“Novel Essentials” Class Package
January 22, 2022 10:00 AM - February 19, 2022 1:00 PM CST
$196.00 – $436.00
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This Event is for Members only.
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$196 for members
$436 for nonmembers
Are you ready to finally write that novel you can’t stop thinking about?
From getting started to hooking your readers to crafting compelling scenes to creating characters that will help drive your story forward, this class package has got you covered as you get ready to embark on the novel writing journey. You’ll walk away from these four classes better equipped to finally write that novel you’ve been thinking about from beginning to end.
Everyone who purchases the package will also be invited to an exclusive class package meet-up.
Before purchasing, be sure to check the dates. As always, there are no refunds on classes.
Each class can be purchased individually by clicking on the class title.
Can’t make it to every class? No worries! All registrants will have access to the class recordings for the duration of the package, plus an additional month.
“How to Begin: Embarking On Your Novel’s Journey” with Natalia Sylvester
Saturday, January 22, 2022, 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM CST
Wondering how to start—and sustain—the journey of writing a novel so that you actually finish?
Depending on the type of writer you are, beginning a novel is either the most daunting part of the process or the easiest. But whether you are fueled by a shiny new idea or feel overwhelmed by those first blank pages, starting your story is a thrilling step full of possibilities. In this workshop, we’ll focus on the role beginnings play in your story’s present and future. They’re unique in that they must capture a reader’s imagination while also laying groundwork for the rest of the story. With a mixture of lecture and in-class exercises, we’ll explore different ways to start a narrative and how to plant the seeds of character and plot in ways that will sustain you as a writer from the beginning to the end of the story.
Natalia Sylvester is the award-winning author of several novels for adults and young adults. CHASING THE SUN was named the Best Debut Book of 2014 by Latinidad and EVERYONE KNOWS YOU GO HOME won an International Latino Book Award and the 2018 Jesse H. Jones Award for Best Work of Fiction from the Texas Institute of Letters. Natalia’s debut YA novel, RUNNING, was a 2020 Junior Library Guild Selection, and her next novel for young adults, BREATHE AND COUNT BACK FROM TEN, is forthcoming in May 2022 from Clarion Books/HarperCollins. A MALETA FULL OF TREASURES, Natalia’s first picture book (illustrated by Juana Medina), will be published by Dial Books in 2024. Natalia’s non-fiction has appeared in the New York Times, Bustle, Catapult, Electric Literature, Latina magazine, and McSweeney’s Publishing. Her essays have been anthologized in collections such as A MAP IS ONLY ONE STORY and A MEASURE OF BELONGING: WRITERS OF COLOR ON THE NEW AMERICAN SOUTH. Born in Lima, Peru, Natalia came to the US at age four and grew up in Florida and the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. She received a BA in Creative Writing from the University of Miami, was a 2021 Visiting Associate Professor at the University of Texas at Austin, and was formerly a faculty member at the Mile-High MFA program at Regis University.
“Setting the Hook: Capturing Your Readers” with Gabino Iglesias
Saturday, January 29, 2022, 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM CST
Learn what to do—and what not to do—to ensure you quickly capture your readers’ attention.
A novel must compete with every other element of modern life. From responsibilities and significant others to Netflix and other books, our writing has to fight for attention, and that requires a strong start that gets readers hooked and makes them want to keep reading. In this class, we’ll discuss various types of openings as well as how to use you inciting incident, characters development, atmosphere, and pacing to make readers fall in love with your story.
Gabino Iglesias is a writer, editor, journalist, and book reviewer living in Austin, Texas. He is the author of Coyote Songs, Zero Saints, and Gutmouth. He is the book reviews editor at PANK Magazine, the TV/film editor at Entropy Magazine, and a columnist for LitReactor and CLASH Media. His nonfiction has appeared in places like The New York Times, the Los Angeles Review of Books, the LA Times, El Nuevo Día, and other venues. The stuff that’s made up has been published in places like Red Fez, Flash Fiction Offensive, Drunk Monkeys, Bizarro Central, Paragraph Line, Divergent Magazine, Cease, Cows, and many horror, crime, surrealist, and bizarro anthologies. When not writing or reading, he has worked as a dog whisperer, witty communications professor, and ballerina assassin. His reviews are published in places like NPR, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, Criminal Element, The Rumpus, Heavy Feather Review, Atticus Review, Entropy, HorrorTalk, Necessary Fiction, Crimespree, and other print and online venues. He teaches at SNHU’s MFA program. You can find him on Twitter at @Gabino_Iglesias.
“Crafting a Vivid Scene from Beginning to End” with Chaitali Sen
Saturday, February 5, 2022, 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM CST
A scene can be simply defined as characters doing something in a particular place at a particular time. Vivid scenes allow the reader to live in the world of your story, forge a deep connection with your characters, and become so enthralled with the action they can’t wait to turn the page. In short, well-crafted scenes make your work memorable.
In this class for writers of fiction, we will analyze a few complete scenes from literature and use the same elements to craft our own scenes from beginning to end. We’ll discuss how to enter and stage a scene, how to introduce conflict and create tension, how to lengthen a scene so that we can do more with less, how to make the scene come alive on the page, and how to exit a scene on the right note. We will also have a chance to discuss our struggles with writing good scenes and brainstorm ideas to get past our blocks. The goal is to go home with a draft of a scene that can become an anchor for crafting more scenes.
