Novels are long, often unruly, inherently ambitious projects that need the writer to be both intimate and at times distanced from the text. It's easy to type a bunch of pages, but it’s hard to make them captivate the reader and ensure that the journey adds up to more than the sum of its parts. This course will explore the tools needed to bring your novel-length manuscript to life in its strongest form. Your novel has strengths: we'll explore how you can build on them. Your novel has weaknesses: we'll identify them and create strategies for you to overcome them. Together we'll reveal what your novel is actually about, as opposed to what you planned for it to be. We’ll examine its hidden structures, and enable your characters and their struggles to come alive on the page.
Applications for Lit Fest Advanced Workshops are open here until March 8. To learn more about Lit Fest, tuition, fellowships, and advanced class admittance, click here.
Accepted participants will submit up to 15-20 pages by May 12, and will have the opportunity to meet one-on-one with Mat during the week of class.
