OWC 101 E — The Writing Life: Form and Theory of the Novel
Quarter: Fall
Instructor(s): Deborah Johnson
Date(s): Sep 24—Dec 3
Class Recording Available: Yes
Class Meeting Day: Thursdays
Grade Restriction: Letter grade only
Class Meeting Time: 12:00—1:15 pm (PT)
Please Note: No class the week of November 23
Tuition: $1290
Refund Deadline: Sep 26
Unit(s): 2
Enrollment Limit: 15
Status: Open
Quarter: Fall
Day: Thursdays
Duration: 10 weeks
Time: 12:00—1:15 pm (PT)
Date(s): Sep 24—Dec 3
Unit(s): 2
Tuition: $1290
Refund Deadline: Sep 26
Instructor(s): Deborah Johnson
Grade Restriction: Letter grade only
Enrollment Limit: 15
Recording Available: Yes
Status: Open
Please Note: 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.
DEBORAH JOHNSON
Author
Deborah Johnson’s novel The Secret of Magic received the 2015 Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction. Her previous novel, The Air Between Us, received the Mississippi Library Association Award for fiction. She worked in Rome for many years as an editor and translator and as a broadcaster at Vatican Radio. She has completed a new novel, Washington & Leigh, a ghost story about the beginnings of rock and roll set in 1950s Mississippi, which will be published in early 2027. Textbooks for this course:
(Required) Ernest Gaines, A Lesson Before Dying (ISBN 978-0375702709)
(Required) Hernan Diaz, Trust (ISBN 978-0593420324)
(Required) Elizabeth George, Write Away: One Novelist's Approach to Fiction and the Writing Life (ISBN 978-0060560447)
(Optional) Stephanie Soileau, Should the Waters Take Us (ISBN 978-0385551786)
(Required) Hernan Diaz, Trust (ISBN 978-0593420324)
(Required) Elizabeth George, Write Away: One Novelist's Approach to Fiction and the Writing Life (ISBN 978-0060560447)
(Optional) Stephanie Soileau, Should the Waters Take Us (ISBN 978-0385551786)