The 90-Day Novel © Telecourse is an intensive workshop designed to guide the writer from initial idea to the completion of a first draft. It's a live class, meeting once a week, where I'll work one-on-one with writers to illustrate the principles to the group. This program is available for both fiction writers and memoirists, and is open to writers at all levels.

Instructor Alan Watt is the Creative Director of L.A. Writers' Lab, bestselling author, and writer/director of Interior Night. He founded L.A. Writers’ Lab in 2002 as a place for writers to deepen their craft by learning to marry the rigor of structure to the freedom of the muse. He has taught everyone from award-winning authors to A-list screenwriters, journalists, poets, actors, professional athletes, war veterans, housewives, doctors, lawyers, television showrunners, Emmy-winning directors, first-time writers, and anyone else with a story to tell.

Download a free audio recording of The 90-Day Novel Primer

The 90-Day Novel Course Outline

WORKSHOPS - Mondays 12:00-1:30 p.m. Pacific Time, immediately followed by a Q&A.

NOTE: All workshops are recorded. You don't have to take it live. We'll send you the playback information. (Recordings are available for three weeks after each respective session).

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 TWO

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

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 SIX Writing Act One

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

WEEK EIGHT Writing Act Two

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

WEEK TEN Writing Act Two

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

WEEK TWELVE Writing Act Three

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

FINAL CLASS

• Completion of first draft
• How to proceed from here

THE 90-DAY NOVEL TELECOURSE PACKAGE INCLUDES:

• 13 LIVE 90-MINUTE WORKSHOPS every Monday from 12:00 to 1:30 pm.
• Q&As - Email your questions to me. I’ll go over them LIVE at the end of each workshop and work one-on-one with writers as needed.
• PLAYBACK ACCESS to the workshops for three weeks following each respective class.
• 90 DAILY LETTERS outlining the process.
• STORY STRUCTURE WORKSHEETS and over two hundred STREAM-OF-CONSCIOUSNESS WRITING EXERCISES.

SUGGESTED DONATION: $545,

Minimum Donation:
$250 until May 31st
$350 until June 7th
$450 until June 10th

Why is this workshop pay-what-you-can?

“Al Watt is a master teacher with a brilliant, intuitive understanding of story.”
Allen Zadoff (author of The Unknown Assassin Series, Little Brown Books)

“I seriously didn’t even think this could be a reality until I took your workshop!”
Aditi Khorana (author of Mirror in the Sky, Razorbill, Penguin Books)

“I went $64,000 in debt for my MFA in fiction writing. I sit in this class and I wonder why. This is a great class!”
Frank B. Wilderson III (American Book Award winner for his memoir, Incognegro, Duke University Press Books)