Roadmap for Plotters and Pantsers with Zoraida Cordova

Plotter? Pantser? Or somewhere in between? Learn how to harness the power of the outline with award-winning author Zoraida Córdova in this 2-week workshop.

Your Instructor: Zoraida Córdova (author of the Brooklyn Brujas series)

Where: Online — Available everywhere!

When: This class is not currently enrolling. To be notified when it is offered again, Click Here

Enrollment: 16

Price: $199

Class Description

The great publishing debate tends to fall into two schools: Plotters and Pantsers. Plotters tirelessly map their way from start to finish. Pantsers write by the seat of their pants, or so they say. I used to write like this. Fifteen novels later, I have tried every outline I can get my hands on and settled on one that is a mixture of many. Not every book needs one, of course. But the longer I am on deadline, the more structure I need in order to create a path of understanding to what the heart of my story is. Outlines can range from detailed chapter by chapter breakdowns to a handful of bullet points in a simple three act structure. Regardless of your writing style, there is a way to make an outline work for you.

Note: Do not confuse an outline with a plug-and-play format. It is not. An outline can help you understand the stages of your plot, your hero’s emotional arc, and develop the theme that is at the heart of your novel.

Zoraida Córdova is the author of many fantasy novels for kids and teens, most recently the award-winning Brooklyn Brujas series, Incendiary, and Star Wars: A Crash of Fate. Her short fiction has appeared in the New York Times bestselling anthology Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View, Come on In: 15 Stories About Immigration and Finding Home, and Toil & Trouble: 15 Tales of Women and Witchcraft. She is the co-editor of Vampires Never Get Old: Tales with Fresh Bite. Her debut middle grade novel is The Way to Rio Luna. She is the co-host of the podcast Deadline City with Dhonielle Clayton. Zoraida was born in Ecuador and raised in Queens, New York. When she isn’t working on her next novel, she’s planning a new adventure.

What This Class Covers

Week 1

Using Zoraida’s personal worksheets you will work on the step by step outline of Act I. Not just placing scenes but understanding why it is the only decision that your character can make to keep the storing moving forward. You will be able to ask in depth questions about the different directions your character can go, etc.

Week 2 

Week two will focus on Acts II and III of the outline.

*Each week will include writing assignments and discussion opportunties, both with Zoraida and with the other students in the class.

Goals Of This Class

• Learn about the strengths of your story. What are you trying to say?
• Understand why your character or plot isn’t moving forward.
• Create an organic story that keeps the pages turning.
• Have your novel outline critiqued by the instructor

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