Fundamentals of Novel Writing

3 units

This course is for students seriously interested in the art and process of writing novel length fiction, including both Genre Fiction and Literary Fiction. The course will explore the process of developing a story idea, fleshing out the world the story is set in, creating full three dimensional characters, plotting stories, and developing writing habits necessary to complete a full-length novel. Students will complete the 90-day Novel approach created by Alan Watt and are expected to write the first third of a first draft novel by the end of the semester, approximately 20k words or 80 pages. While students will write their novels individually, they will present outlines to the class and participate in regular discussion with classmates and the instructor to ensure the process moves along smoothly. Readings will revolve around improving the students' writing skills and the early stages of novel writing, as well as examples of published novels. Class time will be spent building the toolkit necessary to prepare and sustain writing a full-length novel. Writing exercises will allow students to spend time practicing the lessons as well as working on their novels. Students should enter the course with an idea for a novel they'd like to write and be ready to commit to daily writing in order to accomplish the goal of a third of a novel by the end of the semester. Prerequisite: At least one class in creative writing, preferably fiction or nonfiction