Whether you’re just fleshing out a brilliant idea for a new book, or you have a completed manuscript that needs fixing, Novel Intensive is right for you. In this 5-Session track, we will cover Concept and Genre, breaking down and refining the Story Beats, Story Structure, and the necessary elements of fiction that enrich, enliven and set your work apart: Dialogue, Character, Theme and Arc. You will then have an opportunity to focus on your individual needs and receive feedback based on the Novel Intensive curriculum.
Novel Intensive consists of five Saturday workshops:
- 9:00 AM to 10:30 AM – Concept and Genre
- 10:40 AM to 12:10 PM – Structure and Beats
- 1:00 PM to 2:30 PM – The Opening, Act II, Midpoint, Act III, Closing
- 2:40 PM to 4:10 PM – Dialogue, Character, Theme, Arc
- 9:00 PM On – Story Lab: Applying Novel Intensive Concepts to Your Work
This Novel Intensive is a comprehensive track and participation in all workshops is highly recommended. While the workshops will be open to all SCWC conferees, the first 15 conferees to pre-register will be allowed to submit their work in advance, will be assured seating in each session and will be given priority in Saturday’s Rogue session, “Story Lab: Applying Novel Intensive Concepts to Your Work.”
Advance submission is limited to the first 15 pre-registrants on a first-come, first-served basis. To ensure space availability, writers must contact SCWC Executive Director Michael Steven Gregory by the submission deadline. Material should be ready for submission or very close to it; Participants must e-mail the following to Ara Grigorian (ara at araTHEwriter dot com) on or before September 1, 2016:
The Concept:
Keep it simple. It should be compelling with the least amount of words. That’s why it’s so hard! Your concept (or logline) should be no longer than a paragraph, ideally in one or two sentences you should be able tell us what the story is about. Another approach may be to develop the “hook” and “book” sections of a query letter – what’s interesting/cool/unique about your story? What happens that makes it compelling?
Example of a tight logline: A bullheaded cop comes to L.A. to visit his estranged wife and her office is taken over by terrorists. (Die Hard) ~ It’s simple, compelling and ironic!
Good resource from Noam Kroll and Iconoclastic Writer.
Genre:
What is your story’s genre? What book or movie is it like? Who is the audience?
Story Synopsis:
Keep it to one or two pages. You don’t have go too deep if you don’t have it. Take me through the main scenes. If you don’t know how it ends, that’s okay too. Go as deep as you can but try your best to at least think it out up to the mid-point of the story.
Great resource on Publishing Crawl.
Note: This will give you a leg up on developing your story beats!
First Chapter:
First 15 pages of your manuscript in standard format: double-spaced, Times New Roman, 12-point font, 1” margin, single-sided
NOTE: There is no additional fee for submitting material to Novel Intensive.
Staffed by Ara Grigorian & Janis Thomas
Ara Grigorian is a technology executive in the entertainment industry who helps firms and individuals leverage strategy, leadership, and technology to produce extraordinary results with lasting value. He earned his Masters in Business Administration form University of Southern California where he specialized in marketing and entrepreneurship. True to the Hollywood life, Ara wrote for a children’s television pilot that could have made him rich (but didn’t) and sold a video game to a major publisher (who closed shop days later). Fascinated by the human species, Ara writes about choices, relationships, and second chances. Always a sucker for a hopeful ending, he writes contemporary romance stories. Ara is an alumnus of both the Southern California Writers’ Conference and the Santa Barbara Writers Conference. His debut novel, Game of Love (Curiosity Quills Press), won the 2015 Readers Favorite International Book Awards Gold medal in Sports Fiction.
Janis Thomas is the author of Something New, her laugh-out-loud debut novel published by Berkley Books in 2012. Of it, Sally Koslow (The Late, Lamented Molly Marx) effused, “[S]pot-on in capturing how it feels to be an upper-middle class suburban mom who longs for…something more. She writes with sparkle and humor.” Her equally next novel, Sweet Nothings, was released July of 2013 and called “A breezy read” by Publishers Weekly. Her next, Say Never, followed. Now, eschewing legacy publishing, in a departure from the chick-lit genre she’s best known for, Janis’ latest is a a crime thriller called Murder in A-minor, the first in her Sam Wedlock Musical Murder Mystery series. Janis has also written over fifty songs and two children’s books (with her dad).