The Unconventional Novel Writing Workshop: A Year of Writing and Revising Support with Miranda Schmidt
Begins Tuesday, January 5th, 2027
Class will meet weekly via Zoom on Tuesdays, 8:00 PM - 10:00 PM ET
🌍 Class Times by Time Zone: Los Angeles (PST): 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM / Denver (MST): 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM / Chicago (CST): 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM / New York (EST): 8:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Two optional online info sessions will be held for interested applicants. In these, we will discuss the course and the application process and answer questions.
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Register for Info Session #1: Tuesday, October 27, 2026, 5:30 - 6:00 PM PT (8:30 - 9:00 PM ET)
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Register for Info Session #2: Monday, November 30, 2026, 6:00 - 6:30 PM PT (9:00 - 9:30 PM ET)
- Application Deadline: Thursday, December 10, 2026
- Notification of Acceptance: by Monday, December 27, 2026
Application Deadline: December 10, 2026
Any questions about this class? Use the Chat Button to talk with us.
Instructor Miranda Schmidt is the author of the novel Leafskin (Stillhouse Press, 2025) and the poetry chapbook The Cemetery Cure (dancing girl press, 2026). Their writing circles folklore, ecology, and queer magic and has appeared in TriQuarterly, Orion, Electric Literature, Catapult, and more. With an MFA from the University of Washington and a PhD from Bath Spa University, they have taught creative writing at Portland Community College, the University of Washington, the Loft, Portland's Literary Arts, and the Portland Book Festival. Their newsletter and teaching project, Writing Toward Nature, explores methods for bringing the more-than-human more deeply into our writing craft. Miranda lives in Portland, Oregon.
Who is this year-long program for?
This year-long online writing workshop is for intermediate fiction writers working on novels that reach beyond traditional norms — books that bend genre, braid points of view, move in spirals rather than pyramids, or think like poems. It's built for writers at any stage of the process, from a first fifteen pages to a finished draft in need of re-visioning. If you keep receiving feedback that tells you to amplify conflict, make your characters make sense, or fit your narrative into a three-act structure when you know that isn't the book you're writing, you'll find a different conversation here.
What to expect:
Does your novel experiment with the boundaries of genre and form? Is your narrative looking less like a pyramid and more like a spiral? Is verse sneaking into your prose? Are you collaging different points of view or working with nonlinear structures? Does your novel think like a poem? In 1922, Virginia Woolf's Jacob's Room was called "the unconventional novel" for its innovative use of craft techniques that create a distinctive experience for readers. Other canonical novelists whose work might be classified this way include James Joyce, James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Louise Erdrich, and Ursula K. Le Guin. Recent unconventional novels include Julia Armfield's Our Wives Under the Sea, Ocean Vuong's On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, Paula Cocozza's How to Be Human, Han Kang's The Vegetarian, Henry Hoke's Open Throat, and Claire Oshetsky's Chouette. And so many more.
Is your novel unconventional enough for this course? If you're asking that question, it probably is. The term "unconventional" is intentionally chosen to encompass a wide variety of forms, genres, and craft techniques. Many unconventional novels are not overtly unusual at first glance. They may appear very traditional until you examine their foundations or encounter a choice the author made midway through that doesn't fit the norm. Unconventional novels exemplify the mindsets of their authors — writers who seek to stretch the novel form to explore its immense possibilities. If that's you, please join us.
The year is divided into four seasons of ten weekly Zoom meetings each, with breaks between them for sustained writing and revision. The focus of each season will help you consider a different aspect of your novel and how you might creatively employ your writing tools and techniques to realize your vision. Every season, each student workshops up to 25 double-spaced pages, receives a detailed critique letter from the instructor on those pages, and meets one-on-one with the instructor to discuss the work. The cohort will also read four unconventional novels together over the year, chosen collaboratively each season. This is a small, application-based cohort, which keeps the workshop feedback specific and the community close.
What are the writing goals?
In this course, students will commit to a single novel project and work on it consistently across a full calendar year. Students will workshop up to 25 double-spaced pages per season — up to 100 pages over the year — and will receive, four times over the year, a written critique letter from the instructor, an individual virtual conference with the instructor to discuss those pages, and peer feedback from the cohort. Everyone writes at different paces and projects evolve in a wide variety of directions. By the end of the year, some students will have completed novel drafts. Some will have revised manuscripts ready to submit. Everyone will finish with up to 100 workshopped pages of their book with extensive instructor feedback, a greater understanding of their specific novel writing process and their unique vision, and a community of writers to keep cheering them on.
