THE OUTLINE IS YOUR ROADMAP TO SUCCESS
The challenge in outlining a novel, memoir, or screenplay lies in marrying the wildness of your imagination to the rigor of story structure. There is no formula to creating an outline, but there is craft involved.
In this five-week workshop, you will discover a process of connecting to the primal forces in your characters to reveal plot. Through this process, you'll discover the foundational elements that will help you to unlock the story within. The workshop includes lecture, stream-of-consciousness writing exercises and structure questions designed to help you build a compelling narrative. We will watch clips from popular films and review scenes from works of memoir and fiction to illustrate the principles.
Course Breakdown
Week One – Unlock the Story Within
Through a series of exercises, each writer will connect to the protagonist’s dilemma at the heart of the story. The dilemma is the source of the story from which all tension and conflict arise. We will explore your protagonist’s wants and needs, uncover their transformation at the climax, and discover why you are uniquely qualified to tell this story.
Week Two – Act One/Thesis
We will take a close look at the first act of your story. Through lecture, discussion, and one-on-one work, we will cover the five key stages in your protagonist’s journey, from Inciting Incident to Opposing Argument to the Decision that propels your protagonist into the second act.
Week Three – Act Two/Antithesis
In this workshop, we will explore the four key stages that your protagonist goes through, from 1) False Hope to 2) Temptation to 3) Suffering and 4) Surrender.
Week Four – Act Three/Synthesis
In this workshop we will explore the final four stages in your protagonist’s journey from
1) Accepting Reality to
2) Taking Action to
3) Battle Scene and finally
4) New Equilibrium
Week Five - Completing Your Outline
In this workshop we will integrate the material covered in the previous four weeks and deepen our relationship to the process of marrying the wildness of your imagination to the rigor of story structure.
This course is available for "remote" learning and will be available to anyone with access to an internet device with a microphone (this includes most models of computers, tablets). Classes will take place with a "Live" instructor at the date/times listed below.
Upon registration, the instructor will send along additional information about how to log-on and participate in the class.