Your Novel Year: A Year-Long Program to Draft Your Novel — 12-Month Online Novel Writing Workshop with Tom Cooper Starts Wednesday, February 17th, 2027

Your Novel Year: Novel Writing Workshop | Feb 2027 Online

Your Novel Year: A Year-Long Novel Writing Workshop with Tom Cooper

Begins Wednesday, February 17, 2027
Class will meet twice monthly via Zoom on the first and third Wednesdays, 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM ET

🌍 Class Times by Time Zone:

• Los Angeles (PT): 3:30 PM – 5:30 PM
• Chicago (CT): 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM
• New York (ET): 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM

Please note: sessions fall on the first and third Wednesday of each month, so a few gaps run three weeks. The cohort takes a winter holiday break after December 15, 2027 and resumes Wednesday, January 5, 2028. The program concludes Wednesday, February 2, 2028.

Applications Now Open!
Application Deadline: Friday, January 8, 2027

Apply for Your Novel Year with Tom Cooper

Any questions about this program? Use the Chat Button to talk with us.

Instructor Tom Cooper is a New Orleans novelist and the author of The Marauders and Florida Man, both published by Random House. His short fiction has appeared in dozens of literary magazines, including Oxford American, Mid-American Review, Gulf Coast, and Boulevard. His work has been translated into several languages and optioned for film and television, and he serves as executive producer of the adaptation of Florida Man, now in development. He holds a doctorate in English from Florida State University and has taught English, literature, and creative writing for over twenty years, including at the University of South Florida, Florida State University, the University of Central Florida, Southeastern Louisiana University, and Gotham Writers Workshop. Over the past decade, he has edited and doctored countless manuscripts for working writers.

Who is this class for?

Your Novel Year is for writers at all levels who want a finished first draft of a novel by early 2028, in any genre, literary or commercial. You don't need an MFA, a publishing record, or a complete outline. Planners and pantsers are equally welcome. You need a story idea and the willingness to turn in pages on deadline for twelve months, whether or not inspiration cooperates, and to read your cohort's pages as seriously as you want your own read.

What to expect:

Your Novel Year is a twelve-month online novel writing workshop built in three phases, each with a page goal and the particular problems that show up at that stage of a long project. Phase One takes you from a story idea to your first fifty pages. Phase Two carries you through the next hundred, the stretch where most novels stall. Phase Three brings you through the last act to a complete draft, a revision plan, and a query letter.

The group meets twice a month on Zoom. Sessions combine craft instruction with discussion of published fiction and of your pages in progress. Point of view, structure, characterization, setting, dialogue, and conflict arrive when your draft needs them, not as theory handed out in advance. Outside class, you meet one-on-one with Tom once a month to talk through your manuscript, and you receive written feedback on your pages twice a month, covering both drafting and revision.

Each phase includes a full workshop of your work-in-progress with Tom and the cohort, staggered so no one ever carries several deadlines at once. The meeting schedule is light on purpose. Tom thinks of himself as your trainer and the cohort as your teammates, and he is clear about what the year is for: the pages. Show up, do the work, and the words add up.

What are the writing goals?

In this program, students will draft a complete novel of roughly 60,000 to 75,000 words (about 250 to 300 manuscript pages) in three phases: the first 50 pages in Phase One, roughly 100 more in Phase Two, and the final 100 to 150 pages in Phase Three. Each writer receives written feedback from Tom twice a month, a one-on-one Zoom meeting every month, and a full workshop in each phase. By the end of the year, you will have a complete working draft, a revision plan, a query letter, and a realistic sense of how to approach agents and publishers.

APPLICATION PROCESS:

Applications are due Friday, January 8, 2027. Please submit:

• A writing sample of 2,500 to 3,000 words of fiction (it does not need to come from the novel you plan to write)
• A short description of the novel you intend to draft (300 words maximum)
• A statement about why you want to write this book and what you want from the year (500 words maximum)

Applicants will be notified of acceptance by Friday, January 22, 2027. Applications submitted after the deadline will be reviewed as space allows.

Apply for Your Novel Year with Tom Cooper

COURSE OUTLINE

Phase One: Conception and the First Fifty Pages

8 sessions on Zoom, February 17 to June 2, 2027. Page goal: the first 50 pages.

Phase One is about starting well and building the habits that will carry you through the rest of the year. We begin with planning and outlining, generating ideas and raw material, and committing to a working process and schedule you can actually sustain. You will explore where your novel sits (literary, commercial, or somewhere between) and learn from your influences by communing with the tradition you are writing into. We will commit to a creative diet, a regimen of careful reading and watching, and find your creative compass through mood-boarding and touchstone influences, literary and paraliterary, that serve as polestars while you work.

From there, we turn to the architecture of the opening: the traditional three-act structure and its alternatives; the point of view, chronology, voice, and worldview of your novel; and the judgment call of when to summarize and when to dramatize. You will discover your inciting incident, learn to build and sustain tension and dramatic questions, and explore the yearnings, desires, and goals that drive your primary characters. By the end of the phase, you will have the first fifty pages and a clear path forward.

Phase Two: The Long Middle

8 sessions on Zoom, June 16 to October 6, 2027. Page goal: the next 100 pages.

