10-week Class meeting virtually for three hours, each session

Location:  Online (Zoom)

Date & Time:  10 Mondays, starting August 21st, 2023, 6-9 PM (No meeting Labor Day, Sept 4, or Yom Kippur, Sept. 25)

Skill Level: Previous Workshop Experience or the Equivalent Recommended

Exciting plots and larger-than-life characters are cornerstones of what’s called “popular” fiction.

But isn’t that too damned limiting?

We live in an era when Michael Chabon wins science fiction’s Nebula Award and Cormac McCarthy wins the Pulitzer for his apocalyptic novel The Road, as does Colson Whitehead for his alternate history novel The Underground Railroad. The lines between genre and literary fiction are blurrier than ever.

Whether you’re writing mystery, science fiction, erotica, love stories, fantasy, supernatural, thrillers or suspense, the principles of writing both popular and literary fiction are crucial. In Mike Marano’s Smart Page-Turner Sequence of Classes, you’ll learn how to craft clear prose, create characters your readers won’t forget, and plot stories that move… all while developing a literary “voice” that’s distinctly yours.

In each session of each Smart Page-Turner Course, we’ll workshop your stories and/or novel chapters, explore the mechanics and techniques of different genres, use idea-generating exercises, and discuss the current markets for your work. We’ll look at a variety of texts, including works by Nobel Prize winners, classic graphic novels, screenplays, stage plays, bestsellers from other countries, and even PIXAR’s rules of good storytelling. The goal is to gain solid groundings in the demands of popular fiction, as well as mastering the literary potential of your favorite genres.