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  Designed specifically for those with little fiction writing experience who want to learn how to begin a fiction writing project. Find your pathway toward your fiction writing goals. You will learn the basic building blocks of story: character, plot and setting, as well as the different forms of fiction writing and some of the genres you might like to explore. Find out about researching avenues for marketing your work: online versus print magazines, self-publishing versus publishing with a traditional press. Come away with the skills you need to get started on a new work of fiction.
 One month course, Jacqui Lipton, instructor.
 
Agenda
 
Unit 1
Introduction to the Building Blocks of Story and Fiction
-Character
-Conflict
-Setting
-Plot and story structure
-Short story versus novel
-Who are we writing for?

Unit 2
Character and Conflict
-Protagonists and antagonists
-Secondary characters
-Character archetypes
-Character desires, conflicts and stakes
-Dialogue

Unit 3
Setting and Plot
-Contemporary versus fantastical and historical settings
-Setting as character
-Three act plot structure and the hero’s journey
-Time jumps and flashbacks
-Prologues and epilogues

Unit 4
Putting Your Story Together 
-Strategies for outlining (flowcharts, beat sheets and post-its)
-Character-driven versus plot-driven outlines
-Overcoming writer’s block
-Researching markets
-Creating a marketing plan
Next offering(s):
-Next session coming soon-

$ USD
$195 USD
 
Ave hours 16; 1.6 CEUs


 
About Your Instructor
 
Jacqui Lipton specializes in teaching fiction writing and the business of writing to local and national audiences. She holds an M.F.A. in Fiction Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts and has volunteered and taught in local libraries and community organizations around Ohio. She also works as a private developmental editor and business consultant to the writing community. She is a reader for the Young Adult Review Network (a fiction magazine aimed at the young adult market), as well as interning at a literary agency in New York. She has completed the fiction writing certificate programs at Stanford Online and the UCLA Extension Writer’s Program, as well as majoring in playwrighting in college. She is the author of Inside the Palisade, a young adult science fiction novel which won the Purple Dragonfly Award for Science Fiction and Fantasy in 2016 and placed in the Houston Writer’s Guild Fiction Writing contest the previous year. Her short stories and flash fiction have placed in a number of writing contests.
 
Course Objectives
 
  • To learn the basic elements of fiction writing (character, plot, setting and conflict) and how they interact to form an engaging story.
  • To learn how to craft relatable characters, and place them in interesting situations.
  • To understand the difference between fiction forms and structures, and which is most suited to a given project.
  • To experiment with settings and plot structures in the most effective way to tell a particular story.
  • To plan and outline a fiction writing project from conception to completion.
  • To research appropriate markets for the story and create a marketing plan.


Course Outcomes
 
Upon successful completion of the course you will:
  • Understand the elements of fiction writing and how they interact.
  • Understand the different forms and structures of fiction writing and which best fits a given story idea.
  • Create a relatable and engaging protagonist for a story and engage your character in a challenging and high stakes story situation.
  • Be able to create a comprehensive outline for your story that can guide the writing process to completion.
  • Know how to research markets and create a marketing plan for submission and ultimate publication of your completed work.
Completion Requirements