New York Novels

New York Novels: How to write, edit, and polish your manuscript for the American publisher & audience

“When you send off a short story, it sits on the editor’s desk in the same pile with stories by the most famous and honored names in present-day writing–and it’s not going to be accepted unless it’s as good as theirs. (And it’ll probably have to be better.)” ~ Daniel Quinn

DESCRIPTION

Writing for publishers in the US is different than writing for the UK or the European market. In this class, learn what US publishers expect and how to write and market your book explicitly for them. We’ll talk about editors and agents in the US and what they expect from novelists. We’ll compare market trends both world-wide and in the US. We’ll also look at writing conventions in genres. This class is both an online and a live class with variable lengths.

We will look at several books by US and non-US authors*:

• The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
• The Life of Pi by Yann Martel
• Pale Demon by Kim Harrison
• Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
• The Help by Kathryn Stockett
• River God by Wilbur Smith

*all excerpts will be provided in class and online, & I’ll have a few extra copies of books for prizes. Other books/stories may be added/substituted. You do not have to read these books. (Although it helps if you have and I recommend that you do at some point in your career.) We will examine excerpts and compare them to our manuscripts and see how we can improve our writing.

for Amsterdam attendees:

CLASS HANDOUTS