Get Yourself a Christmas Present: Write a Novel

in Danvers is offering an amazing course. 

I took the course 'Novel Writing: From Idea to First Draft' taught by Anthony DeGangi, which went from Sept. through Nov. I had the first 25 pages of a novel in the historic fiction genre but couldn't get any further and I had worked on it for several years. I bought books and asked questions but I didn't seem to get any further. Did I do research first? Did I write what I knew first? How many pages a day? What was my outline supposed to look like? 

These were among some of the questions that the ten members of Tony's first class asked. Each person came in with either a germ of an idea or they were like me, someone with something on paper. Tony gave us a list of books to buy - and he showed us a movie and talked about how this movie followed a certain outline.  He was published author and had worked in publishing. Tony's particular interest is the carnival sideshows and he is currently researching a book by learning swordswallowing. His approach is energetic and structured, tinged with empathy and a riotous sense of humor. The classes were never long enough and we always left with the feeling 'we could do this.'  So, as promised, I produced 138 pages of my first draft.  The feeling of completion was very satisfying - like climbing a mountain.  I look forward to the second course ;  'From Second Draft to Publication,'  which starts on February 15. 

'The Novel: From First Word to First Draft' runs again from February 8 to April 15th.  It is $179 and you can register on-line at Northshore.edu. You can phone Lisa Higgins at 978-236-1200 to register by phone and you can walk into either the Danvers or the Cummings Center in Beverly and pay by check to register. 

So buy yourself a fabulous Christmas present for yourself or an aspiring author in your midst!