Chaitali Sen is the author of the novel The Pathless Sky and numerous short stories and essays published in Ecotone, Shenandoah, New England Review, New Ohio Review, Colorado Review, Electric Literature, LitHub, Los Angeles Review of Books, Catapult, and many other publications. Her story, “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer,” received a special mention in the 2019 Best American Short Stories anthology. Kirkus Reviews called Sen’s debut novel The Pathless Sky (Europa Editions, 2015) “a searingly vivid portrayal of the depths of human emotions-from the first glow of young love to the deeper strength of middle-aged commitment. A poignant and sophisticated work couched in lyrical, effervescent prose.” The novel was a finalist for the Texas Institute of Letters Award for Best First Fiction, and included on Idra Novey’s Buzzfeed list “10 Books That Challenge Our Political Landscape by Inventing New Ones,” Library Journal’s “Top Fall Indie Fiction,” and Mic.com’s “25 Essential Reads to Make Women’s History Last Longer than a Month.” She lives in Austin, Texas.
“Creating Authentic Characters in Narrative Fiction” with John Pipkin
Saturday, February 19, 2022, 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM CST
Learn how to use your characters to drive your plot forward.
In this class, you will learn how to establish and develop compelling characters that will help to push your story forward. The choices that your characters make are what makes your plot come alive, but to know what kind of choices your characters will make, you need to understand the lives of your characters both on the page and off the page. This class will present strategies for creating characters that have rich and authentic selves, and we will make use of writing prompts and writing exercises to help you get to know your characters better.
John Pipkin’s first novel, Woodsburner, was published to national acclaim by Doubleday in 2009. Woodsburner won the New York Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, the Massachusetts Center for the Book Novel Prize, and the Texas Institute of Letters Stephen Turner Prize for First Novel. His novel The Blind Astronomer’s Daughter was published by Bloomsbury in 2016. John has been a Dobie Paisano Fellow at UT-Austin and a fellow at the MacDowell Artist’s Colony in New Hampshire. John teaches at UT-Austin and in the Low-residency MFA Program at Spalding University in Louisville, KY.
Instructors
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Natalia Sylvester is an award-winning author of fiction books for adults, teens, and children. Her young adult novel, BREATHE AND COUNT BACK FROM TEN, was named a Pura Belpré and Schneider Family Award honor book, and her adult novel, EVERYONE KNOWS YOU GO HOME, received the Jesse H. Jones award for Best Book of Fiction from the Texas Institute of Letters. Her first picture book, A MALETA FULL OF TREASURES, illustrated by Juana Medina, was released in 2024 from Penguin Random House, and her debut middle grade novel, NO WAY NEVER SISTERS, co-authored with Chantel Acevedo, will be published in 2026 by Simon & Schuster.
Born in Lima, Peru, Natalia came to the US at age four and grew up in Florida and the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. She received a BA in Creative Writing from the University of Miami, was a 2021 Visiting Associate Professor at the University of Texas at Austin, and has taught fiction as a faculty member of the Mile-High MFA program at Regis University, VONA, and Tin House. - Gabino Iglesias
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Chaitali Sen is the author of the novel The Pathless Sky and the short story collection A New Race of Men from Heaven, winner of the Mary McCarthy Prize in Short Fiction. Her second novel, Girlhood, is forthcoming from Grove, Atlantic. Stories and essays have been published by Catapult, Colorado Review, Copper Nickel, Ecotone, LitHub, New England Review, Texas Observer, and other print and online journals. Currently, she is a PhD candidate in Creative Writing and Literature at University of Houston, and a recipient of the Inprint J. A. and Isabel M. Elkins Foundation Fellowship. -
John Pipkin is the Director of the Undergraduate Creative Writing Program at the University of Texas-Austin and also teaches in the low-residency MFA Program at Spalding University. Originally from Baltimore, he holds a Ph.D. in 19th-century British Literature and is the author of the critically-acclaimed novels: Woodsburner (Nan A Talese/Doubleday 2009) which won the New York Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, and The Blind Astronomer’s Daughter (Bloomsbury 2016). He has received fellowships to MacDowell, Yaddo, Dobie-Paisano, and the Gullkistan Center for Creativity in Iceland. He is also the recipient of the 2021 Harry Ransom Award for Excellence in Teaching at UT-Austin.
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Anti-Harassment Policy
The Writers’ League of Texas is dedicated to providing harassment-free spaces for everyone, regardless of gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, race, age, or religion. We do not tolerate harassment in any form. Violating these rules may result in expulsion from WLT programs without a refund at the discretion of the WLT staff.
Harassment includes, but is not limited to:
- Comments that reinforce social structures of domination (related to gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, race, age, or religion);
- Sexual images not appropriate for the specific subject of the public discussion;
- Deliberate intimidation or stalking;
- Harassing photography or recording;
- Sustained disruption of discussions or other events;
- Unwelcome sexual attention;
- Advocating for, or encouraging, any of the above behavior.
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Participants asked to stop any harassing behavior are expected to comply immediately. If a participant engages in harassing behavior, event organizers retain the right to take any actions to keep the event a welcoming environment for all participants. This includes warning the offender or expulsion from the event with no refund. Event organizers may take action to redress anything designed to, or with the clear impact of, disrupting the event or making the environment hostile for any participants. We expect participants to follow these rules during all events and event-related social activities.
Reporting
If someone makes you or anyone else feel unsafe or unwelcome, please report it as soon as possible. Reports can also be made via email at wlt@writersleague.org. We’ll handle any and all reports as respectfully as possible. You won’t be asked to confront anyone, and we won’t tell anyone who you are.
Accessibility Policy
Closed captioning is available for all online classes and special events.
The WLT is committed to making its programs & services accessible to all writers. Please contact us at wlt@writersleague.org or at 512-499-8914 for more information or to discuss accommodations you may need.
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Writers’ League of Texas classes and workshops are also funded in part by the Texas Commission on the Arts – Investing in a Creative Texas. For more information, go to www.arts.texas.gov.