“The Novelist’s Toolbox” Class Package
November 1, 2023 6:30 PM - November 29, 2023 9:30 PM CDT
$236.00 – $476.00
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This Event is for Members only.
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$236 for members
$476 for nonmembers
Learn the practical tools that will help you write a novel from start to finish.
This class package aims to equip writers with the practical tools to take on the novel writing process and finish it. From the pre-planning stages of novel writing, including outlines and character studies, to conducting research and finding the right balance for it in your writing, to understanding structure and plotting, and finally, how to edit your own work, these four classes will set you up for success as you embark on a new novel project.
In addition, everyone who purchases the package will be invited to an exclusive class package meet-up on Saturday, November 4, from 9:00-10:00 AM CDT, a great opportunity to connect with fellow writers as you enjoy this shared experience.
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.
“Prep Your Novel” with Alex Temblador
Wednesday, November 1, 2023, 6:30 PM to 9:30 PM CDT
This class will put writers on the right path to starting a new novel.
By breaking down the major elements of writing a novel – characters, setting, research, plot, character development, outlines, and planning, this class aims to put writers on the path to success as they set out on beginning a new book. Attendees will undergo a large variety of exercises that will involve making lists, crafting scenes, creating outlines, and more. Each exercise is intended to help writers know everything they can about their book before they begin writing. By the end of the class, you’ll know your characters and the story line more intimately, as well as have the outlines, research, and information needed to sit down, write a novel, and finish it.
Alex Temblador is the award-winning author of Secrets of the Casa Rosada and Half Outlaw. Her forthcoming non-fiction craft writing book, Writing an Identity Not Your Own, will be published by St. Martin’s Essentials on August 13, 2024. She has an essay in Living Beyond Borders: Growing Up Mexican in America and a short story in Speculative Fiction for Dreamers: A Latinx Anthology. Based in Dallas, Texas, Alex runs the literary panel series called LitTalk.
“Researching Your Novel: How to Do It and When to Stop” with James Wade
Wednesday, November 8, 2023, 6:30 PM to 9:30 PM CST
Learn how to successfully conduct research for your novel.
Research is vital to a novel’s accuracy, sense of place, and overall tone. But writers often get stuck or overwhelmed with the amount of information available. The key to success is striking a balance between research and writing, and knowing when one should take precedent over the other. With a world of information at our disposal, this class will help you find the best sources, decide what material is most important, and know when to move on to the writing phase of your project. We’ll go through the process step-by-step to see the various roles research plays from a novel’s inception to its completion.
James Wade lives and writes in the Texas Hill Country with his wife and daughter. He is the author of River, Sing Out, and Beasts of the Earth (winner of the 2023 Spur Award for Best Contemporary Novel) as well as the critically-acclaimed debut novel All Things Left Wild (winner of the MPIBA Reading the West Award for Debut Fiction, and the Spur Award for Best Historical Novel). James’s work has appeared in numerous literary magazines, and his novels have been featured by publications such as PopSugar, BookBub, Deep South Magazine, and the New York Journal of Books. James is currently working on his fourth novel, Hollow Out the Dark, coming 2024 from Blackstone Publishing.
“Plotting Your Novel in Three Acts” with Amy Gentry
Wednesday, November 15, 2023, 6:30 PM to 9:30 PM CST
If you’ve read a novel written in the past 200 years (not to mention seen a movie), chances are you’ve already internalized 3-act structure. But are you deploying it effectively in your own work?
Novels written without a strong understanding of 3-act structure often feel disjointed, saggy in the middle, or lacking in focus. Others never get finished at all! Some writers worry that 3-act structure will make their novels “formulaic.” But plot is the grammar of story, and studying 3-act structure is like learning to identify the noun and the verb in a complete sentence.
The key to using it to strengthen a novel without flattening it out is understanding the relationships between the basic story beats (aka plot points). Once you’ve internalized these relationships, you can use them to diagnose issues with pacing and character, as well as untangling your plot. The best part? With a solid understanding of 3-act structure, you can often find solutions to these problems, already buried in your story.
Using a modified version of the Save the Cat! Beat Sheet as a jumping off point, this class will focus on understanding story structure, strengthening the relationships between story beats, and harnessing the infinite flexibility of 3-act structure to plot your novel.
