NVL 51 W — Novel Workshop for Manuscripts in Progress: Maintaining Tension
Quarter: Spring
Instructor(s): Julia Pierpont
Date(s): Apr 1—Jun 3
Class Recording Available: Yes
Class Meeting Day: Tuesdays
Class Meeting Time: 12:00—1:00 pm (PT)
Tuition: $1000
Refund Deadline: Apr 3
Unit(s): 2
Enrollment Limit: 18
Status: Registration opens Feb 24, 8:30 am (PT)
Quarter: Spring
Day: Tuesdays
Duration: 10 weeks
Time: 12:00—1:00 pm (PT)
Date(s): Apr 1—Jun 3
Unit(s): 2
Tuition: $1000
Refund Deadline: Apr 3
Instructor(s): Julia Pierpont
Enrollment Limit: 18
Recording Available: Yes
Status: Registration opens Feb 24, 8:30 am (PT)
You’re well on your way with your novel: the catalyst is strong, the characters are established, and you’ve written the inciting incident. Maybe you can even conjure a vision, when you close your eyes, of what your book’s final moments will entail. But how do you navigate the journey from the early pages to the end without losing momentum or falling into the dreaded “sagging middle”? This workshop is designed to guide you through the challenging middle sections by teaching you how to infuse key scenes and plot points with fresh suspense and deepen your protagonist’s conflicts while creatively increasing the tension.
For inspiration and guidance, we’ll read In a Lonely Place by Dorothy B. Hughes, exploring how she develops complex antagonists, allows her protagonist to make pivotal missteps, and uses dramatic irony to keep readers engaged. Each week, students may submit up to 1,000 words of their novel in progress for feedback from the instructor and peers in small groups. Weekly readings will inspire discussions on craft, while deadlines will help ensure steady progress. Feedback will focus on new strategies to maintain tension and drive your novel toward a compelling conclusion.
For inspiration and guidance, we’ll read In a Lonely Place by Dorothy B. Hughes, exploring how she develops complex antagonists, allows her protagonist to make pivotal missteps, and uses dramatic irony to keep readers engaged. Each week, students may submit up to 1,000 words of their novel in progress for feedback from the instructor and peers in small groups. Weekly readings will inspire discussions on craft, while deadlines will help ensure steady progress. Feedback will focus on new strategies to maintain tension and drive your novel toward a compelling conclusion.
Since most of the learning in this course takes place asynchronously in threaded discussions on the Canvas classroom site, the live Zoom sessions are limited to 60 minutes per week.
JULIA PIERPONT
Author
Julia Pierpont is the author of the best-selling novel Among the Ten Thousand Things, which received the Prix Fitzgerald in France, as well as The Little Book of Feminist Saints. Her writing has appeared in The Guardian, The New Yorker, The New York Times Book Review, and Guernica. She received an MFA from NYU. Textbooks for this course:
(Required) Dorothy B. Hughes, In a Lonely Place (ISBN 978-1681371474)