The Art of the Middle: A Novel Writing Class at Flatiron Writers Room, Aug 23.-Sept. 27

Press release:

The Art of the Middle: A Novel Writing Class with Catherine Campbell, Aug 23.-Sept. 27

There are plenty of classes on how to write dynamic first sentences, opening chapters, and closing lines, but very few resources to help an author conquer the hardest part of a book: the middle. Encountering the depressing middle work is often referred to as “sag syndrome,” and many would-be novelists abandon their projects altogether during this period.

This 5-week class is designed to save you from that.

During The Art of the Middle, writers with a novel-in-progress will work intensely to add new sections to their book each week by roughly drafting the middle of their novel. Each 2.5-hour weekly class will feature manuscript feedback on your work, critical reading, craft talk, lively discussion, and in-class writing time. You will also write outside of class. In six weeks, you can potentially add six more chapters to your novel.

We will dive into short but specific examples of how authors use time (Graham Greene, John Banville), place (Jessie Burton, Patricia Highsmith), character (Donna Tartt, Paul Yoon), POV (Jeffrey Eugenides, Lauren Groff), and backstory (Michael Chabon,Stephen King) to buoy the dense midsections of their novels as well as maintain pace in plot. This will help class participants better understand how to write a novel in which the middle sustains momentum and narrative depth.

For more information, including instructions for how to register by check, go to www.flatironwritersroom.com.

About the Instructor: Catherine Campbell is an award-nominated fiction writer and essayist. Her work appears or is forthcoming in The New York Times, The Millions, Kenyon Review, McSweeney’s, The Atlantic, Daily Muse, Arcadia, Drunken Boat, Ploughshares online, and elsewhere. She also ghostwrites articles for high-profile clients in national magazines such as Inc., Harvard Business Review, and Foundr Mag. Catherine earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Literature and Writing at UNC-Asheville and her MFA in Writing at Queens University. She was born on a little homestead in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina, and lives in Asheville with her son Thaddeus and her partner, the writer Brandon Amico.