Now more than ever, a strong opening is vital for a novel’s success. A manuscript has mere seconds in an agent’s hands, and in order to stand out from the hundreds of other submissions, the opening pages need to be polished and diamond-sharp. This class will cover tips and tricks for crafting a compelling opening chapter, including common pitfalls to avoid. Students  will have the chance to workshop the first page of your draft and receive concrete, constructive feedback from the instructor and the rest of the group. 

If you have an idea for a novel floating around in your head, but you don’t know where to start, this class is for you, too. Class discussion will tackle developing an idea and setting fleshing out characters, with writing exercises. From plotting your outline to polishing an opening page, the class will cover everything a writer needs to kick-start a manuscript with compelling tension and a vivid, distinct, voice.

This class will cover:

–The six elements of a strong beginning
–How NOT to open a first chapter
–How to create a flexible outline that grows with a novel
–How to set—and raise—the stakes of a novel
–Simple methods for organizing a work in progress

Who should attend:

–Writers who are just beginning the process of working on a novel
–Writers who are knee-deep in the process and want to hone their opening pages
–Anyone who has an idea for a novel, but doesn’t know where to start

About the instructor:

Sara Kocek is the author of Promise Me Something (Albert Whitman, 2013) and the founder of Yellow Bird Editors, an Austin-based collective of independent editors and writing coaches. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from New York University, where she taught fiction and poetry to undergraduates and worked as a full-time editorial intern at Random House and Penguin. Prior to pursuing her MFA, Sara graduated with a B.A. in English from Yale University, where she worked as Writing Fellow, tutoring undergraduate and graduate students in academic and creative writing.