long form: The Novel Workshop
“Be prepared to set aside such aspirational ideals as inspiration. We will concentrate on the real key to writing a successful novel: the work. Think of this course as novel bootcamp. Here, along with craft, we will develop fortitude and discipline. We will demystify the art of novel-writing, roll up our sleeves and work our butts off, no excuses. We’re going to make time for our stories if they come out of our sleep. We’re going to hold one another accountable, but more importantly, hold ourselves accountable. Our objective for this twelve-month intensive is to get our novels as close to completion as possible. In doing so, we will hone our craft, distill our narrative and thematic vision for the work, develop wholly realized characters with fully developed dramatic arcs, ever aware of conflict, stakes, rhetorical persuasion, thematic cohesion, and all the elements of drama that make a novel sing. We will workshop our novels in an environment that is both respectful and demanding. Our goal is not merely to occupy the cultural space afforded the writer, but to become great writers, to push ourselves ever toward further growth and understanding as artists.”
