Please note: Due to unforeseen circumstances, NovelCram is on hiatus until further notice.
A boot camp for fiction writers of all kinds: literary, commercial, mystery, romance and action-adventure.
NovelCram is not for the faint-hearted. It’s a one-of-a-kind weekend intensive available only at the Southern California Writer’s Conference. A stand-alone track that starts Saturday at 9 AM and runs through Sunday, 4:10 PM, from concept through completion NovelCram covers everything you need to know about putting a novel together. Beginning with a one-on-one opportunity to vet your idea with a seasoned author and editor, NovelCram teaches what it takes to create a popular novel in today’s publishing world: plot and scene structure, dramatic development, character development, dialog, pacing, narrative drive and much more. Ideal for novelists who have finished a first or second draft or had their manuscript rejected one time too many, NovelCram is also a great way for even accomplished authors to get their new book off to a winning start.
While participating requires attending every NovelCram workshop, Crammers are free to attend all other SCWC functions, such as special guest speakers, agents panel, Rogue workshops, etc., when NovelCram is not in session. Crammers may also leave the NovelCram to attend optional pre-scheduled one-on-one appointments with advance submission readers.
The NovelCram consists of the following sessions:
- Goals, Orientation and Organization
- Prewriting the Practice Novel
- Plotting the Novel
- Chapter One
- Character Construction
- Scene, Dialogue and Conflict
- Read and Critique of Chapter One
- Completing the Novel
If you’re ready to Cram, bring pen and paper (laptop computer highly recommended), snacks, and plenty of water. You’re going to write!
Please note that this track requires a minimum number of participants and will be removed from the schedule if not met.
Staffed by Drusilla Campbell
Drusilla Campbell is the author of more than fourteen novels, most recently the best sellers Blood Orange, The Good Sister, and Little Girl Gone. For more than twenty years she has taught classes, seminars and workshops designed for the writer who wants to be successful in today’s challenging market without sacrificing literary quality. Through NovelCraft, a manuscript consulting service, she assists novelists at all stages of the creative process. As a motivational speaker, her personal story of success-to failure-and-back-to-success has inspired hundreds of writers to stick to their dreams. Her latest novel is When She Came Home (Grand Central Publishing).