Readings
As a class, we will collaboratively choose one novel to read together each season. Readings may include excerpts from Jane Alison's Meander, Spiral, Explode: Design and Pattern in Narrative, Han Kang's Light and Thread, and Ursula K. Le Guin's The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction, among other craft books and essays. Most class readings can be found online or will be provided as PDF excerpts.
APPLICATION PROCESS:
Participants must apply to take part in this course. To apply, please submit the following by December 10, 2026. Applications submitted after the deadline will be reviewed as space allows.
- 15 pages of your novel in progress
- Describe your novel in progress. What is it about? (100 words or less)
- Where are you in the writing process (writing your initial draft? revising?) How many words and/or pages have you written of your novel at this point? It's ok if the 15 pages you submit are the only pages you currently have. (250 words or less)
- What interests you about this course? What are your goals for your novel over the course of this year? (250 words or less)
There will be two optional online info sessions for interested applicants. In these, we will discuss the course and the application process and answer questions.
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Register for Info Session #1: Tuesday, October 27, 2026, 5:30 - 6:00 PM PT (8:30 - 9:00 PM ET)
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Register for Info Session #2: Monday, November 30, 2026, 6:00 - 6:30 PM PT (9:00 - 9:30 PM ET)
- Application Deadline: Thursday, December 10, 2026
- Notification of Acceptance: by Monday, December 27, 2026
Accepted applicants will be invited to an optional orientation session in late December for the cohort to meet each other and ask questions before the course begins.
- Orientation Session for Accepted Participants: Tuesday, December 29, 2026, 5:30 - 6:00 PM PT (8:30 - 9:00 PM ET)
COURSE OUTLINE
This course is structured into four seasons of ten weeks each, focusing on different aspects of novel writing. There will be a total of 40 class meetings online throughout the year, with a few weeks off between each season. Participants are strongly encouraged to use the breaks between seasons to write and revise in order to continue making progress on their novels. Each season includes a round of workshops in which participants give and receive feedback on up to 25 pages of their work-in-progress, plus a virtual meeting with the instructor to discuss those pages. Each season, the class will also read and discuss one novel together.
First class meeting is Tuesday, January 5, 2027.
SEASON 1 — WINTER: Genre-Bending, Poetic Novels, Collage, and Other Experiments in Genre and Form
10 class meetings: January 5, January 12, January 19, January 26, February 2, February 9, February 16, February 23, March 2, March 9
Spring Break: March 10 - March 29
SEASON 2 — SPRING: Spirals, Branching, Wavelets, and More: Structure Beyond the Plot Pyramid
10 class meetings: March 30, April 6, April 13, April 20, April 27, May 4, May 11, May 18, May 25, June 1
Summer Break: June 2 - July 5
SEASON 3 — SUMMER: Beyond Linear: Playing with Time and Order
10 class meetings: July 6, July 13, July 20, July 27, August 3, August 10, August 17, August 24, August 31, September 7
Fall Break: September 8 - October 11
SEASON 4 — FALL: Re-Visioning and What Comes Next: Alternative Revision Techniques and Publishing Possibilities
10 class meetings: October 12, October 19, October 26, November 2, November 9, November 16, November 23, November 30, December 7, December 14
Last class meeting is Tuesday, December 14, 2027.
