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Winter Registration Opens Dec 02
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OWC 303 C — Novel I: The Powerful Beginning

Quarter: Winter
Instructor(s): Ron Nyren
Duration: 10 weeks
Location: Online
Date(s): Jan 14—Mar 18
Class Recording Available: Yes
Class Meeting Day: Tuesdays
Grade Restriction: Letter grade only
Class Meeting Time: 12:00—1:00 pm (PT)
Tuition: $1240
   
Refund Deadline: Jan 17
 
Unit(s): 2
   
Enrollment Limit: 15
  
Status: Registration opens Dec 2, 8:30 am (PT)
 
Quarter: Winter
Day: Tuesdays
Duration: 10 weeks
Time: 12:00—1:00 pm (PT)
Date(s): Jan 14—Mar 18
Unit(s): 2
Location: Online
 
Tuition: $1240
 
Refund Deadline: Jan 17
 
Instructor(s): Ron Nyren
 
Grade Restriction: Letter grade only
 
Enrollment Limit: 15
 
Recording Available: Yes
 
Status: Registration opens Dec 2, 8:30 am (PT)
 
This course is not open to the public, but rather by admission only. For more information on the Online Writing Certificate Program and its application process, please click here.

The beginning of a novel is crucial: establishing a contract with the reader, raising narrative questions, setting the tone and mood of the book, and, of course, introducing the main characters. We will begin by making sure that your novel starts in the right place, with a conflict compelling enough to reveal who these people are, and to ensure that they are making meaningful choices that lead to dramatic action. The challenges that our characters face up front help us to know who they are at the beginning of a book, and also set up expectations for how they might change by the end. Students will spend time thinking about the trajectory they envision not only for their protagonists but also for the secondary characters, and discussing issues related to characterization, such as point of view, dialogue, and voice. In this course, everyone will write and workshop an opening section of up to 5000 words.

RON NYREN
Former Stegner Fellow, Stanford

Ron Nyren’s novel The Book of Lost Light received Black Lawrence Press’s 2019 Big Moose Prize and was a finalist for the 2020 David J. Langum, Sr. Prize in American Historical Fiction. His fiction has appeared in The Paris Review, The Missouri Review, The North American Review, Glimmer Train Stories, Mississippi Review, and 100 Word Story, and his stories have been shortlisted for the O. Henry Award and the Pushcart Prize. He is the co-author, with Sarah Stone, of Deepening Fiction: A Practical Guide for Intermediate and Advanced Writers. He received an MFA in creative writing from the University of Michigan.

Textbooks for this course:

(Recommended) Daniel Alarcón, The Secret Miracle: The Novelist’s Handbook (ISBN 978-0805087147)
(Recommended) Charles Baxter, The Art of Subtext: Beyond Plot (ISBN 978-1555974732)
(Recommended) Joan Silber, The Art of Time in Fiction: As Long As It Takes (ISBN 978-1555975302)