To ensure everyone's good health, students in NYC classes must provide proof of full Covid vaccinations (the initial series of Covid vaccines plus at least one booster). We will accept your Covid vaccine card (or a digital scan), a NY State Excelsior digital card, or another form of government-approved proof. We will contact you before class begins about showing us proof. Also, we will require masks in the classrooms and Gotham premises.
More Covid details
Novel II First Draft—Part 1
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
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 First Draft, Part 1 is a 10-week workshop, which includes lectures and worksheets. The focus is on writing the first draft of a novel. The prerequisite is Fiction I, or the equivalent; Level II courses work best when students know the fundamentals. Farther down, you can view a syllabus for this course.
The Novel First Draft classes work differently than other 10-week Workshops; they are devoted to powering through the first draft of a novel rather than critiquing. If you prefer to receive critiques on your novel, then take Novel Critique.
Gotham has two separate programs for Novel First Draft—Part 1 and Part 2. Part 1 should be taken first. If, after Part 1, you wish to continue working on your first draft, then take Part 2.
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.
After ten years of struggling, I finally feel that finishing this novel is within my grasp!
Adele Gardner
librarian
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
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Deal du Jour! Register for $295.00
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10-Week
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Zoom
Real-time videoconference
Tuition: $419 (returning students: $389)
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Online
Anytime, week-long sessions
Tuition: $419 (returning students: $389)
Syllabus
The aim of this course is to power through a large portion (or all) of your first draft without stopping for feedback or self-doubt. You get craft and inspirational information, weekly worksheets, and a support group, but there is no critiquing of student work (aside from teacher feedback on your worksheets). Course components:
Lectures
Worksheets (to help develop your novel)
Weekly word-count goals
Gotham has two separate programs for Novel First Draft—Part 1 and Part 2. Part 1 should be taken first. If, after Part 1, you wish to continue working on your First Draft, then take Part 2.
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
Each lecture contains two sections: craft information and inspirational advice.
Week 1
Fuel/Sticking to It: Finding the white-hot idea that will keep you fueled. Techniques for staying the course.
Week 2
Protagonist/Psychological Barriers: Creating a protagonist’s desire and dimension. Ways to “show” the protagonist. How to break through your psychological barriers.
Week 3
Beginning/Don’t Look Back: Structure. Outlines. Sketching your Beginning. How to keep moving forward no matter what.
Week 4
POV & Voice/Reading: Finding the right point of view. Reasons to read while writing. Types of things to read.
Week 5
Middle/Brainstorming: Strategies for creating a rising action. Sketching your Middle. The art of brainstorming.
Week 6
Cast & Subplots/The World Around You: Figuring out your cast. Subplots. Drawing ideas and inspiration from the world around you.
Week 7
World/Love of Language: Creating the specific world of your novel. Relishing and enlivening your language.
Week 8
Scenes/Patience & Surprise: Elements of a good scene. Allowing the patience for letting things unfold. Finding the surprises of discovery.
Week 9
Protagonist II/The World Inside You: Finding and revealing the protagonist’s past. Discovering the protagonist’s evolution. Drawing ideas and inspiration from what is inside you.
Week 10
End/What’s Next?: Climax and resolution. Sketching your End. Finishing the first draft. Revision. Friends and feedback.
Note: Content may vary among individual classes.
Teachers
Christine Meade
Christine Meade is the author of the novel The Way You Burn (She Writes Press), and her personal essays have appeared in the Boston Globe, Chicago Literati, HuffPost, the Manifest-Station, and Writer’s Digest. She has taught for 826 Boston, Lasell College, and Curry College. She holds a BA from Northeastern University and an MFA in Creative Writing from California College of the Arts.
Read more
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.
Read more
Meghan Kenny
Meghan Kenny is the author of the novel The Driest Season (W.W. Norton & Company), a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel, and the short story collection Love Is No Small Thing (LSU Press). Her short stories have appeared in Kenyon Review, Iowa Review, Gettysburg Review, Cincinnati Review, Hobart, and Pleiades. She has taught at Boise State University, Johns Hopkins University, and Franklin & Marshall College. She holds a BA from Kenyon College and an MFA in Fiction from Boise State University.
Read moreChristine Meade
Christine Meade
is the author of the novel The Way You Burn (She Writes Press), and her personal essays have appeared in the Boston Globe, Chicago Literati, HuffPost, the Manifest-Station, and Writer’s Digest. She has taught for 826 Boston, Lasell College, and Curry College. She holds a BA from Northeastern University and an MFA in Creative Writing from California College of the Arts.
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.
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.
Meghan Kenny
Meghan Kenny
is the author of the novel The Driest Season (W.W. Norton & Company), a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel, and the short story collection Love Is No Small Thing (LSU Press). Her short stories have appeared in Kenyon Review, Iowa Review, Gettysburg Review, Cincinnati Review, Hobart, and Pleiades. She has taught at Boise State University, Johns Hopkins University, and Franklin & Marshall College. She holds a BA from Kenyon College and an MFA in Fiction from Boise State University.
