Class Description
Books often start with a simple yearning to explore new territory, especially topics you find particularly fascinating, characters who won’t leave you alone, and good stories. But manuscripts get unwieldy--fast. Nine out of ten writers never finish their manuscripts because most first-time book writers get lost without good structure and planning.
Mary Carroll Moore, award-winning author of 13 books in three genres and a PEN/Faulkner nominee, will guide you through a simple and successful book-writing process that can take your book from idea to publication, a process using a three-act structure that eases organization and makes a manuscript vivid and engaging to readers. Find out why Aristotle believed that three acts formed a perfect structure for all stories; why humans lean toward beginning, middle, and end; and why we crave the emotional catharsis of that format in literature, too. For all levels of writers working on nonfiction, memoir, or novels at any stage from seed idea to draft. Learn why strong structuring is the key to selling a book in today's competitive publishing industry.
*Registered students will need to bring the following items to class:
• Your laptop or plenty of paper and a pen for the writing exercises (an extension cord is helpful for using your laptop at the tables).
• 1 large poster board or foam core board or display board for the storyboarding exercise (16 x 20 is a good size).
• 1 package of Post-it notes, any color, small size.
• 2 books that you like, written in the same genre as your book, preferably published within the last 5 years.
• Your manuscript if you have pages or chapters drafted, or any ideas you have so far.
Thanks to the excellent literary citizenship of our donors, scholarships are available for all GrubStreet classes. To apply, click the gray "APPLY FOR SCHOLARSHIP" button. In order to be considered for a scholarship, you must complete your application at least one week before the start date of a class. Please await our scholarship committee's decision before registering for the class. We cannot hold spots in classes, so the sooner you apply, the better. Scholarships cannot be applied retroactively.
For more detailed information about GrubStreet scholarships, including how to contribute to scholarship funds for other students, click here.
This class will take place using Zoom videoconferencing. After registering, a yellow Resources tab will appear in this section containing a link to join class. Please note that you will need to be logged into view the Resources tab.
Zoom Participation:
In our experience, the intimate nature of a writing workshop benefits from on-camera participation. Students are of course welcome to turn their camera off whenever they need to, but it is a community norm for cameras to be on most of the time. You can learn more about using Zoom here.
Zoom Accessibility:
You can enable closed captioning at any time during the meeting by clicking the CC button at the bottom of the screen. If you'd like to access the transcript after class, please make sure to let your instructor ahead of time that you'd like a copy.