Fiction | Novel | Seminar

1-Day Fiction Seminar: Writing the Novella

This course provides an overview of the novella and is aimed at students who are interested in writing their own. We will begin with a discussion about deciding if the novella is the right form for the story you wish to tell. Then, we will break down the novella into its different elements, including protagonist, plot, voice, and setting. Each element will be accompanied by a writing exercise, designed to give you a head start on your manuscript. This class is designed for all writers, regardless of experience.

Students will leave the course with a strong sense of what makes a great novella and how to write one. They will learn what aspects of plot, character and setting to focus on as they write their own novellas. They will also be given a list of excellent examples of novellas that they can reference as they write.

COURSE TAKEAWAYS:

- A stronger sense of your characters, setting and plot

- Productive and thought-provoking writing exercises

- Insight into the process of publishing a novella

- Access to Catapult's list of writing opportunities and important submission deadlines, as well as a 10% discount on all future Catapult classes

Nicola Maye Goldberg

Nicola Maye Goldberg is the author of Other Women (Sad Spell Press, 2016), The Doll Factory (Dancing Girl Press, 2017), and  Nothing Can Hurt You (Bloomsbury, 2020). She holds an MFA in fiction from Columbia University.

Testimonials

"Goldberg demands bodily responses from her readers: the slow roll of revulsion, the giddy flush of a thwarted crush, the creeping dread of something bad about to happen... but it’s in Goldberg’s talent for provoking visceral emotional responses with quiet, understated imagery that her horror aesthetic is most clear. Each page unfolds cinematically, like a new scene with something waiting to jump out. The lack of names gets to you: the reader is implicated and framed by both the unnamed narrator and the ‘you’ of her love interest. By the end, the reader is the monster and the last girl left alive both."

Mikaela Clements THE LIFTED BROW

"OTHER WOMEN is a delicate, feminine bildungsroman that follows a young woman from New York City to Berlin and back again. The protagonist—nameless, sensitive, brilliant—wanders in a ghostly fashion through the city streets, reflecting on her life and the decisions she has made. OTHER WOMEN is a brilliant little novel... brimming with obsession, vulnerability, and heartbreak. It is at once dark and bright—morbid without being turgid, specific without being pretentious."

Sophie Browner LOS ANGELES REVIEW OF BOOKS