draft.

COURSE TAKEAWAYS:

• A working understanding of macro and micro suspense structures at the book, chapter, and scene level
  
• The ability to distinguish genuine mystery from reader confusion
  
• A mapped timeline of your novel's events and the reader questions they generate
  
• A list of the narrative promises your opening pages make, and a plan for paying them off
  
• Practical strategies for pacing reveals so readers keep guessing without giving up
  
• A list of current and possible discoveries and reversals for your characters

PAYMENT OPTIONS:

Tuition is $99 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.

ONLINE COURSE STRUCTURE:

• Instructor: Amber Wheeler Bacon
  
• Begins Thursday, December 10th, 2026
  
• Class will meet once via Zoom on Thursday, December 10th, 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM ET
  
• Tuition is $99 USD.