Novel Writing II: Continuing Your Novel

(EGL 135 W)

If you want to write a novel but are unsure how to sustain a piece of long fiction, then this threecourse series is for you. Building upon Fall’s course, “The Powerful Beginning,” this quarter’s course is designed to help students deepen their awareness of the craft of novel writing and get over the hump of the middle section. In the Spring, “Novel Writing III: A Plan for Success” will show students different ways to bring the pieces together and write a satisfying ending. These courses will provide students with the regular deadlines, creative assignments, and supportive feedback that benefit writers at all stages. We will also discuss practical aspects of becoming a novelist, such as how to find an agent and get your work published and read. While these three courses build upon one another, each course can be taken independently as well.

Novel Writing II: Continuing Your Novel

Whether you’ve recently started your novel or have been working on it for years, you’ve experienced the excitement and satisfaction that come when the work is going well. But writing a novel can be daunting, too—not only because of the complexity of the form, but also because the initial inspiration is rarely enough to sustain a project of this length. In this course, we will look together at how to keep moving forward. How do we come up with ideas that are both logical to the world of our books and yet surprising? How do we deepen characters so that they feel alive to readers? And how can we sustain the energy and excitement that made us want to write in the first place? We will do close readings of contemporary and classic novels, generate new material for your novel through writing exercises, and discuss, collectively, a chapter of each student’s own novel-in-progress. Ideally, your classmates will prove to be companions in your writing process, providing feedback to help strengthen your work as well as encouragement.

For more information about The Online Writer's Studio, please visit our FAQs.

Padma Viswanathan, Lecturer in Continuing Studies

Padma Viswanathan is a fiction writer, playwright, and journalist. She has published fiction in journals including New Letters, Subtropics, and The Malahat Review, and took first prize in the 2006 Boston Review Short Story Contest. Her other writing awards include residencies at the Banff Playwrights’ Colony, Sacatar, and The MacDowell Colony. Her first novel, The Toss of a Lemon, has been published in six countries and shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers Prize (Regional) for Best First Book and the Amazon.ca First Novel Prize.