Speculative writers! Write your novel with me this fall! I’m teaching my online workshop with Stanford Continuing Studies once again, and registration opens Monday, August 17!
The Speculative and the Fantastic: Novel Workshop is a 10-week asynchronous workshop (with live elements!) that begins on September 24. You can do this course around your busy schedule. There is an optional weekly Zoom that you can watch afterward if you can’t attend live and an opportunity for a 1:1 meeting with me!
Registration opens Monday, August 17 at 8:30am PT!
If you’re interested in the class, register early before spaces fill!
The Speculative and the Fantastic
Novel Workshop
with Nova Ren Suma
Online asynchronous (10 weeks)
September 24 – December 3
Tuition: $1,040
Optional Zoom meeting for live writing exercises, discussion, and Q&A: Thursdays, 12:30–1:30p.m. Pacific (recordings posted within 24 hours!)
Note: No class Thursday, October 15. That week class will meet on Tuesday, October 13 instead. No class the week of November 23.
Course description:
These days, readers are craving fantasy, horror, and dystopian novels not just to escape but to confront and illuminate the deepest questions of our time. This course invites you to indulge your imagination and write a speculative novel of your own. Assignments will include exercises and experiments in world-building, mood and atmosphere, nighttime logic, and the suspension of disbelief, as well as writing a novel opening (up to 5,000 words) to be workshopped in small peer cohorts. Excerpts for models of inspiration may include work from authors such as Charlie Jane Anders, Marie-Helene Bertino, Tananarive Due, Mariana Enríquez, Kazuo Ishiguro, Laila Lalami, Victor LaValle, and Madeline Miller. Writers in all speculative genres are welcome, as are those writing for adult, YA, or crossover audiences. Come with a project in mind—new or in progress—and a readiness to take bold, creative leaps.
The class is online and asynchronous:
This course requires asynchronous participation in Canvas (more details below). There will also be weekly Zoom sessions for generative writing exercises, discussion, and interaction with the instructor. It is not necessary to attend the Zoom sessions; those who can’t attend on Thursdays can watch the recording, which will be posted within 24 hours.
In the latter half of the quarter, three weeks will be devoted to time for optional 1:1 conferences instead of the usual class meeting.
Why consider this workshop?
This course is for those interested in writing speculative fiction and exploring different genres under the speculative umbrella. No matter your experience level—from advanced writers to those trying their hand at a first novel or experimenting with speculative fiction or an unfamiliar genre for the first time—you should come ready to work on the opening of a novel in the genre of your choice. This can be a new novel or a new approach in a speculative novel already in progress. This class embraces writing for all audiences including adult, YA, and crossover in any speculative genre, such as fantasy, paranormal, magical realism, fabulism, science fiction, horror, dystopian, and all genre blurs and mash-ups you might imagine.
What to expect from the coursework:
This course includes:
- Readings and course materials posted in Canvas
- Required discussion posts in Canvas
- Assignments/homework, including a 5,000-word workshop submission
- Feedback on assignments from the instructor
- Individual meetings with the instructor. Details will be provided in class.
The first half of the quarter will feature written craft talks spotlighting different hallmarks of speculative fiction, genre-focused writing exercises, and excerpted reading from some extraordinary contemporary fantasy, science fiction, and horror novels. The Page 1 mini-workshop in Canvas toward the start of the quarter and the optional sharing threads for the writing exercises will give everyone a chance to gain some initial feedback early on.
In the second half of the quarter, students’ opening chapters (no more than 5,000 words) will be workshopped in small cohorts in the Canvas discussion threads, and optional 1:1 meetings with the instructor will be available. Those taking this course for credit or a grade will be expected to take part in the workshops by submitting a novel opening of their own and offering written feedback to peers following the instructor’s guidelines and discussion questions. Students not taking the course for credit can opt out of the workshop and turn in a manuscript to the instructor only. All students will receive feedback from the instructor regardless of participation in the workshop.
One speculative novel of your choice from the provided reading list will be read in full, and a brief written reflection is due in the discussion thread at the end of the quarter.
Check out the Preliminary Syllabus
Feel free to email me with any questions!