No matter what type of novel you’re interested in—literary, science fiction, paranormal, young adult, rom-com, mystery, etc.—you’d probably think it ideal if it had many readers. If it attracted buzz. If it were, in other words, popular. In this weeklong workshop, we’ll discuss the elements that make popular novels (across genres) so popular (according to bestseller lists and computer algorithms), and we’ll look at participants’ submissions with these elements in mind, to increase the odds that your own novels will become widely read. Our goal in this workshop is to help you plan or strengthen your ideas for novels so that they become works you’re not only proud of—but also works that just might enable you to buy that nice little château you have your eye on….

This class is best suited for writers with some experience. (We define “experience” broadly. If you’ve taken workshops in fiction or narrative nonfiction, or you’ve established a writing practice on your own, or you’re familiar with the elements of narrative craft via some other means, you’re experienced!)

The class welcomes those with a novel already underway and those interested in generating new work.

While the class is focused on the novel, writers working on memoirs or connected short story collections are most welcome.

How the course will work:

At the start of the week, we’ll discuss where you are in your novel (anywhere is fine, by the way—from “I don’t have the faintest idea about what I want to write about,” to “I’m on my two-hundred-eighty-second draft—but who’s counting?”).

For the remainder of the week, we’ll hold lectures, discussions, and workshops based on some of the most important elements that make a popular novel in any genre—theme, plot, style, and character. Each day, we’ll workshop short submissions (a page or two) from each participant, based on the previous day’s lecture. You are invited to submit brand new work for discussion or work you’ve brought from home. There will be no reading homework required at night, so you'll have plenty of time to spend the week writing. 

This will be a fun and rewarding class in which you are sure to receive valuable feedback on your writing and feel like you are a valued part of a writing community. Château is not guaranteed.

In this workshop, we will generate new writing through exercises and assignments; you are free to bring work from home that you might revise given the assignments if you like, or, you’re free to create entirely new work from scratch (or some combination of the two). We will provide (verbal) feedback on the writing you produce during our week.