This course is for anyone who loves novels and aspires to write them. We’ll read a lot and we’ll write even more. We’ll delve into craft elements like character, plot, structure, perspective, and language. We’ll find the voice and lens that’ll set your novel apart.
Assignment for the first week: Please find a published novel you know well that you’d like to consider your “mentor text” for your novel-in-progress (or novel-not-quite-in-progress-yet). A mentor text is a novel that you refer to as you’re writing, a novel that somehow speaks to your project as an example of plot, voice, structure, ideas, or anything else that inspires you. Please reread the opening chapter of that mentor text for our first meeting.
In this course, writers can expect lots of in-class writing, weekly writing assignments, and some first-blush responses to what we’ve written for homework and in-class prompts.
