This class will help you finish your novel, improve your writing skills, and build your creative confidence. My number one goal is to help you feel amazing about your creative work. As a published novelist with over twenty years of teaching experience, I've found this helps improve the quality of the writing more than any other element. 

** As soon as you register, you will receive an automated intro letter with a weekly guide and bonus videos so you're ready for your first class. If you don't receive this, reach out to me.** 

**Note that this class is for middle schoolers and high schoolers. I have a younger class too.** 

This novel writing class is designed to work for intermediate to advanced writers. It is fun and inclusive with a lot of writing time. My goal is 25 minutes of writing in every class because that's what my students want. I'm available during that entire time to help you if you get stuck and I have extra prompts ready to keep the ideas flowing. I will help you finish your novel!

At the end, you publish your book, and I show you how to do this. 

Writing a novel is an incredible way to explore creativity and achieve a huge and rare life accomplishment. For the rest of your life, you can say, "I wrote and finished a book!" It will not only improve your writing in every area, it'll make you a better storyteller. Even if you don't plan on becoming a novelist, most careers require some degree of storytelling. 

All students are all working on books at different points - beginning, middle, and end - in class, we focus on skills that apply to any chapter. I will help you plot your book outside of the class. I recommend brainstorming your story idea before your first class or you can do it in that first class. Send me an email about your story idea if you can before your first day. 

-----What is the vibe of the class?-----
My style is kind and fun. I've taught novel writing to all levels and all types of learners, neurotypical and neurodivergent, shy kids and outgoing kids, homeschoolers, traditional schoolers. I design the class around the students' needs, teaching in an uplifting way and helping you see your incredible strengths as writers and as humans in this world. Writing is about capturing humanity. I'm a novelist for this age group, and this is why I teach this class - I care about each student and their very important creative life. 

-----What is the typical structure of each live class?-----
For the first part of the class, we talk, I give some examples about the skill of the day, we do some brainstorming on characters/plan, verbally or in the chat, whatever you prefer. You can also stay silent. I want you to feel totally comfortable. We either do 10 minutes writing, take a break, discuss the next skill, and then do another 15 minutes writing, or we do 25 minutes straight, and I give some literary devices or challenges halfway through in the chat. Most of the teens prefer a solid chunk of time to write. During that writing time, I'm available to answer questions in the chat or jump into your document to help you brainstorm. 

-----The class has already started. Can I still join? -----
Yes! This is an ongoing class, which means you can start it at any time and it never ends. You write your entire book in the class and then you take a break, or you start a new book. 

------Do we share the writing out loud in class?------
No, we don't read out loud. In my experience, sharing can be a very stressful thing, and even when you get a positive response, it can slow down the writing because you then write in a self conscious way, becoming aware that others will read it. I want you to finish this book, and sharing can do the opposite. Sharing can add stress to a class, and our class is all about clearing stress and building creative confidence. Occasionally, I will offer the chance to share your books with others to read, giving positive-only feedback, but it just depends on what the students want. 

------Can I share my writing with you?------
Of course! This is a big part of this class. Every week, I want you to share your pages and I'll send you positive encouraging feedback. I read up to five double spaced pages from each student every week. If you want feedback on anything you wrote before our class started, this needs to be scheduled as private editing sessions. If you have 100 pages, of course that would take me many hours, so I need to limit my feedback. You can opt for positive-only feedback also. Or you can wait to share it until your whole book is finished. In that case, I just look at how many weeks you've done and tell you how many pages of feedback I can do. Even if you've written a lot before the class, usually I can give you some suggestions on the first pages and you can apply that feedback to the rest. 

------Do you give us any material or extra workshops to do outside of class?------
You will get a guide to help you brainstorm and work on skills. 

------How long does my book have to be?------
I think it's good to aim for at ten chapters, but don't aim for four-hundred pages for your first book. A novel or novella can be 50 double spaced pages...or 25! The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton was  40 pages when she submitted it to publishers. If you plan to submit your book to the Scholastic Book Awards, it should be around 100 pages. Write a synopsis first. You'll be submitting this synopsis, so follow the plot brainstorming for a four-act structure. I will help you plan out how many pages you need to write, based on your goals.

