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CW 91 W — YA Workshop: Writing for the Young and the Young at Heart

Quarter: Summer
Instructor(s): Jessie Weaver
Duration: 10 weeks
Location: Online
Date(s): Jun 23—Aug 25
Class Recording Available: Yes
Class Meeting Day: Mondays
 
Class Meeting Time: 6:00—7:00 pm (PT)
Tuition: $1000
   
Refund Deadline: Jun 25
 
Unit(s): 2
   
Enrollment Limit: 18
  
Status: Open
 
Quarter: Summer
Day: Mondays
Duration: 10 weeks
Time: 6:00—7:00 pm (PT)
Date(s): Jun 23—Aug 25
Unit(s): 2
Location: Online
 
Tuition: $1000
 
Refund Deadline: Jun 25
 
Instructor(s): Jessie Weaver
 
Enrollment Limit: 18
 
Recording Available: Yes
 
Status: Open
 
Does your young adult novel sound like it’s written by an adult trying to capture a teen voice without knowing what that should sound like? To write a YA novel that sells, you’ll need a voice that radiates an authentic teenage experience. In this workshop, you will cultivate prose using the five modes of narration—exposition, dialogue, description, internal thought, and action—so your voice shouts, whispers, and yearns like a teen. Each week, you’ll read YA novel excerpts, using your insights to hone your own YA voice. Short workshopped weekly writing prompts will include activities like feeding descriptions through a teen filter, avoiding the Aesop morality trap, and taking your dialogue from snooze to sizzle. You will also have the opportunity to attend Q&A sessions with New York Times and USA Today best-selling YA authors to pick their brains about the YA publishing landscape. Our course will culminate in the submission of your YA novel’s oh-so-important first chapter for workshopping.

JESSIE WEAVER
Author

Jessie Weaver is the author of two YA novels, Live Your Best Lie and Lie Until It's True. She spent 10 years teaching English to teenagers, and in 2019, she completed the Stanford Continuing Studies Online Certificate in Novel Writing.

Textbooks for this course:

(Required) Liz Lawson, Murder Between Friends (ISBN 978-0593301067)
(Required) Krystal Marquis, The Davenports (ISBN 978-0593463345)
(Required) Jessica Brody, Save the Cat! Writes a Young Adult Novel (ISBN 978-1984859235)