"Write in a book what you see, and send it to the seven churches... Therefore write the things that you have seen, and the things which are, and the things that will take place after these things." -- Revelation 1:11, 19
Additional Resources required:
- National Novel Writing Month (Nanowrimo) membership: Free
So, what's the story?
From the time that I was very young, I used to love to make up and tell stories to whomever would listen. Many times this was only to myself, but I digress.
The idea for this course actually came to me from a book called No Plot? No Problem. This book told of a group of people who could help me get my story out to the world by writing a novel in a month.
You might (mistakenly) think that this is impossible, but the truth is that I know that it is possible because I have done it! Every year during the month of November, hundreds of thousands of people around the world write a novel. It is called National Novel Writing Month (www.nanowrimo.org.) They define a novel as 50,000 words, which, divided over the 30 days of November, comes out to slightly under 1700 words per day, which, while being a commitment, is far from impossible.
So I thought that, if 100,000 people could do it, why can’t some of them be high schoolers that I am coaching through the process?
Here’s what 100,000 people do not do in a month, or a year, or in many cases, a lifetime: publish their novel. There are all sorts of reasons for this, but few are sufficient.
But you say to me: “Publishing is expensive/difficult/time consuming/exclusive/etc.” That was before self-publishing moved beyond the realm of vanity publishing to become more mainstream. Taking advantage of this shift in the publishing world, as well as the low-cost, highly-targeted marketing methods enabled by social media, puts the author in the driver’s seat for selling their novel (whether they want to, or are trained to or not.)
So I saw coaching students with a story to write it, revise it, publish it, and market it to their generation was a great way to empower them to tell their stories, whatever they may be!
The idea for this course actually came to me from a book called No Plot? No Problem. This book told of a group of people who could help me get my story out to the world by writing a novel in a month.
You might (mistakenly) think that this is impossible, but the truth is that I know that it is possible because I have done it! Every year during the month of November, hundreds of thousands of people around the world write a novel. It is called National Novel Writing Month (www.nanowrimo.org.) They define a novel as 50,000 words, which, divided over the 30 days of November, comes out to slightly under 1700 words per day, which, while being a commitment, is far from impossible.
So I thought that, if 100,000 people could do it, why can’t some of them be high schoolers that I am coaching through the process?
Here’s what 100,000 people do not do in a month, or a year, or in many cases, a lifetime: publish their novel. There are all sorts of reasons for this, but few are sufficient.
But you say to me: “Publishing is expensive/difficult/time consuming/exclusive/etc.” That was before self-publishing moved beyond the realm of vanity publishing to become more mainstream. Taking advantage of this shift in the publishing world, as well as the low-cost, highly-targeted marketing methods enabled by social media, puts the author in the driver’s seat for selling their novel (whether they want to, or are trained to or not.)
So I saw coaching students with a story to write it, revise it, publish it, and market it to their generation was a great way to empower them to tell their stories, whatever they may be!
Adult Accomplishments:
- Written, published novel
- Executed crowdfunding campaign to fund publication and marketing expenses
- Marketing plan for novel
- Video book trailer for novel
Transferable skills:
- Outlining, crafting, and writing a story
- Understanding of character interactions, and how that would translate to the adult "real world"
- Ability to edit another their own and others' writing for clarity and correctness
- Selling themselves to potential customers
- Convincing strangers to put money towards their ideas/dreams
What careers would this course give me a leg up on?
- Author - Average Salary: $51,086 (https://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Writer_%2f_Author/Salary)
- Book editor - Average Salary: $49,580 (https://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Editor/Salary)
- Copy editor - Average Salary: $42,633 (https://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Copy_Editor/Salary)
- Marketing Specialist - Average Salary: $49,221 (https://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Marketing_Specialist/Salary)
- Publishing Manager - Average Salary: $60,478 (https://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Publishing_Manager/Salary)
General Syllabus (Subject to change as needed)
- Course Start: 27 August 2018
- Week 1:
- Basic Novel Planning: synopsis and setting
- Week 2:
- Character Building: Basic Descriptions
- Week 3:
- Worldbuilding: Power distribution and mechanisms
- Week 4:
- Character building: initial conflict charts
- Week 5:
- Worldbuilding: Relationship environment
- Week 6:
- Plot building: Initial compulsion charts
- Week 7:
- Plot building: Initial scene outline
- Week 8:
- World building: The Physical environment
- Week 9:
- World building: Population
- Revised conflict charts
- Revised compulsion charts
- Revised scene outline
- Week 10:
- Writing first draft: Week 1
- Week 11:
- Writing first draft: Week 2
- Week 12:
- Writing first draft: Week 3
- Week 13: Thanksgiving Week
- Writing first draft: Week 4 (draft completion)
- Week 14:
- Story editing classmate's novel
- Week 15:
- Story editing a different classmate's novel (using second rubric)
- Week 16:
- Story editing a different classmate's novel (using third rubric)
- Christmas Holidays: 17 December 2018 - 6 January 2019
- Week 17:
- Revise your novel
- Revised conflict charts
- Revised scene outline
- Revised compulsion charts
- Week 18:
- Rewrite draft: Week 1
- Week 19:
- Rewrite draft: Week 2
- Week 20:
- Rewrite draft: Week 3
- Week 21:
- Rewrite draft: Week 4
- Week 22:
- Prose edit classmate's novel
- Week 23:
- Prose edit a different classmate's novel
- Week 24:
- Revised scene outline
- Revised conflict chart
- Revised compulsion chart
- Revised Physical Environment
- 'Revised population description
- Week 25:
- Revise your novel, based on classmate feedback and clearer thinking
- Week 26:
- Grammar edit a classmate's novel
- Week 27:
- Grammar edit a different classmate's novel
- Week 28:
- Revise your novel based on classmate feedback and clearer thinking
- Week 29:
- Create a video book trailer
- Week 30:
- Publisher research and selection
- Crowdfunding campaign planning to cover publishing costs
- Spring Break: 13 -21 April 2019
- Week 31:
- Launch crowdfunding campaign to cover publication and marketing costs
- Create marketing plan for novel
- Week 32:
- Launch author website and/or social media platform
- Update crowdfunding campaign
- Week 33:
- Submit manuscript for publication (with associated fees)
- Week 34:
- Social media marketing
- Copywriting for email campaigns
- Week 35:
- Revised video book trailer published
- Week 36:
- Final copy of published novel submitted to Frontier Christian Academy
- Final book trailer
- Journey of Learning Narrative
- Final Limits Bounding Analysis (LBA)
- Course End: 31 May 2019
Expected Work Load
- Typically one or more tasks that you must perform to move your project iteratively "down the road"
- One or more discussion questions from the teacher to answer
- Responding to classmates' answers to the discussion questions
- Ensuring that you go through any of the learning activities for skills where you are not yet proficient to help you in future weeks' tasks
***All of this is designed to take you about 5 focused hours per week, which is less than you would have if you were attending class in a traditional school.
How can i write this course up on a high school transcript?
- As an English course, given the writing, outlining, research, and editing experience that the student gains through the writing, editing, revising, publishing, and marketing their novel.
- As a Business/Marketing elective, given the marketing planning, crowdfunding, and publishing process that the student will go through with their novel, as well as the video book trailer (advertisement) that the student had to produce.
- As a Fine Arts elective, given the storytelling process that the student had to go through, as well as the video book trailer that the student had to produce to sell their book to their audience.