OWC 303 E — Novel I: The Powerful Beginning
Quarter: Winter
Instructor(s): Nina Schuyler
Date(s): Jan 5—Mar 9
Class Recording Available: Yes
Class Meeting Day: Tuesdays
Grade Restriction: Letter grade only
Class Meeting Time: 12:00—1:15 pm (PT)
Tuition: $1290
Refund Deadline: Jan 7
Unit(s): 2
Enrollment Limit: 15
Status: Registration opens Nov 30, 8:30 am (PT)
Quarter: Winter
Day: Tuesdays
Duration: 10 weeks
Time: 12:00—1:15 pm (PT)
Date(s): Jan 5—Mar 9
Unit(s): 2
Tuition: $1290
Refund Deadline: Jan 7
Instructor(s): Nina Schuyler
Grade Restriction: Letter grade only
Enrollment Limit: 15
Recording Available: Yes
Status: Registration opens Nov 30, 8:30 am (PT)
This course is not open to the public, but rather by admission only. For more information on the 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.
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.
NINA SCHUYLER
Author
Nina Schuyler is the author of four novels, including Open the Floodgates and Afterword, which won the Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award for Literary and Science Fiction. The Translator was a finalist for the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing. Her short story collection, In This Ravishing World, won the PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Literary Award and was shortlisted for the Northern California Book Award. Schuyler was an assistant professor in the MFA program at the University of San Francisco.Textbooks for this course:
There are no required textbooks; however, some fee-based online readings may be assigned.