NVL 37 — Write a Novel in 30 Days: No Critics, No Fear
Quarter: Fall
Day(s): Mondays/Thursdays
Course Format: Live Online (About Formats)
Duration: 6 weeks
Date(s): Oct 23—Dec 7
Time: 5:30—7:00 pm (PT)
Refund Deadline: Oct 25
Unit: 1
Grade Restriction: No letter grade
Tuition: $525
Instructor(s): Samina Ali
Limit: 160
Class Recording Available: Yes
Status: Open
Please Note: Class schedule: 6 Mondays, October 23, October 30, November 6, November 13, November 27, and December 4, 5:30 – 7:00 pm (PT); 6 Thursdays, October 26, November 2, November 9, November 16, November 30, and December 7, 5:30 – 7:00 pm (PT); No class the week of November 20
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(subject to change)
Fall
Date(s)
Oct 23—Dec 7
6 weeks
Refund Date
Oct 25
1 Unit
Fees
$525
Grade Restriction
No letter grade
Instructor(s):
Samina Ali
Limit
160
Recording
Yes
Open
Please Note: Class schedule: 6 Mondays, October 23, October 30, November 6, November 13, November 27, and December 4, 5:30 – 7:00 pm (PT); 6 Thursdays, October 26, November 2, November 9, November 16, November 30, and December 7, 5:30 – 7:00 pm (PT); No class the week of November 20
ACCESS THE SYLLABUS »
(subject to change)
Is it possible to write a novel in a month? Sara Gruen (Water for Elephants) and Hugh Howey (Wool) are two bestselling authors who did just that. With a healthy dose of determination and the support of this course, you can, too! For the month of November, a.k.a. National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), we will set out together to write a novel, with the goal of fast-drafting NaNoWriMo-style from start to finish. This process will be generative, playful, and necessarily uncritical. Beginning two weeks before November, we will do some planning and plotting, revving our engines. Once November hits, each weekday your goal will be to write 1,500 words. To that end, you will receive daily prompts to keep you rolling, as well as weekly lessons in different aspects of the novel-writing craft—inciting incident, character building, narrative arc, and plotting. In addition to the online lectures, the instructor will provide two 90-minute live online sessions every week. During these sessions, you will have the opportunity to take a deeper dive into craft techniques, participate in writing exercises, and regularly come together with a supportive writing community, all of which will inspire you onward. While students will not receive feedback from the instructor, there will be a daily accountability thread and the option of joining small groups to share work with classmates. At the end of the course, students will celebrate their accomplishments and look toward the next steps in getting their first drafts completed.
SAMINA ALI
Author
Samina Ali's novel Madras on Rainy Days received France's Prix du Premier Roman Étranger award, was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award in Fiction, and was named a best debut novel by Poets & Writers. Among other places, her work has been featured in The Economist, The Guardian, and Vogue and on NPR. Ali was also a featured presenter at the Nobel Women's Initiative 2017 International Conference. Textbooks for this course:
(Required) Matt Bell, Refuse to Be Done: How to Write and Rewrite a Novel in Three Drafts (ISBN 978-1641293419)