Mapping the Plot: February Edition

Mapping the Plot

Saturday, February 10

12:30 to 4:30

Hudson Valley Writers' Center

Sleepy Hollow, NY

~.:.~

SIGN UP HERE

Spend an afternoon with snacks, coffee, markers, index cards, and poster board at the Hudson Valley Writers' Center, mapping out a plot for your novel.

Whether you're in the revision stage and want to find the structure in your story, or are in the dreaming stage and want to lay down a blueprint for your novel-to-be, this class will give you the tools and time to do it.

Participants will leave with a physical plot map constructed during the afternoon, plus exercises, readings, and a personalized timetable with deadlines for the next stage of your writing/ revision.

SIGN UP HERE

Map of the World, Gerona Beatus mansucript, c. 975

I Am Not a Real Writer

I Am Not a Real Writer

One-day class

Saturday, January 19

12:30 — 4:30

The Hudson Valley Writers' Center

❉

❉  ❉   Sign up here   ❉  ❉

❉

Did you make a new year's resolution to write in 2019? This fiction writing intensive is for everyone who is concerned about having what it takes, whether the issue is “not being a writer,” “having no good ideas,” or anything else. No experience required. Through exploratory exercises, light readings and discussion, this class will help you find some of the stories that (spoiler alert) are definitely hiding inside you.

Sign up here

or use the contact form on the right to ask a question ->

Basket of Sprouting Bulbs, 1887, Vincent Van Gogh

Year of Your Book 2019

Make 2019 the year you write your book!

Year of Your Book

The Hudson Valley Writers' Center

Sleepy Hollow, NY

Wednesdays 10:15 to 12:15

.. Starts January 16 ..

-

 -  CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP  -

More upcoming classes here

-

Year of Your Book is a yearlong course in six-week sessions. You are encouraged to take all the sessions, but it is possible to drop in and out as well.

This course is open to anyone interested in writing a novel or story collection. Whether you have a partial draft, or just a dream, this class will help you take your manuscript to the next level.

Winter Session: January 16 through February 20
Some things we'll cover: 
How do I even start?
Planting seeds: characters, places, situations, complications
The basics of getting a draft going: a daily practice, permission to be messy, a spirit of exploration, permission to be vulnerable.

Spring I: March 6 through April 10
The middle of the draft: Structure, sketching a plot map, deepening the characters, exploring relationships, getting serious (with a sense of playfulness).

Spring II: April 24 through May 29
The home stretch: getting to the end of the super rough draft. Sketching some endings. Considering the "shadow story." Allowing themes and structure to reveal themselves.

Summer Session 
The summer session is designed to be easy to drop in and out of, to accommodate vacation schedules. Assignments will be low-key, fun, and experimental. A great chance to gain a fresh perspective and let some fresh air into the draft you just finished and start to think about how you'll shape and revise it.

Fall I: September through October
Beginning revision: The big read-through! The pink pen: Being your own editor. A revision checklist. Various fun maps and diagrams.

Fall II: October through December
The trifold board and sticky notes. Dissecting scenes. Winding up the first revision. Looking back and looking forward.


SIGN UP HERE


More upcoming classes

Book of Doves, Nicholas Roerich, 1911

New Classes

Advanced Year of Your Book at the Hudson Valley Writers' Center starts January 14

Year of Your Book @ HVWC starts January 16

"I Am Not a Real Writer!" @ HVWC one day: January 19

Applications are open for the 2019 Yale Writers' Workshop where I'm excited to be teaching a new ten-day "Work-in-Progress" intensive  in June. My intensive is open to YWW alumni only, but the whole program is great, with a range of workshops in different genres, on the beautiful Yale campus.

Edouard Manet, Woman Writing, 1863