If you test positive for Covid – Don’t come to class until you test negative. But let your teacher know and we’ll work to give you access to your missed classes via Zoom.
If you show Covid symptoms OR If you have been exposed to someone with Covid – Don’t come to class for at least 5 days after showing symptoms or exposure, and then take a test to confirm that you are negative. Let your teacher know and we’ll work to give you access to your missed classes via Zoom.
If you have any questions about this, you may call (212-974-8377) or email us ([email protected]).
Novel II Critique
GUIDE TO FICTION COURSES
Fiction Pathways
Foundation
If you’re not sure what kind of fiction to write...
If you know what kind of fiction to write...
Fiction Writing I
Zoetrope Fiction Writing I
Science Fiction & Fantasy Writing I
Mystery Writing I
Romance Writing I
Children’s Book Writing I
Or...
If you want a rather short course...
Fiction Writing Intensive
Flash Fiction & Nonfiction
Children’s Book Writing Intensive
Middle Grade/Young Adult Intensive
Humor Writing Intensive
Comics & Graphic Novels
Next Steps
After completing a Level I ten-week course...
Short Fiction II
Zoetrope Short Fiction II
Novel II First Draft Part 1
Novel II Critique
Science Fiction & Fantasy Writing II
Mystery Writing II
Romance Writing II
Children’s Book Writing II
After completing Novel First Draft II Part 1...
After completing Short Fiction II...
Also Helpful
These essential courses are great for writers of any level.
Character
Dialogue
Plot 1: Mechanics
Plot 2: Machinations
Reading Fiction
In(verse): Poetic Techniques for Non-Poets
The Writer’s Mind
The Editor’s Eye
Grammar 1: The Basics
Grammar 2: Expertise and Finesse
Social Media
For Teens
Novel II Critique is a 10-week workshop, which includes lectures and the critiquing of student projects. The focus is on writing novels. The prerequisite is Fiction I, or the equivalent; Level II courses work best when students know the fundamentals and have experience with the workshop process. Farther down, you can view a syllabus for this course.
The Novel Critique classes are workshops, where students (and the teacher) read and critique the work of their fellow students. If you prefer to work on powering through a first draft, then take Novel First Draft.
A novel is a world into which a reader disappears for hours or days at a time, navigating through time and space and human psychology. We live with the characters, be they a glamorous bootlegger living the high life, or a mixed-up teenager on hiatus from prep school, or a pair of runaway twins who branch into separate lives over the decades.
Writing a novel is a long haul—a steep climb over hundreds of pages that must work as a unified and engrossing whole. Here you’ll learn the specialized techniques of novel writing and how to market your work.
As Toni Morrison says: If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.
This class will help you to get your story ideas organized and written in a format that is just as compelling for readers as it is in your mind.
James Wassom
plant geneticist
Notes
Fiction I encompasses short stories and novels. After Level I, students have a choice of Short Fiction Writing II (focusing on short stories), or Novel II Critique or Novel II First Draft (focusing on novels).
If you’re working on “genre” fiction, you may take either a Fiction/Novel course or one of our genre courses: Science Fiction & Fantasy, Romance, Mystery.
If you’re working on a YA novel, you may take a Fiction/Novel or “genre” course, or you may take a Children’s Book course, where the full spectrum of children’s books will be covered.
Upcoming Classes
NYC COVID Info
10-Week
-
Online
Anytime, week-long sessions
Tuition: $439 (returning students: $409)
-
Zoom
Real-time videoconference
Tuition: $439 (returning students: $409)
-
One-on-One
Tuition: $1,895
Syllabus
This course helps you sharpen your skills at novel writing and work toward completion (or revision) of a novel. Sections of your novel will be critiqued by the teacher and fellow students. Writers often repeat Novel II to continue their projects. Course components:
Lectures
Workshopping of student projects (each student presenting work three times)
New York City/Zoom classes
The syllabus varies from teacher to teacher, term to term. Many topics will be similar to those covered in the Online classes.
Online classes
Gotham has two separate tracks for Novel Critique. They complement each other, and many students take both tracks, but it makes no difference which one is taken first. If you take one track, then enroll again for Novel Critique, Gotham will make sure you are placed in the other program.
The topics covered in one track (X):
Week 1
Getting a Handle: A novel's “bigness"—length, scope, endurance. Types of novels—literary, commercial, upmarket, genre. Sources of allure—plot, character, world, narrator.
Week 2
POV Strategy: The spectrum of “one mind” points of view. The spectrum of “multiple mind” points of view. When and how to “switch” point of view. Finding the right point of view strategy.
Week 3
Protagonist: Creating a “round" personality. Finding the desire. Developing the character arc.
Week 4
Architecture: Thinking architecturally. Three-part structure. Two part-structure. Parallel stories. Structural innovations. Chapters. Finding the design.
Week 5
World: Finding the “vibe” of the world. Importance of details. People, professions, research. Effective description.
Week 6
Bending Time: Finding the time frame. Flashbacks and flash forwards. Techniques for manipulating time. Using multiple tracks of time. Fluidity with time.
Week 7
External/Internal: Effective use of the external. Effective use of the internal. Weaving the external and internal.
Week 8
Climax: Requirements of a climax. The cataclysmic climax. The quiet climax. Climax variations. Tips for finding the climax.