Amy Gentry is the bestselling author of the thrillers Good as Gone, Last Woman Standing, and Bad Habits, as well as a book of music criticism, Tori Amos’s Boys for Pele, for Bloomsbury Press’s 33 1/3 series. Her reviews and essays have appeared in the Chicago Tribune, the Paris Review, Los Angeles Review of Books, Salon.com, Texas Monthly, Austin Chronicle, The Best Food Writing of 2014, and many other outlets. She holds a PhD in English and is a teacher and book coach in Austin, Texas.
“From Begun to Done: How to Edit Your Own Writing” with Sara Kocek
Wednesday, November 29, 2023, 6:30 PM to 9:30 PM CST
Before you invest in professional editing, you can and should put your manuscript through the wringer on your own, using the same tried and true techniques that editors use.
Writing to the end of your first draft exposes all the problems with your dazzling beginning—underdeveloped characters, loose ends in the plot, weaknesses in the world-building, and clunky, stilted dialogue. That’s when you need to hire an editor, right? Wrong. (That comes later.) Before you invest in professional editing, you can and should put your manuscript through the wringer on your own, using the same tried and true techniques that editors use.
This fun, fast-paced class will use a combination of lecture, writing exercises, and peer-to-peer workshop to cover common revision issues such as scene construction, pacing, dialogue, point-of-view, and the eternal problem of too-much exposition. No matter your genre, learn how to read and revise your own work the way a professional editor would: by scrubbing it clean of the top ten problems afflicting most first drafts.
Sara Kocek is the author of Promise Me Something (Albert Whitman, 2013) and the founder of Yellow Bird Editors, an Austin-based collective of independent editors and writing coaches. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from New York University, where she taught fiction and poetry to undergraduates and worked as a full-time editorial intern at Random House and Penguin. Prior to pursuing her MFA, Sara graduated with a B.A. in English from Yale University, where she worked as Writing Fellow, tutoring undergraduate and graduate students in academic and creative writing.
Instructors
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Alex Temblador is the Mixed Latine award-winning author of the writing craft book, Writing An Identity Not Your Own, and two magical realism novels, Half Outlaw and Secrets of the Casa Rosada. In addition to receiving her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Central Oklahoma, Alex's creative work has been published in literary outlets like PALABRITAS, D Magazine, Colorado Review, as well as two anthologies — Living Beyond Borders: Growing Up Mexican in America and Speculative Fiction for Dreamers: A Latinx Anthology. Alex has taught creative writing seminars, workshops, and classes with WritingWorkshops.com, the Women's Fiction Writers Association, the Writer's League of Texas, StoryStudio Chicago, WorldShift: The Speculative Fiction Writer's Summit, Texas Book Festival, Macmillan Publishers, Abydos Learning Conference, and more. When she's not writing her next book, Alex works as an award-winning journalist, travels the world, sews, and gardens in her home base of Dallas. -
James Wade is the youngest novelist to win two Spur Awards from the Western Writers of America, and the recipient of the MPIBA’s prestigious Reading the West Award. His debut novel, All Things Left Wild, was listed as one of the most influential westerns of the 21st century by True West Magazine and included in the Los Angeles Times's 1,001 Novels: A Library of America. His Southern Gothic mystery, Beasts of the Earth, was named a Best Book of 2022 by both Deep South Magazine and The Southern Review of Books. His new novel, Narrow the Road, received a starred review from Publishers Weekly. James is a four-time finalist for the Austin Chronicle's Best Writer in Austin award, and his work has appeared in Texas Highways, Writers’ Digest, and numerous additional publications. James lives and writes in the Texas Hill Country with his wife and children. 
Amy Gentry is the bestselling author of the thrillers Good as Gone, Last Woman Standing, and Bad Habits, as well as a book of music criticism, Tori Amos's Boys for Pele, for Bloomsbury Press's 33 1/3 series. Her reviews and essays have appeared in the Chicago Tribune, the Paris Review, Los Angeles Review of Books, Salon.com, Texas Monthly, Austin Chronicle, The Best Food Writing of 2014, and many other outlets. She holds a PhD in English and is a teacher and book coach in Austin, Texas.-
Sara Kocek is the founder of Yellow Bird Editors and the author of the novel Promise Me Something (Albert Whitman). She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from New York University, where she taught fiction and poetry to undergraduates. Prior to pursuing her MFA, Sara graduated with a B.A. in English from Yale University, where her fiction was published in the Yale Literary Magazine and where she was awarded several of the university’s top writing prizes. A former full-time editorial intern at Random House and Penguin, she now lives in Austin, Texas, where she worked for several years as the Program Director for the Writers’ League of Texas before launching Yellow Bird.
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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:
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Accessibility Policy
Closed captioning is available for all online classes and special events.
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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.