COURSE TAKEAWAYS:
- Up to 100 workshopped pages of your novel, submitted in four rounds of up to 25 double-spaced pages each
- Four written critique letters from the instructor and four one-on-one virtual conferences to discuss your pages
- Four rounds of peer feedback from a cohort of writers working in unconventional forms
- A working vocabulary for structures beyond the plot pyramid: spirals, braids, collage, mosaic, wavelets, and nonlinear time
- Four unconventional novels read and discussed together, chosen collaboratively by the cohort
- A clearer understanding of your own novel writing process, your book's unique shape, and what comes next for it
- A year-long writing community that keeps you accountable and cheering you on
TESTIMONIALS:
"This was nourishing and fulfilling in all the ways possible. Miranda is a fabulous guide and her inspiration invitations were right on point. I would love to take more workshops with Miranda." — Former Student
"Miranda Schmidt is a skilled teacher. They take great care in tailoring a class to students' needs and creating a writing community." — Former Student
"I came into this class looking to gain confidence as a writer through workshopping in a supportive community environment. Miranda absolutely provided this, with the additional tremendous benefit of her thoughtful feedback and lots of great resources for how to think about writing!" — Former Student
"Miranda is a wise and compassionate guide. I highly recommend joining her in this opportunity." — Former Student
"It was exactly the fresh perspective I needed to get unstuck on a piece I've been trying to rework for publication. She kept the class on track and obviously has a great depth of knowledge." — Former Student
"Miranda is a gifted and inviting writing teacher and facilitator!" — Former Student
PAYMENT OPTIONS:
Tuition is $5,900 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: Miranda Schmidt
- Begins Tuesday, January 5th, 2027
- Class will meet weekly via Zoom on Tuesdays, 8:00 PM - 10:00 PM ET
- Four seasons of 10 class meetings each, 40 total meetings across the year
- Tuition is $5,900 USD.
FAQs:
Why not an MFA program?
This program combines the best things about an MFA — community, sustained mentorship, and intensive craft analysis — with something most MFA programs can't offer: a room full of writers and an instructor who are all working on novels that break the rules. You'll get a full year of individualized guidance without the cost, time commitment, or geographic constraints of a degree program, and without spending two years defending your structural choices to workshops that want you to fix them.
Why does this class cost so much?
This is a year-long, MFA-level program taught by a novelist with an MFA and a PhD in creative writing and more than a decade of teaching experience. Over twelve months you receive 40 live class meetings, four rounds of workshop on up to 100 pages of your manuscript, four detailed critique letters from your instructor, and four one-on-one conferences. Your tuition pays your instructor a living wage for that year of work and covers the cost of running an application-based program with a small cohort.
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, and every seat filled is a seat another applicant didn't get. 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.
Is my novel unconventional enough for this course?
If you're asking that question, it probably is. "Unconventional" is intentionally broad — it covers genre-bending, poetic prose, collage, nonlinear time, braided or multiple points of view, hybrid forms, and plenty we haven't named. Many unconventional novels don't look unusual at first glance. They may appear entirely traditional until you examine their foundations or hit a choice the author made midway through that doesn't fit the norm. If you're reaching past the plot pyramid, you belong here.
I'm early in my novel and don't have much written yet. Is this class right for me?
It can be. This program is built for writers at every stage, from a first fifteen pages to a finished draft. What matters is that you arrive with a single project you're committed to and consistent time set aside to work on it across the year. If you have a clear sense of the book you want to write and you're ready to generate new material, the four-season structure will give you the accountability and craft guidance to build it.
I already have a complete draft. Should I take this class?
Absolutely. Season 4 is devoted to re-visioning and what comes next, and the whole year is designed to help you see your manuscript's actual shape rather than the shape someone told you it should have. Many writers arrive with a finished draft that keeps getting feedback urging them to make it more conventional. This is a place to figure out what the book is doing on its own terms, and then do it more deliberately.
What will I actually leave with?
Up to 100 workshopped pages of your novel, four written critique letters, four one-on-one conferences with your instructor, four unconventional novels read and discussed as a cohort, and a working vocabulary for structures beyond the three-act arc. Some students will finish a draft. Some will have a revised manuscript ready to submit. Everyone leaves with a clearer understanding of their own process and a community of writers who understand what they're building.
I finished the program. When will I get published?
We can't promise that every writer who completes this program will get published right away, or ever. Publishing is a tricky business involving a great deal of luck and time — and unconventional novels can be a harder sell than most, which is something we'll talk about honestly in Season 4. That said, we strongly believe this program will help you finish a book that is unmistakably yours, and understand the landscape you're sending it into.
The class meets at 8:00 PM ET on Tuesdays. What if I miss a session?
Life happens across a year, and a missed class here and there is expected. We ask that you come to the application with a realistic sense of whether that weekly window works for you, since consistent attendance is what makes a small cohort function. If you know about conflicts in advance, tell us on your application — we'd rather plan around them than have you disappear in month three.
Do I need to buy books for this class?
You'll need to obtain the four novels the cohort chooses together each season. Craft readings — including excerpts from Jane Alison's Meander, Spiral, Explode, Han Kang's Light and Thread, and Ursula K. Le Guin's The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction — are provided as PDFs or available online.