------What if I never finish my books? Will I finish one in your class?------
You aren't alone. This is one of the most common problems. Yes, most of my students finish, but of course, that's up to you. One thing that will help is a bit of planning. My weekly guide, if you actually follow it, has a very high success rate. In fact, a version of this guide will soon be published. Writing a book takes far longer if you don't take the time to develop characters and think up a basic plan. I also recommend my intense class if you really want to finish - this way your attention won't wander. 

---What is the weekly class topic schedule for fall classes?---

Aug 26-Sept 1: DESCRIPTIONS + BEAUTIFUL LANGUAGE + CELEBRATION 
I will talk about fabulous sentences that each of you has written to teach a different literary language technique. 

Sept 2-8: BRAINSTORMING YOUR STORY and SCENE 
Since this is the start of the school year, we will do some brainstorming to help you come up with ideas for your book. For those already in the middle of a book, I will give options to develop characters and your world to enrich your story. 

Sept 9-15: PLOTTING and IMAGINING YOUR SCENE
We will go over plotting basics and how to plan as you go by following the guide. Students will plan and write whatever chapter they’re working on. Then we will work on how to imagine yourself as the main character, embodying them so that you never run out things to write about - this can keep your from getting "stuck".  

Sept 16-22: VOICE, SENSE OF HUMOR, OBSERVATIONS, THOUGHTS
Readers want to identify with your characters, and they need to love your main character, so they care about what happens to this character. This week, you’ll learn how to do this through their sense of humor, observations, and thoughts. 

Sept 23-29: DIALOGUE, THOUGHTS, ACTIONS, DESCRIPTION
We will learn the grammar of dialogue punctuation and how to balance your scenes with a mix of dialogue, thoughts, actions, and descriptions. 

Sept 30 - Oct 6: WORLD-BUILDING: Multi-Sensory Descriptions and Rules
As you write, you’ll be showing what this world is like through interesting descriptions and the main character’s thoughts about their world. I also want you to think about the rules of this world and how you can show it in your writing. 

Oct 7 - 13: GOALS and OBSTACLES
What are the characters’ goals? If you don’t know this, you can’t figure out what obstacles and problems will stop them. Let’s figure that out today!

Oct 14 - Oct 20: SUSPENSE, TENSION, TWISTS, AND REVEALS
You need to keep the reader interested throughout your story. In class, we will work on scene questions, foreshadowing, and cliffhangers. 

Oct 21 - 27: WRITE AN ACTION SCENE
Learn how to write an action scene in a way that pulls in the reader with multi-sensory description, strong verbs, and tension. 

Oct 28 - Nov 3:  REACTIONS + BODY LANGUAGE
When big things happen or someone says something surprising, your characters will react. You will learn how to show us the main character’s thoughts, plus everyone’s actions, dialogue, and body language. This is one of the biggest skills kids miss, but not after this class!

Nov 4 - 10:  SHOW DON’T TELL 
When writing your book, you need to describe people and the setting in an interesting way using all of the senses + metaphors/similes. In the class, you’ll learn how to show a character’s feelings rather than telling them through the description, thoughts, and use of objects. 

Nov 11 - 17: Common Mistakes and What NOT to Do
We’ll talk about some common writing mistakes and how to fix them quickly and easily in your own writing. 

Nov 18 - 24: Beautiful Language
We’ll look at literary language and how to add it to your writing. 

Nov 25 - Dec 1
THOUGHTS, OPINIONS, ANGER, FEARS, AND SADNESS: MAKE THE READER CARE
We'll work on how you show your main character's personality….this is the number one element that will pull in a reader. 

 Dec 2 - 8: DRAMATIZATION and MULTI-SENSORY WRITING
You’ll use all the senses in today’s writing. 

Dec 9 - 15: DIALOGUE, REVEALS, AND PLOT TWISTS
Learn how to write interesting dialogue by avoiding the boring parts of a conversation, revealing new information and plot twists through dialogue, and showing the character's thoughts and reactions about these reveals. 

Dec 16-22: GOALS and OBSTACLES: BEES, SHARKS, MONSTERS, BEARS, BULLIES
In every scene, your character will have a scene goal, as well as the big story goal, and there will be a problem, either big or small. Let's figure out the big and small problems and how your character will overcome them.

Dec 23-28: SUSPENSE, FORESHADOWING, CLIFFHANGERS 

Dec 24, Dec 25, Dec 26, Dec 31, Jan 1 - HOLIDAY BREAK