Class Description
The Nuts and Bolts of Novel Planning Series comprises two four-week classes–Character, and Story Beats–that will help make the blank page less scary by giving you a concrete structure to follow while planning your novel. Each week’s session will focus on one element of the novel plan, with each new piece building on the previous one with specific exercises for you to employ on your own. You will work through, in a digestible and logical fashion, all of the components necessary to create an outline to guide you in drafting your manuscript. The first four-week course will focus on character, while the second will emphasize story beats and structure.
In the first four-week class, Character, we will begin by focusing on your premise and the major building blocks of a story to consider straight out of the gate. We then explore point of view and how to tell the narrative to achieve your desired goal. We’ll spend time getting to the heart of who your characters are and what they want. We’ll then focus on how to create antagonists who best serve the story as well as how to round out your cast with side characters.
The Nuts and Bolts of Novel Planning is a lecture-heavy course offering a logical, practical method for planning your novel. We focus deeply on craft and hands-on tools and less on inspiration and the muse. This course will offer homework exercises to be done on your own time. There will be a few chances to share some of your material in class, but this class is focused on lecture, not workshopping. At the end of this course, you will have all of the building blocks you need to complete your novel outline and lay the foundation for your novel.
To sign up for the second four-week class, Story Beats, click here.
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.