Follow Us
Article Sections
Article Categories
Your Fantasy Novel Start to Finish – A Six Month Mentored
with P. June Diehl
Is this you? You love reading urban and/or paranormal fantasy. You have an idea for a fantasy and you’re not sure where to begin. Maybe you have tried to start a fantasy novel, but got lost in the middle. Or, if you WANT to write a fantasy, but haven’t fleshed out a concrete idea, this year-long novel writing course is for you.
The main focus of the class will be on the urban/paranormal fantasy, but anyone interested in writing a fantasy novel is welcome!
Over the course of the year, we will cover, in detail, all the craft elements of writing, while working on a draft, moving into the revision process, and ending up with a manuscript that is ready for submission.
Course is limited to 12 Registrants
Course Information:
Course Dates: May 7, 2012 - November 1, 2012
Cost: $100/month for 6 months
SUBMIT THE FOLLOWING:
Student Bio (including location, how long you’ve been writing, your favorite authors, what classes and workshops you’ve taken in the past or currently, why you want to write, anything else you want to share)
Writing Sample (up to 1,000 words of the opening of a story/novel).
Please forward all bios and writing samples to mpierce.sa @ gmail.com (no spaces)
Admittance is at the instructor's discretion. Ms. Diehl will be evaluating applications as they are received, and once an application has been approved, the student will have 48 hours to complete the downpayment.
Tuition will consist of one non-refundable $100 deposit to be applied to your last month’s tuition and five additional monthly payment of $100.
Cancellation Policy: Any student may cancel at any time after the course begins and forfeit the non-refundable deposit
OBJECTIVES
Work independently to complete a novel.
Work in Small Groups – four to five per group – giving feedback on assignments for the course work which relate directly to the novel writing; and during the revision phase – giving feedback which each writer will use to revise his/her novel.
Work with a Writing Buddy – on assignments and feedback (and support!)
Finish readings and writing assignments which cover intermediate to advanced topics
Develop a plan to submit and market your manuscript, and create a query letter and synopsis
FOCUS
Primary: Urban/Paranormal Fantasy
Secondary Focus: Fantasy
Any and all fantasy writers are welcome!
TRACK: Intermediate to advanced.
COURSE OUTLINE:
Weeks One through Three (lessons)
These three weeks include lessons and exercises based on the topics listed below. Each student will read the lessons, recommended online articles, and complete written exercises.
The first three weeks will prepare the student for writing the opening of the story starting with Week Four.
Week One TOPICS:
Introduction to Fantasy (Urban and Paranormal Fantasy (including your novel idea, research, overview of craft elements)
Fantasy World Building (Exploring the elements that make up creating a believable fantasy world).
Story Idea – Generate and Evaluate
Characters & POV (Types of characters, complexity, direct and indirect methods of character presentation, explores the concepts of narrative voice, tone, authorial distance, and reliability, the impact of the chosen story form on POV, the differences in POVs, including distance and perspective, how to pick the right one for your story, reliable and unreliable characters,)
Goals & Conflicts (Unearth the multiple layers and depths of conflict that are needed to make a strong novel, character and story motivation versus conflict, the use of comparisons: metaphor and simile, and allegory and symbolism)
Openings (What makes for a great novel opening, evaluating published story openings, and analyzing your possible openings)
Week Two TOPICS:
Plot & Subplots (Includes novel form & structure concentrating on fantasy, how to move through conflict, crisis, and resolution, the types of plots and how to develop and deepen your plot, seek out possible subplots that enhances the main plot, types of subplots, and analyze where and how to place them)
Description & Dialog (Including filtering, the active voice, prose rhythm, mechanics, and detail, when, how, and where to include description in a way that doesn’t slow the pace of the novel, probe speech versus dialog constructs, subtext, format and style including the inclusion of thoughts, aspects of writing dialog so the reader finds it realistic, enhances and moves the story forward, and what can be conveyed in dialog)
Story and Scene Structure (building scenes) (Including the structure, type, and purpose of scenes, when to use summary instead of scene, transitions, and organizing scenes within the novel)
Foreshadowing, Backstory & Flashback (The importance of using foreshadowing, how and when to use it to enhance the theme and associate it with other fictional elements, and accessing if you have enough foreshadowing to create a satisfying story ending, how and when to introduce these elements into your novel and what to avoid, how to tie these elements into theme and other fictional elements)
Middles (Techniques to keep the story moving through the middle of the novel)
Week Three TOPICS:
Setting & Mood (Examine how to use the setting as a secondary character, harmony & conflict between character and setting, symbolic settings, including alien and familiar settings, building underlying themes and add foreshadowing, narrative time)
Theme & Pacing (Discover the meaning behind your story, idea & morality, how fictional elements contribute to theme, how pacing is used to benefit the ups and downs of story structure)
Endings (Explore ways to end a novel, which one works for your story, and how to achieve a satisfying ending for you and your reader)
Introduction to Re-visioning Your Novel (How revision should be re-visioning your novel, ways to revise your novel, and choosing a method that will work for you, the focus will be on planning the aspects and elements of your story for revision, partly based on the feedback received from your small group work)
Weeks Four through Eighteen (14 weeks – no formal instruction) – THE DRAFT
Weeks Nineteen through Twenty-Five (6 weeks – no formal instruction) – THE REVISION
Week Twenty-Six
TOPICS:
Submission Package (including the query letter and synopsis)
Publishers and Agents
Marketing
INSTRUCTOR’S BIO
P. June Diehl is the former Editorial and Senior Editor for Virtual Tales and the former Senior SF Editor for ePress-Online. She currently coaches authors.
June has a Bachelor of Science (Education) degree from Madison College, a Masters of Education from James Madison University, and taught in several public schools systems. She is enrolled in UCLA’s Writing Program, focusing on long and short fiction.
Author of THE MAGIC & THE MUNDANE: A Guide for the Writer’s Journey, she teaches and mentors writing classes online at Writer’s Village University and at Savvy Authors as well as having conducted workshops on various elements of creative writing both online and locally.
Ms. Diehl has published poetry, short stories, and articles online and in print. She’s finalizing a novel and working on several other writing projects.
The author lives in Virginia with three cats and a large, mystery dog.
Member Spotlight
