Class

Craft Seminar: Structure, Narrative, and the Novel

The structure of a narrative is almost invisible but impacts every choice you make as a writer and the experience of every reader. Does the story begin after a murder has taken place, or a hundred years before? Does it bounce between the brains of a dozen characters or is it trapped in the perspective of just one? If you have multiple timelines or narrators, do you braid them together or let each stand on its own?

This seminar will help you learn to make informed choices in answering these sorts of questions, learn how to identify structures in the novels you love, and how to find new structures in unlikely places.

Before attending, pick a book you love and answer any of the following: Where does it begin--in time, in place, in relation to its major conflicts? Where does it end--and how much time has passed? Who is telling the story? What do we still not know by the end? Does the narrative have a discernible shape (a crashing wave, a honeycomb, a spiral)?

Accessibility: If you have any accessibility requests for this class, please submit this request form at least two to three weeks in advance. This class takes place in-person, at the Loft at Open Book. Please see the Loft’s website for the most up to date information about the Loft’s COVID policies.