Writing, Revising, Pitching: Getting Your Novel Out of the Drawer and Off to Market (Ongoing class)

NOTE: This class will meet via Zoom.

Overview:

For most novelists, the ultimate goal is to get published. Before that, however, comes much revision, along with some frustration and confusion at a seemingly impenetrable system of submission, waiting, and hoping. “Writing, Revising, Pitching” is a class for people who have written a substantive portion of a novel and seek to develop it in workshop, blended with a detailed look at how books are pitched and marketed. This class is designed for writers who already have something on the page, as writers will be asked to start with a project of at least 50,000 words.

Over the course of a leisurely nine months, with ample time to work on revising pieces, writers will take their novel, receive detailed workshopping, then plan and execute a revised draft, receiving guidance from the instructor and the class as they continue toward the goal of a second workshopping of the full revised work. Second-half classes will also start with the instructor answering any publishing-related questions and discussing best practices for the process of finding / selecting an agent, crafting a query letter, etc.

Work in any adult fiction genre is accepted, and writers of all levels are welcome to apply.

Details:

This class is designed to help novelists take a novel-in-process and workshop it to a complete draft, or to take a full draft and workshop it to a more polished revision. Through workshopping and discussion, it will also help writers to approach the process with stronger analytical tools, helping to make both the writing and revision process less frustrating and more productive. The class will meet roughly every other week, with some gaps, to account for eighteen classes between late April 2021 and mid-January of 2022.

Prospective attendees will apply with a writing sample of up to fifty pages of a work-in-progress. Class size will be limited to ensure that all writers have the time to develop their own work while also giving detailed reads to fellow writers. Each writer will have two classes devoted to workshopping their writing, as well as one-on-one feedback and discussion with the instructor.

The instructor will also select a recently published debut novel and one class will be dedicated entirely to discussing this book, breaking down the choices the author has made and how writers can apply these techniques in their own writing. Also, how do publishers market these books, and were they successful, and how can this influence how a writer pens a submission letter, or pitches his or her own work? These issues and others will be discussed by the class to give writers a foundation on how to build a novel, how to revise it, and once it’s ready, how to get others interested in it. The publishing aspect of the class will be a part of each class during the second round of workshops, in which the instructor will answer any questions the class has about the publishing process, from submitting to agents onward.

A first session will be for meeting the class and scheduling, so that the work can begin in earnest two weeks later. So, there are 18 meetings, but 17 of them will be for classwork. Class will meet for 18 sessions on the following dates:

4/28/21: First class
5/12/21: Bookclub – Instructor will assign book on or before the first class
5/26/21: Workshop 1
6/9/21: Workshop 2
6/23/21: Workshop 3
7/14/21: Workshop 4
7/28/21: Workshop 5
8/11/21: Workshop 6
8/25/21: Workshop 7
9/15/21: Workshop 8
9/29/21: Workshop 1b
10/13/21: Workshop 2b
10/27/21: Workshop 3b
11/10/21: Workshop 4b
12/1/21: Workshop 5b
12/15/21: Workshop 6b
12/29/21: Workshop 7b
1/12/22: Workshop 8b

Prerequisite: Substantial progress of at least 50,000 words on the first draft of a novel must be achieved by all students.

Application Requirements:

• Please submit up to fifty pages of a work-in-progress. It may be from any adult fiction genre (mystery, romance, literary, science-fiction, etc.). Writing samples may be emailed to programs@writerhouse.org, or mailed to WriterHouse, P.O. Box 222, Charlottesville, VA 22902.
• $100 nonrefundable deposit. Deposits will be applied to the cost of tuition for students who are accepted to this program.

Application Deadline: 4/14/21 

This class is limited to a maximum of eight writers. If there is enough demand a second section may be added, and writers accepted will be given a choice of schedules. Acceptance letters will be mailed to writers by 4/19/21.

Upon acceptance, the remaining balance of the tuition will be due. Payment plans will be available for students who are accepted in this program. The first payment will be due on 4/21/21.

Please note, this program is for novelists who are prepared to make a strong commitment to their work; students will be expected to participate in the entire program.

Additional information is available upon request.

About the Instructor:

Randall Klein worked in publishing for a decade, starting at the literary agency Trident Media Group, then as an editor, first within the Random House Publishing Group, then for Diversion Books, where he acquired and edited over one hundred books across all genres. He is also the author of the novel Little Disasters, published in May of 2018 by Viking Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House.