Come study novel writing with the current Idaho Writer in Residence, the founding editor of The Idaho Review, and the co-founder and longtime director of Boise State’s MFA Program in Creative Writing. Drawing on Wieland’s thirty years of teaching the techniques of storytelling at the graduate and undergraduate level, this class will provide the tools to write an engaging and propulsive novel with complex characters.
We will start with an in-depth look at how to write a vivid and memorable scene, then explore the fundamentals of novel structure, both ancient and modern, using dramatic structure as a model and drawing on the current brain science behind storytelling.
Next, we go into development mode and create a compelling central character and their everyday world, followed by a brainstorm session where you come up with a strong inciting incident for your novel. This development stage is supported by examples from novels and film and integrates in-class writing prompts.
The last third of the course is the creation of a novel logline and then pitching your logline in a supportive writer's room setting. You will then outline your novel's key turning points and write the first five pages. We will review your novel opening and six-stage outline in final writer’s room sessions with you as the showrunner controlling the discussion of your novel.
Each student ends the course with a novel logline, novel outline, and novel opening.
Date and Location
This six-week writing workshop will be in person at The Cabin (801 S. Capitol Boulevard, Boise, ID) from 6 PM to 8 PM on Thursdays on the following dates:
Thursday, October 1st
Thursday, October 8th
Thursday, October 15th
Thursday, October 22nd
Thursday, October 29th
Thursday, November 5th
