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Private Instruction in Writing Novels

For the aspiring fiction writer who is ambitious enough to embark on a novel, one of our tutors can offer valuable direction along the way. A book-length work can be a daunting prospect for any writer, but novice writers in particular will benefit from a tutor’s guidance and support. Our highly skilled instructors help students to map plot-lines, flesh out characters, establish narrative voice, sketch trajectories of conflict and resolution, and sharpen language and style at the sentence level.

The goals of our Novel Writing program are fourfold:

  1. Build the student’s core writing skills.
  2. Provide the student with the structure, encouragement, and accountability necessary to sustain a long-form fiction project.
  3. Develop a working outline for the student’s novel.
  4. Complete a second draft of Chapter One (and first drafts of subsequent chapters as appropriate).

Our creative writing programs are ideally suited for enrichment, either as extracurricular activities during the school year or as a way to keep students intellectually engaged during the long break from school. A typical novel-writing program involves one 60-90 minute session per week, with writing and reading assignments for the student to complete independently and discuss at the following session. In addition to exercises on story, character, conflict, and prose style, the student generates an outline for his or her book and a solid draft of the first chapter.

Our Novel Writing Instructors:
Our team of novel writing instructors includes the tutors below. Click on the instructor’s short profile to access his or her full profile:

Ursula D., Ph.D.
Ursula D., Ph.D.
Education

Oxford University, PhD in Modern History
Harvard University, BA in History and Literature (Honors)
Phillips Academy, Andover


Summary of Experience

Ursula is a writer and historian who is currently a Visiting Postdoctoral Fellow in the History of Science Department at Harvard University. Her first book, on nineteenth-century physicist John Tyndall, was released in March 2011. She has also taught an undergraduate history course at Oxford and worked as a teacher and tutor at the Marymount School of New York for two years.
Katrina G.-S., M.A.
Katrina G.-S., M.A.
Education

Boston University, MA, Earhart Fellow in Journalism & Sociology
Boston College, BA in Theater Arts


Summary of Experience

Katrina’s travel essays have been published by NPR, National Geographic, The Christian Science Monitor, and CNN-go, among others. Her children’s book, Ma, The Search for Silence, is forthcoming from Little, Brown, and Company in 2013. She taught writing at the prestigious Kikokushijo Academy in Tokyo, where she was also a TV Journalist and Producer for NHK- World, and for Atraves in Nicaragua.
Anindita S., M.F.A.
Anindita S., M.F.A.
Education

Vermont College of Fine Arts, MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults
Boston University, MA in English, Creative Writing Program (Poetry)
MIT, SM in Media Arts and Science, Future of Learning Group
Wellesley College, BA in English and Computer Science (Honors)


Summary of Experience

A co-founder of TheWritingFaculty, Anindita has worked extensively with students in middle school through graduate school on academic writing and admission essays. She was a founding faculty member at a charter school in Cambridge, MA, where she taught middle school Humanities in a mixed-grade, inclusive classroom. She also taught undergraduate creative writing at Boston University.
Marisa H., M.F.A.
Marisa H., M.F.A.
Education

University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, MFA in Fiction Writing
Fulbright Fellow in Creative Writing to India
University of California, Berkeley, BA in English and Interdisciplinary Studies Field, Phi Beta Kappa


Summary of Experience

As a teacher, tutor, and workshop leader, Marisa's students have ranged from struggling writers to M.F.A. candidates. She has taught at universities including Stanford and U.C. Berkeley in composition, nonfiction, poetry, and fiction. Her memoir Loyal to the Sky (2007) won the Nautilus Gold Award for World-Changing Books. In 2010, she received a Fulbright fellowship in Creative Writing.
Anne S., M.F.A.
Anne S., M.F.A.
Education

George Mason University, MFA in Poetry
Yale University, BA in English and Psychology, summa cum laude


Summary of Experience

An Assistant Professor of English and Director of the Writing Center at Franklin Pierce University, Anne teaches courses in creative writing, composition, and literature. Her poetry collection, Undertow, won the 2007 Lexi Rudinitzky Poetry Prize, and her poems have been widely anthologized and published in literary journals.
Danielle M., M.F.A.
Danielle M., M.F.A.
Education

Emerson College, MFA in Writing, Literature, and Publishing
Georgetown University, BA in Psychology
Phillips Academy, Andover


Summary of Experience

Currently a member of the English faculty at Lawrence Academy, Danielle also works with the Academy's College Office, assisting students with the college-essay writing process. She has also taught at Andover's summer school, where she instructed students in the rigorous MS² program and edited the program's alumni magazine. Before becoming a teacher, Danielle worked as a writer and journalist for The Boston Phoenix.
Katie B., M.F.A.
Katie B., M.F.A.
Education

Vermont College of Fine Arts, MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults
Tufts University, MA in Teaching
Brown University, BA in Education Studies, magna cum laude
Phillips Academy, Andover


Summary of Experience

Katie has extensive experience as both a writer and educator. She taught high school English for several years and was a founding faculty member of a charter school. As Features Editor of the internationally distributed Teen Voices magazine, she worked with teen writers and their mentors. An award-winning novelist, Katie is also a communications expert in the nonprofit and educational sectors.

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