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"Two thumbs up!" - Steven Pressfield, bestselling author of The War of Art

 

THE 90-DAY NOVEL© TELECOURSE

BEGINS JANUARY 20, 2020

TELL YOUR STORY

The 90-Day Novel© Telecourse is an intensive workshop designed to guide the writer from initial idea to the completion of a first draft.

THE WORKSHOPS ARE LIVE

The 90-Day Novel Telecourse meets by phone once a week on Mondays at 12:00-1:30 p.m. (Pacific Time) and is appropriate for both fiction writers and memoirists at all levels.

GET STARTED!

ENROLL NOW

THE 90-DAY NOVEL© TELECOURSE INCLUDES:

  • 14 LIVE 90-MINUTE WORKSHOPS - Mon., 12:00-1:30 p.m. (Pacific Time)
  • LIVE Q&As
  • PLAYBACK ACCESS to the workshops
  • 90 DAILY LETTERS
  • DAILY WRITING PROMPTS

Why 90 Days? Learn more about the 90-Day Novel© Process, and download a free audio recording of The 90-Day Novel© Primer.

INSTRUCTOR: ALAN WATT

Alan is known as the Writer Whisperer. He's an L.A. Times Bestselling novelist for Diamond Dogs, which won France’s Prix Printemps for best foreign novel of 2004. Alan's telecourse workshops for The 90-Day Novel and The 90-Day Screenplay attract writers at all levels from across the globe... MORE

The 90-Day Novel© Course Outline

MONTH ONE

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
MONTH TWO

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
MONTH THREE

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
“Al’s 90-Day Novel is the best writing workshop I have ever taken. The supportive nature of the class inspires and motivates you to write every day and to get to the true heart of your story. By the end of the 90th day I had completed my rough draft (300 pages long) and developed a writing ritual that I have adopted for the rest of my life. Thank you Al!”
– Jennifer L. Scott, international best-selling author of Lessons from Madame Chic, Simon & Schuster

GET STARTED NOW! WE'LL SEND YOU THE WELCOME MATERIALS SO YOU CAN BEGIN PREPPING.

REGISTER NOW

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