Course materials are provided free. This is Part Two of a 2-part course. Students are welcome to join us midyear if there are open seats and they have met the minimum prerequisites.

Accompanying Courses:  Students are encouraged to take the accompanying course(s), Screenwriting or The Hero’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers. These courses can be taken alongside the series courses or following the series courses. Students can also sign up for the Authoring a Book, Part 1 course as a companion to the Fiction Writing courses. You can access each 4-week section of the course in Unlimited Access at any time.

 Required: Essential Punctuation and Grammar I (HS 9-1) and High School Simplified Writing 1: Strong Foundational Writing Skills HS 9-2. Prerequisites can be taken live or through Unlimited Access and taken concurrently. An alternative to the prerequisite: a passing assessment from the Aquinas Writing Advantage Assessment service. Please contact homeschoolconnections@gmail.com for any questions on permissions. Highly suggested: Part One.

Course Outline:

Theme, Style, & Point of View (Class 1 - 4)

In the first 4 weeks, the student learns how to create a dynamic theme, style, and point of view for fiction books of any genre for middle grade, young adult, and adult plots.

Class 1: What is theme and how to use it in your book

Class 2: What is style and how to develop your own style

Class 3: Point of view

Class 4: Integrating theme, style, and point of view to create a dynamic story

Conflict & Creating the Breakout Novel (Class 5 - 8)

In the next four weeks, students learn how to create conflict that drives any story forward as well as how to implement the Christian worldview into story conflict.

Class 5: What makes a great novel and “stakes” (personal and universal)

Class 6: Conflict in the setting, characters, and plot

Class 7: Playing the “what if” game—making your character do the unthinkable

Class 8: Cliffhangers, self-sacrifice, and turning points

Writing the Short Story (Class 9 - 12)

The final four weeks answer, “What makes a short story?” Using famous short stories and dynamic how-to content, students learn how to write a dynamic, publishable short story—including developing ideas for short stories, the similarities and differences between short stories and full-length book writing, and marketing short stories to publications.

Class 9: Defining short stories: micro fiction, flash fiction, short stories, novelettes, and novellas

• All materials are provided FREE in the course. Word 2007 or later version or the ability to convert a document to a Word-compatible document. If you do not own Microsoft Word 2007 or a later version, you can use a system such as Google Docs that converts to Word documents FREE.

LIVE and Instructor Access students will have weekly writing assignments with grading and direct feedback from the instructor (parents will grade Recorded students’ work). There is an estimated three (3) to four (4) hours per week for homework outside of class time that includes reading, writing, and responding to feedback.

Fee: All 12 classes: $279 if you register on or before November 15, $299 if you register after November 15. (Registration closes one week before the first day of class. After that date, registrations are not guaranteed. There is a $25 surcharge for late enrollments after the course is closed.)