Week 9
The Big Why: Novels need big themes. Types of theme—societal, philosophical, human nature. Theme as a touchstone for the novel. Thematic symbols and motifs. Hints for discovering theme.
Week 10
Publishing a Novel: What makes publishers “bite"? Publishing houses. Agents. Who to solicit? Guidelines for sending out work. Query letter. Synopsis. Response. Greasing the wheels. Self-publishing.
And the topics covered in the other track (Y):
Week 1
Openings: The need for an enticing opening. First paragraphs. First chapters. Analysis of several first chapters.
Week 2
Significant Events: Review of plot guidelines. Significant events as positive or negative charges. Significant events illustrated in a “classic” plot and a “subtle” plot. Exceptions. Mapping out a plot.
Week 3
Character Complexity: Levels of desire. Contrasting personality traits. Layers of presentation. Progressions of change. Complex and changing relationships.
Week 4
The Narrator: The value of an engaging narrator. The narrative voice. Techniques for effective narrators in first and third person points of view. Direct address. Narrator and audience.
Week 5
POV Distance: Point of view review. Psychic distance in point of view. Manipulating the point of view “camera.” Using the distance of time. Using present tense. Handling thoughts.
Week 6
Making Scenes: Choosing scenes. Connecting scenes. Scene dynamics—conflict, dialogue, cinematic direction.
Week 7
Subplots, etc.: How to create subplots that enhance the main plot. Working with a “plot chain.” Working with multiple plots with multiple protagonists.
Week 8
Suspense/Surprise: Using macro and micro suspense. Foreshadowing. Using macro and micro surprises.
Week 9
Exposition: Guidelines for exposition. Use of gradual revelation. Exposition methods-external, internal, expositional, flashback. Devices.
Week 10
The Process: Wisdom from masters on habits and writing craft.
Note: Content may vary among individual classes.
Teachers
Jessica Sticklor
Jessica Sticklor (also writing as Jessica Stilling and J.M. Stephen) is the author of the novels Just So Many Places (NineStar Press), After the Barricades, The Weary God of Ancient Travelers (both D.X. Varos), The Beekeeper's Daughter (Bedazzled Ink Press), and Betwixt and Between (Ig Publishing), and the young adult Pan Chronicles series and The Rise of Runes and Shields, book one of her Seidr Sagas young adult fantasy series (all D.X. Varos). Her short stories have appeared in The Paper Nautilus, Open Wide Magazine, Conclave, The Skyline Review, Chiron Review, and Kudzu, and her nonfiction has appeared in The Writer, Ms., and Tor.com. She has worked as an editor at The House of Books. She holds a BA from The New School and an MFA in Creative Writing from CUNY.
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Katherine Taylor
Katherine Taylor is the author of the novels Valley Fever and Rules For Saying Goodbye (both Farrar, Straus, and Giroux). Her essays and short stories have appeared in Elle, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Ploughshares, ZYZZYVA, Southwest Review, Town and Country, Prairie Schooner, and Shenandoah. She holds a BA from USC and an MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia University.
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Susan Breen
Susan Breen is the author of the novels Merry (Alcove Press, forthcoming), The Fiction Class (Plume/Headline Review UK), and the Maggie Dove mystery series (originally published by Penguin Random House/Alibi and rereleased by Under the Oak Press). Her short stories have appeared in American Literary Review, the Chattahoochee Review, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, and Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, as well as the anthologies Best American Nonrequired Reading and Murder Most Diabolical, and she has won the Margery Allingham Short Mystery Competition. She holds a BA from the University of Rochester and an MA in Economics from Columbia University.
Read moreJessica Sticklor
Jessica Sticklor
(also writing as Jessica Stilling and J.M. Stephen) is the author of the novels Just So Many Places (NineStar Press), After the Barricades, The Weary God of Ancient Travelers (both D.X. Varos), The Beekeeper's Daughter (Bedazzled Ink Press), and Betwixt and Between (Ig Publishing), and the young adult Pan Chronicles series and The Rise of Runes and Shields, book one of her Seidr Sagas young adult fantasy series (all D.X. Varos). Her short stories have appeared in The Paper Nautilus, Open Wide Magazine, Conclave, The Skyline Review, Chiron Review, and Kudzu, and her nonfiction has appeared in The Writer, Ms., and Tor.com. She has worked as an editor at The House of Books. She holds a BA from The New School and an MFA in Creative Writing from CUNY.
Katherine Taylor
Katherine Taylor
is the author of the novels Valley Fever and Rules For Saying Goodbye (both Farrar, Straus, and Giroux). Her essays and short stories have appeared in Elle, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Ploughshares, ZYZZYVA, Southwest Review, Town and Country, Prairie Schooner, and Shenandoah. She holds a BA from USC and an MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia University.
Susan Breen
Susan Breen
is the author of the novels Merry (Alcove Press, forthcoming), The Fiction Class (Plume/Headline Review UK), and the Maggie Dove mystery series (originally published by Penguin Random House/Alibi and rereleased by Under the Oak Press). Her short stories have appeared in American Literary Review, the Chattahoochee Review, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, and Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, as well as the anthologies Best American Nonrequired Reading and Murder Most Diabolical, and she has won the Margery Allingham Short Mystery Competition. She holds a BA from the University of Rochester and an MA in Economics from Columbia University.
