Novel Writing and Publishing

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In this 36 week guided and interactive online high school course, students will plan, draft, edit, revise, rewrite, publish, and market their novel. They will also create a video book trailer as part of their marketing plan as well. Please scroll down for more information and examples of student novels.

"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:

  1. 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 as a great way to empower them to tell their stories, whatever they may be!
 

Adult Accomplishments:

  1. Written, published novel
  2. Eight rounds of editing (of different types) completed on others' novels
  3. Marketing plan for novel
  4. Video book trailer for novel

Transferable skills:

  1. Outlining, crafting, and writing a story
  2. Understanding of character interactions, and how that would translate to the adult "real world"
  3. Market analysis on who would be willing to buy their novel
  4. Ability to edit their own and others' writing for clarity and correctness
  5. Selling themselves to potential customers
  6. Convincing strangers to put money towards their ideas/dreams

What careers would this course give me a leg up on?

  1. Author - Average Salary: $51,086 (https://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Writer_%2f_Author/Salary)
  2. Book editor - Average Salary: $49,580 (https://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Editor/Salary)
  3. Copy editor - Average Salary: $42,633 (https://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Copy_Editor/Salary)
  4. Marketing Specialist - Average Salary: $49,221 (https://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Marketing_Specialist/Salary)
  5. 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: 23 August 2021
  • Week 1:
    • Basic Novel Planning: synopsis and setting
  • Week 2:
    • Character Building: Basic Descriptions
  • Week 3:
    • Worldbuilding: Physical Space and the Speculative Element
  • Week 4:
    • Character building: initial conflict charts
  • Week 5:
    • Plotbuilding: Initial Compulsion Charts
  • Week 6:
    • Plot building: Plot and Sub-plot Arcs
  • Week 7:
    • Plot Line Synch Timeline
  • Week 8:
    • Scene Outline
  • Week 9:
    • Setting Descriptions
    • Revised conflict charts
    • Revised compulsion charts
    • Revised scene outline
    • Journey of Learning Narrative (JOLN) #1
  • 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
  • Week 14:
    • Writing first draft: Week 5
  • Week 15:
    • Matters of Conscience Discussion (relating to Peer Editing)
    • LBA #1
    • JOLN #2
  • Week 16:
    • Story Edit I (peer's novel)
  • Christmas Holidays: 13 December 2021 - 2 January 2022
  • Week 17:
    • Story Edit II: (peer's novel)
  • Week 18:
    • Revise Scene Outline
    • Revise Setting Descriptions
    • Social Media Author Engagement Community Setup
  • Week 19:
    • Story Edit III: (peer's novel)
  • Week 20:
    • Revise Scene Outline
    • Revise Setting Description
    • Introduction to Self Publishing
    • LBA #2
    • JOLN #3
  • Week 21:
    • Prose Edit I: (peer's novel)
  • Week 22:
    • Rewrite/Revise your novel: Week 1
  • Week 23:
    • Rewrite/Revise your novel: Week 2
  • Week 24:
    • Rewrite/Revise your novel: Week 3
  • Week 25:
    • Rewrite/Revise your novel: Week 4
  • Week 26:
    • Story Edit IV: (peer's novel)
  • Week 27:
    • Prose Edit II: (peer's novel)
  • Week 28:
    • Grammar Edit I: (peer's novel)
  • Week 29:
    • Formatting novel for publication
    • Pre-launch marketing
  • Week 30:
    • Grammar Edit II: (peer's novel)
    • Pre-launch marketing
  • Spring Break: 11 - 17 April 2022
  • Week 31:
    • Final formatting of your novel and publishing your novel
    • Launch marketing
    • Finalize marketing plan for novel
  • Week 32:
    • Create and Publish Video Book Trailer #1
    • Post launch marketing
  • Week 33:
    • Marketing (list building)
    • Copywriting for email campaigns
  • Week 34:
    • Social media marketing
    • Copywriting for email campaigns
  • Week 35:
    • Revised video book trailer (version 2) published
  • Week 36:
    • Final printed copy of published novel submitted to Frontier Christian Academy
    • Final book trailer
    • Journey of Learning Narrative
    • Final Limits Bounding Analysis (LBA)
  • Course End: 28 May 2022

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
  • 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. The exception is during November (Nanowrimo) where you will have to work harder in order to complete your first draft.

How can i write this course up on a high school transcript?

  1. 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.
  2. As a Business/Marketing elective, given the marketing planning, 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.
  3. 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.

Examples of Student Novels: