Course Details

You want to write a novel. So what's the big deal? Well, it's a huge task to take on by yourself. Self-imposed deadlines rarely work. And what's the actual writing process? Do you need an outline? What do you need to know about dialogue? How can you stop procrastinating? Join 11 fellow writers in your pursuit?under the guidance of a novelist who knows what he's doing?to get your novel finished. If you stick with the pace of the class, you will have a finished first draft of your novel by the time three months are over. You'll learn the lost art of craft, the power of the outline, when to leave well enough alone, and how to turn your pages into a page-turner. If you need the edge to write that novel (and make it saleable), this is the class for you.

For the first six weeks, you'll get a lesson at the beginning of each class on writing an outline, writing characters, tone, theme, dialogue, etc.

In this class, you can expect to learn:

• How to write a perfect outline, and how to know when to change it.
• How to create strong characters and motivation for them
• What you want your novel's tone to be, and how to create it (and make sure it remains throughout)
• The secret behind perfect dialogue
• How to discover (or impose) the theme of your novel, and how to carry that theme as a throughline for the piece

By the end of class, students can expect to have:
The first draft of a novel.

Admission requirements:
To apply, you must submit a letter of interest (including work history), and a fiction writing sample that should not exceed 2,000 words.

Instructor Bio

Clay McLeod Chapman is the author of two books, Rest Area, a collection of short stories, and Miss Corpus, a novel, both published by Hyperion books. Creator of the long-running Pumpkin Pie Show, a cross-pollination of theatre, literature, and music, he has performed at various venues such as the New York International Fringe Festival, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the Romania International Theatre Festival.

Clay McLeod Chapman's Courses