Where does one begin in the challenging and exhilarating art of writing the novel? In this course, we will look to the masters for help on our journey. We will read excerpts from published novels, using them as reference material for our discussions of style, voice, character development, point of view, and narrative technique. Exercises will help us clarify ideas and mine our own material, exploring ways to structure and shape our growing novels. In addition, we will read generative material and excerpts from interviews, with the aim of understanding the varied and complex ways authors have confronted the art of novel writing. Finally, students will workshop their own drafts, learning new tools for developing and revising their novels.

NORA PIERCE has taught creative writing at Stanford University, where she was also a Wallace Stegner fellow. An award-winning writer, she was a Rosenthal Fellow in the PEN Center Emerging Voices program. Her debut novel, The Insufficiency of Maps, was a Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers title and a finalist for the North California Independent Booksellers Association Book of the Year.