Novel Writing | New York City | Creative Writing Classes in NYC and Online with Professional Writing Instructors

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"I learned more in this course than I could possibly write here. The instructor was amazing online. The best I've ever had and I have taken 7 online courses at various places. My understanding of the issues related to writing a novel is light years ahead of where it was prior to the class."

- Barbara Seith
Managing Director

"A great way to see your work through your readers' eyes."

- Crystal Walker
writer

"Everything in this class was organized and structured to perfection."

- Lilia Todd
Writer

More Student Quotes Here

A novel is the ultimate literary adventure—a journey into the lives and trials of characters a reader comes to know in a deeply personal way. With a multitude of personalities and situations, a great novel offers endless fascination for the reader. For many, a favorite novel—Anna Karenina, The Great Gatsby, Beloved—stands as a peak experience in a life.

For the author, writing a novel is the ultimate challenge—a steep climb over hundreds of pages that must work as a unified and engrossing whole. In our courses, you will learn about the special demands of a novel and refine your knowledge of basic fiction craft. You will also learn how and where to market your work.

If you’re up for the challenge, we’ll show you how to write a novel that readers will not forget.

Note: Our Fiction courses focus on short stories while our Novel classes focus on novels. If you are a beginning student, you should take Fiction I and work on short stories before moving on to Novel II. You may, however, work on material that will eventually end up in a novel in a Fiction class.

Select a class: Advanced, Master Class
See also: Novel Writing Online

Advanced
Novel Writing | 10-week Workshop

Focusing on developing projects and receiving feedback from the instructor and classmates, this course helps students sharpen their skills and work toward completion of publishable work. Writers often repeat Novel II to continue their projects.

Begin or work toward completion of a novel
Lectures that expand on basics of fiction craft and the novel form
Writing Exercises
Present work for in-depth critique (three times)

Prerequisite: Fiction I or the equivalent. Beginners who wish to write novels should take Fiction I before Novel II.
Which level is right for you? How to Choose a Level

(3.0 CEU)

New York City Classes

Tuition: $395, Returning Students $365 . Registration Fee $25.

Each class strictly limited to 14 students, ages 18 and up.

Starts	Meeting Day	Location	Time	Special	Enroll
Sep 24	Wednesdays	272 W. 10 St.	7:00PM - 10:00PM	No Class: Oct 8, Oct 22, Nov 26
Oct 6	Mondays	272 W. 10 St.	7:00PM - 10:00PM	No Class: Oct 13

Master Class
Novel Writing | 10-week Workshop

The Novel Writing Master Class provides students deeply immersed in the writing of a novel with the opportunity to work with a published novelist and other dedicated writers in a small class setting. The class is devoted almost exclusively to workshopping— the reading, critiquing, and discussion of student novels. Every student will be allowed to workshop approximately 150 pages of a novel. Class size is limited to six students, all of whom have done a substantial amount of work on a novel and are experienced in the workshop process.

Instructor: Alexander Steele is the Dean of Faculty at Gotham Writers’ Workshop. He is the editor of the GWW book series, which includes Writing Fiction, Writing Movies, and Fiction Gallery (Bloomsbury USA). Alex holds a BA from Vanderbilt University.

Prerequisites: The following are prerequisites for students who take Novel Master Class:

A complete (or nearly complete) draft of a novel
Completion of two terms of Gotham’s Novel II or Fiction II courses
Acceptance by Gotham based on a sample of the student’s work

To be accepted into the Novel Writing Master Class all students must first submit a sample of their work.

Your writing sample may be no more than ten pages. Ideally, the sample will be the first ten pages of the novel you plan to workshop in the Novel Writing Master Class. If that material is not yet available, you may submit ten pages from another work of your own fiction.

A Note on the Class: All students in this class will be expected to read and critique segments of one hundred pages or more per week. The success of the class depends on the full participation of all students. Students should only take this course if they are confident they can handle the weekly load of reading and critiquing. To make this more manageable, students should have already done most or all of the work on the novel that they plan to present to the class before class begins.

A Note to Applicants: Master Classes courses often get far more applicants than can be accepted, and so talented and dedicated students are often not accepted. If you are not accepted for a Master Class, you are welcome to apply another time, and you may well be accepted then.

New York City Classes
Instructor:

Tuition: $545, No Discounts. Registration Fee $25.

Each class strictly limited to students, ages 18 and up.

Not offered this term

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