OWC 101 C — The Writing Life: Form and Theory of the Novel
Quarter: Fall
Instructor(s): Rachel Howard
Date(s): Sep 22—Nov 30
Class Recording Available: Yes
Class Meeting Day: Tues/Mondays
Grade Restriction: Letter grade only
Class Meeting Time: 5:30—6:45 pm (PT)
Please Note: Class will meet on Mondays, 5:30 - 6:45 pm (PT). Note: No class on Monday, September 21. The first class will meet on Tuesday, September 22 instead. No class the week of November 23.
Tuition: $1290
Refund Deadline: Sep 24
Unit(s): 2
Enrollment Limit: 15
Status: Registration opens Aug 17, 8:30 am (PT)
Quarter: Fall
Day: Tues/Mondays
Duration: 10 weeks
Time: 5:30—6:45 pm (PT)
Date(s): Sep 22—Nov 30
Unit(s): 2
Tuition: $1290
Refund Deadline: Sep 24
Instructor(s): Rachel Howard
Grade Restriction: Letter grade only
Enrollment Limit: 15
Recording Available: Yes
Status: Registration opens Aug 17, 8:30 am (PT)
Please Note: Class will meet on Mondays, 5:30 - 6:45 pm (PT). Note: No class on Monday, September 21. The first class will meet on Tuesday, September 22 instead. No class the week of November 23.
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.
This first course in the OWC series introduces the fundamentals of novel design. Students will read and analyze two published novels, developing their own ideas about how authors create the effects they do on the page. The class will look first at a commercially popular novel, considering such key questions as: How does the inciting incident prepare readers for the climax? How do scenes build on the tension of previous scenes, raising the stakes? And how do characters’ internal drives interface with external challenges to create a meaningful plot? The class will then revisit these questions with a work of literary fiction, considering whether and how these fundamentals apply to a quieter novel. Weekly discussion questions and writing prompts will help students think about how best to construct their own books. In the second half of the quarter, students will share a section of their novel-in-progress for supportive discussion by the class, gaining vital insight for the drafting and development they will be doing in workshop throughout the remainder of the certificate program. This course will also help students to develop the habits of successful fiction writers. The goal is for each student to reach a better understanding of how to shape a novel, a better grasp on the individual writing process, and a greater ability to constructively self-evaluate.
This first course in the OWC series introduces the fundamentals of novel design. Students will read and analyze two published novels, developing their own ideas about how authors create the effects they do on the page. The class will look first at a commercially popular novel, considering such key questions as: How does the inciting incident prepare readers for the climax? How do scenes build on the tension of previous scenes, raising the stakes? And how do characters’ internal drives interface with external challenges to create a meaningful plot? The class will then revisit these questions with a work of literary fiction, considering whether and how these fundamentals apply to a quieter novel. Weekly discussion questions and writing prompts will help students think about how best to construct their own books. In the second half of the quarter, students will share a section of their novel-in-progress for supportive discussion by the class, gaining vital insight for the drafting and development they will be doing in workshop throughout the remainder of the certificate program. This course will also help students to develop the habits of successful fiction writers. The goal is for each student to reach a better understanding of how to shape a novel, a better grasp on the individual writing process, and a greater ability to constructively self-evaluate.
RACHEL HOWARD
Author
Rachel Howard is the author of a memoir about her father’s unsolved murder, The Lost Night, and a novel, The Risk of Us. Her personal essays and stories have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The New York Times "Draft" series, The Los Angeles Review of Books, StoryQuarterly, and O, The Oprah Magazine. She is the recipient of a 2024 National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship and is working on a new memoir. Howard received an MFA in fiction from Warren Wilson College. Textbooks for this course:
(Required) Nancy Kress, Element of Fiction: Beginnings, Middles and Ends (ISBN 978-1599632193)
(Required) Stephen Koch, The Modern Library Writer’s Workshop (ISBN 978-0375755583)
(Required) Elizabeth Strout, My Name Is Lucy Barton (ISBN 978-0812979527)
(Required) Kaveh Akbar, Martyr! (ISBN 978-0593685778)
(Optional) Stephanie Soileau, Should the Waters Take Us (ISBN 979-8217347025)
(Required) Stephen Koch, The Modern Library Writer’s Workshop (ISBN 978-0375755583)
(Required) Elizabeth Strout, My Name Is Lucy Barton (ISBN 978-0812979527)
(Required) Kaveh Akbar, Martyr! (ISBN 978-0593685778)
(Optional) Stephanie Soileau, Should the Waters Take Us (ISBN 979-8217347025)