Novel Writing Courses in Los Angeles, CA

Add some creativity to your week from the comfort of your own home This long-standing in-person generative, creative writing workshop, which took place in West Hollywood, CA, for 15 years, has switched to an online format so you can now join us from anywhere. Tap into your creative side, write work that will surprise you, and learn a few things along...

Learn the fundamentals of creating comic strips, graphic novels and cartoons in this class for writers and artists. Discover how to create a strong, compelling storyline, how to create characters and illustrate body language and facial expression, how to match words and pictures. Working in small groups to enable each student to receive individual...

The 90-Day Novel is a Live-on-Zoom workshop with Alan Watt that will take you from initial idea to the completion of your novel's first draft in 90 days. GET THE FIRST DRAFT DOWN QUICKLY The 90-Day Novel is about making a contract with your subconscious. Your subconscious is the seat of your genius, and there is a window...

Get words on the page and meet other writers in this online creative writing workshop that focuses on personal writing. Your Story Matters Add some creativity to your week from the comfort of your own home. Tap into your creative side, write work that will surprise you, get to know yourself and your own story in this personal writing workshop. This...

Are you working on a novel and looking for guidance? In this intermediate novel writing class, successful novelist Gretchen McNeil (9 Novels Published) will help you nudge your book to the finish line!  This is a workshop-only class for experienced novelists. Gretchen will also give students custom homework exercises to address the specific...

92Y brings together a group of the nation’s most celebrated Black scholars, critics and writers for a year-long series on all the novels of Toni Morrison—from The Bluest Eye (1975), which she wrote between her day job as a book editor and her life as a single mother; to God Help the Child, from which she read on our stage in 2015, the last of...

Fiction is a wonderful conjuring act. With only words and the reader’s imagination, a work of fiction can sail across the world in pursuit of a whale, or time-travel to another dimension, or zero in on a few minutes in line at the local bank, enveloping the reader in a made-up story that feels real.  To pull off this feat requires a balance...

Writing Feature Film (Interactive Online Class) Story to script in four weeks! Attend from anywhere! Pilar will take you through this four-week class live and in real time through Zoom. Have to miss one? You’ll receive the video as well. A “learn by doing” class that takes you step-by-step through the screenwriting process, moving you from...

Writing a memoir after the age of 50 can be a great way to take stock, whether you’re writing to get published, leave a record for your friends and family, or simply clarify the past for your own edification. Unlike novels, short stories and poems, the memoir requires a writer to stick to the truth, the actual sequence of events as they happened,...

Fiction is a wonderful conjuring act. With only words and the reader’s imagination, a work of fiction can sail across the world in pursuit of a whale, or time-travel to another dimension, or zero in on a few minutes in line at the local bank, enveloping the reader in a made-up story that feels real. To pull off this feat requires a balance of craftsmanship,...

Whether penning the Next Great American Novel (poetry collection, or memoir), or preparing a writing sample for a fellowship, grant, or MFA application, you will gain insightful feedback workshopping new or existing projects. Each class will provide you the opportunity to receive and provide personalized critique with an eye towards revision. ...

You’ve spent months, or years, sweating and swearing over a book and now you’re ready to draw the interest of agents and/or publishing houses. Or perhaps you’re in the midst of writing a book and you want to know the publishing challenges up ahead. The question looms: how do you get a book published? Here, you will learn how to navigate the...

This class is NOT an in-person class, but a telecourse class. You need access to a phone to dial in to the live class. The challenge in outlining a novel or screenplay lies in marrying the wildness of your imagination to the rigor of story structure. There is no formula to creating an outline, but there is craft involved. In this four-day intensive...