Novel II
with Scott O'Connor in Silver Lake
May we recommend Novel I with Kate Maruyama?
Mondays
7:30 to 9:30 pm
February 18 to April 8, 2021
This eight-week intermediate workshop is designed for writers who have already begun the process of drafting their novel and who need constructive criticism and astute readers. Each week, a different aspect of the novel will be addressed. We will troubleshoot various aspects of each writer's work, tackling issues such as plot, pace, and character. Over the course of this class, students will workshop up to thirty pages of their novel. In addition, we’ll talk about techniques for sticking to a long-term goal, continuing to find inspiration and fresh ideas, and how to keep sight of the forest while surrounded by trees.
This class will take place in Silver Lake, where wine, sparkling water, and the occasional gourmet snack will be served.
Enrollment limit: 8 students
$420 for new students; $380 for returning students.
(Payment plans available to returning students.)
Scott O’Connor is the author of the forthcoming book of stories A Perfect Universe, the novels Untouchable and Half World, and the novella Among Wolves. He has been awarded the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Award, and his stories have been shortlisted for the Sunday Times/EFG Story Prize and cited as Distinguished in Best American Short Stories. He has written for FOX, Universal Television, The New York Times Magazine, and The Los Angeles Review of Books.
Testimonials
"I've taken two classes with Scott O'Connor (Fiction I, Novel I) and I wouldn't be writing my current novel without them. Scott's prompts and assignments gave me the idea, the POV, and the voice of the novel. I'm now two hundred pages in and I would never have had the skills or the confidence to get this far if not for Scott's guidance. He is accepting of wherever we are in our manuscript while also helping us see where we need to go and providing the tools we need in order to get there. Scott is a supportive, insightful, and generous teacher. His classes have been invaluable to both my manuscript and my process as a writer. I’m very fortunate to have taken them." —Caroline Treadwell
"I just wrapped up a fantastic Novel I class with Scott O'Connor and it helped me shape the framework of my entire book while creating possibilities and asking questions that I don’t have the answers to just yet. Writer friends, I highly recommend Scott O’Connor and Writing Workshops Los Angeles." —Courtney Seiberling
Reviews
“I sat down to read the first story in A Perfect Universe, only to look up several hours later having read the entire book in a single sitting. I fell in love with these characters from the first page. The storytelling in this book—tender and attentive, starkly poetic and always surprising—moved me at every turn.” —Attica Locke, Bluebird, Bluebird and Pleasantville)
"[In Untouchable], Scott O'Connor speaks softly and somehow manages to make something beautiful of unspeakable matters . . . a voice so insistently stirring, you want to lean in close to catch every word." —The New York Times Book Review
"[Half World is an] "invigorating historical thriller . . . Intimately gripping . . . O'Connor writes with fire." —Kirkus Reviews