The 90-Day Novel Workshop

The 90-Day Novel In-Person workshop is limited to 12 students per semester. It is an intensive workshop designed to guide the writer from initial idea to the completion of a first draft. This program is available for both fiction writers and memoirists, and is offered to writers at all levels.

Month One: Imagining The World Of The Story (Creating An Outline)

The first four weeks are dedicated to stream-of-consciousness writing exercises as you begin to develop a relationship to the world of your story. As you inquire into the nature of your premise, images and ideas naturally emerge. Al watt works one-on-one with each writer to illustrate the process of seeing beneath the premise to the primal forces at work. There are no rules to novel-writing, but there are story principles and tools to help you develop a more specific and dynamic version of your story. Many writers have had the experience of getting stuck halfway through their work. The 90-day novel helps free writers from limiting ideas they may have of their story, and provides tools to explore the story in a deeper way. Below is a brief outline of the weekly topics covered.

Week One

• Imagining the world of the story
• The dilemma at the heart of the story
• Exploring the protagonist’s goal
• Why you are uniquely qualified to write this book

Week Two

• Story Structure lecture
• The nature of the premise
• Building an outline
• Plot versus theme

Week Three

• Narrative drive
• Exploring the antagonistic forces
• Deepening the outline
• Writing the forbidden

Week Four

• Show, don’t tell
• Beginnings, middles and endings
• Backstory Story analysis

Months Two and Three: Writing The First Draft

The remaining sixty-two days of the workshop involve writing roughly 750-1000 words per day, as the instructor guides you through the hero’s journey. Three weeks are spent on act one, four weeks on act two, and the remaining two weeks on act three.

Week Five

Writing Act One

• Narrative voice
• Writing the beginning
• Setting up the dilemma
• Inciting Incident

Week Six

Writing Act One

• The opposing argument
• Characters behave uncharacteristically
• Giving yourself permission to write poorly

Week Seven

Writing Act One

• The protagonist makes a decision
• What if I’ve fallen behind? Backstory revisited

Week Eight

Writing Act Two

• The protagonist experiences false hope
• Blind spots
• Making the scene dynamic

Week Nine

Writing Act Two: The Midpoint

• The protagonist experiences temptation
• The nature of commitment
• Stepping into the unknown

Week Ten

Writing Act Two

• The protagonist suffers
• Story isn’t linear Raising the stakes

Week Eleven

Writing Act Two

• Lecture on surrender
• The protagonist’s dark night of the soul
• Making the impossible possible

Week Twelve

Writing Act Three

• Reframing the protagonist’s goal
• Protagonist accepts the reality of the situation
• The protagonist is stripped bare

Week Thirteen

Writing Act Three

• Our protagonist takes action
• Transformation: avoiding the deus ex machina ending
• Battle scene: the dilemma is resolved
• The hero is returned home

Final Class

• Completion of first draft
• How to proceed from here