Most novels die in the middle. Phase Two is about getting through it. We address the common pitfalls and pratfalls of prose at the sentence level while you work on sustaining story momentum across hundreds of pages. Craft topics include escalation and story arcs, introducing plot complications, and negotiating the messy middles of exploratory drafts.

This phase also takes the psychological problems seriously, because they are what actually stop people. We will talk about finding additional inspiration when your ambition flags, addressing creative roadblocks, and dealing with the nagging inner critic. When you get stuck (and you will), we will reverse-engineer your story and structure to find out where the problem actually started.

Phase Three: The Last Act and the Road Out

8 sessions on Zoom, October 20, 2027 to February 2, 2028. Page goal: the final 100 to 150 pages.

In Phase Three, you draft the last portion of your novel and push through the obstacles that appear on and off the page as the end comes into view. We journey through the last act together and work to find your ending, which is rarely the one you planned.

No class over the winter holidays: the cohort meets Wednesday, December 15, 2027 and resumes Wednesday, January 5, 2028.

With a complete draft in hand, we turn to what comes next: devising a revision game plan, understanding the current publishing market, writing your query letter, and preparing your novel for submission. You finish the year with a draft and a plan for it.

Apply for Your Novel Year with Tom Cooper

COURSE TAKEAWAYS:

• A working first draft of your novel, roughly 60,000 to 75,000 words, built in three structured phases over twelve months
• A writing practice that survives past February: a schedule, a page count, and deadlines that hold you to it
• Twice-monthly written feedback on your pages covering both drafting and revision strategy
• Monthly one-on-one Zoom meetings with Tom about your specific manuscript
• Three full workshops of your work-in-progress, one in each phase, staggered so they never pile up
• Craft instruction in point of view, structure, characterization, setting, dialogue, and conflict, delivered at the point in the draft where you need it
• A creative compass for the year: a mood board, a reading and viewing regimen, and a set of touchstone influences to steer by
• A revision game plan and a query letter, plus a working understanding of how agents and publishers acquire novels today
• A cohort of writers doing the same thing at the same time, and an instructor whose feedback is forthright

Apply for Your Novel Year with Tom Cooper

TESTIMONIALS:

"Tom was very open and generous. The workshopping of student work by the entire class was great: detailed, taken seriously, constructive, and helpful. And this supportive vibe was due in large part to the instructor."

— Former Student

"Very clear ideas and considerations from Tom for how to make my work, and the work of other classmates, the best it can be."

— Former Student

"It's really valuable to get twelve different points of contact on your work and twelve different perspectives. Tom’s feedback is of course very valuable, but so are the feedback and thoughts of every other student. Also having a structure and deadlines for producing work is worth the money."

— Former Student

"Tom Cooper's class was fun and inspirational. His forthright feedback helped improve my writing."

— Former Student

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:

Why not an MFA program?

This program combines the parts of an MFA that matter most for a novelist (community, mentorship, and sustained craft instruction) with practical publishing guidance and a finished draft at the end. You work directly with a Random House novelist who has taught creative writing for over twenty years and developmentally edited manuscripts for the past decade, without the cost or the two years away from your life.

Why does the program meet twice a month instead of weekly?

Because the point is the draft. Twice-monthly group sessions, monthly individual meetings, and twice-monthly written feedback keep you accountable while leaving the rest of your calendar for writing pages. A heavier class schedule can quietly become a substitute for drafting.

Why does this program cost so much?

Your Novel Year is an MFA-level program taught by a published novelist and longtime professor over a full twelve months, and it includes individual meetings and written feedback on your pages throughout. Your tuition pays your instructor a living wage and covers the cost of individual consultations and program administration.

Can I get a refund if I do not complete the program?

No. This is a selective program with limited spots, and accepted writers commit to the full year and all assigned deadlines. Once paid, tuition is nonrefundable.

When will I get published?

We can't promise that every writer who completes Your Novel Year will be published, soon or ever. Publishing involves a lot of luck and time, as you will learn here. As writers ourselves, we do believe this program and the connections made in it will prepare you to approach the industry with a stronger book and a clearer plan.

I barely have an idea for a novel. Is this program too advanced?

Maybe. It depends on how serious you are about the idea. Phase One is built for exactly this situation: planning, outlining, generating material, and finding the shape of the book. If you have a story you are ready to commit to, even without knowing everything about it, this is the right place to start.

I have written several drafts of a novel and can't figure out the next steps. Should I apply?

This program is built around drafting a novel over the course of the year, so it fits writers starting a new project or very early in one. If you have a finished draft that needs revision, use the Chat Button and we will point you toward a better fit.

What if I miss a session?

Group sessions are recorded, and we send the recording to any student who misses a session so you can watch the replay before the next one.

Apply for Your Novel Year with Tom Cooper

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.

ONLINE COURSE STRUCTURE:

• Instructor: Tom Cooper
• Begins Wednesday, February 17, 2027
• Class will meet twice monthly via Zoom on the first and third Wednesdays, 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM ET
• Three phases of 8 class meetings each, 24 total meetings across the year, plus 12 monthly one-on-one meetings and a full workshop in each phase
• Tuition is $7,200 USD.