Busy writers don’t always have time to sit in a classroom to improve their fiction.
Jordan’s Writing Classes are a unique online blend of personal feedback, student interaction, and tailored lessons for the writer who is committed to the next level of craft.
These courses blend coaching and writing, as students receive direct feedback from Jordan as well as benefit from interaction with each other, creative video supplements, and more.
*All students receive a free copy of the book of their choice upon registering for Jordan’s classes: Make a Scene, Write Free, Milk & Ink Anthology or the Zebulon Night anthology.
$20 early-bird discount for students who register three weeks or more before start date! $30 discount for all returning students! (*one-week intensives excluded)
NEW! Plot Intensive
A brand new online intensive for the serious writer who struggles to perfect plot. Whether you’re building a plot from scratch or trying to piece together an elaborate plot, it can be an overwhelming process without a good road map and clear understanding of what a plot is and how to wield it.
Click here for class description.
A plot is at its most basic, a character’s journey toward personal integration, a compelling goal, and the strategic steps he or she takes to get there. Plot is, at the deeper level, a process of a flawed character moving toward wholeness, of seeking change and integration of the self. This workshop makes building and writing a plot fun by breaking it down to its crucial elements and providing practical tools for plot-construction one scene at a time. We'll also look at how different kinds of writers need to approach plot differently.
You’ll learn:
- How Plot & Character must be married to one another
- How to plot with intention
- Powerful strategic stages of a plot
- Hidden desires and goals of your character
- How to assess your existing plot’s strengths/weaknesses
- And much more!
You can participate to your own level in online discussion and the assignments are weekly and self-paced for busy, working people. There is also live chat using G+ hangouts weekly; not mandatory, but a lot of fun if you can make it!
- $309 Full Price
- $289 Early Bird Discount before Feb. 15, 2012
- $279 Returning Student Discount
- Includes a FREE copy of your choice of Jordan's books.
Novel Writing Intensive
Ready to tackle the draft of your novel, workshop it toward publication in a supportive but directed environment? Then the Novel Intensive is for you.
Click here for class description.
Weekly lessons and assignments are self-paced, with group chat and personalized instructor feedback.
This 10-week class is for anyone who wants to seriously work on or needs help kick-starting to the finish of a draft of a novel with the goal of publication in sight.
Class structure:- Five of the 10 weeks you'll receive helpful lessons and assignments
- You'll have three opportunities to submit chunks of your novel for critique
You can participate to your own level in online discussion and the assignments are weekly and self-paced for busy, working people.
- $359 Full Price
- $329 Early Bird Discount before Sept. 1st
- $309 Returning Student Discount
- Includes a FREE copy of your choice of Jordan's books.
Page-Turning Tension
“Tension on every page is a technique that keeps readers glued to a novel, even in the absence of artistic prose, rich atmosphere, complex characters and lofty themes. It is the application of macroconflict on a microscale.” -Donald Maass, Writing the Breakout Novel.
Click here for class description.
Weekly lessons and assignments are self-paced, with group chat and personalized instructor feedback.
This four week class is an intensive on tension—that tight-wire energy that keeps readers turning pages at a furious pace, making your fiction “unputdownable.”
You may already be a master of scenes, of quirky characters and complex plots…but if tension is missing from your work, your stories will still be facing rejection and reader dissatisfaction.
This class will offer ways to infuse tension into:- Every Scene
- Flat Exposition
- Character Dialogue/Interactions
- Plot concepts
- And More...
Self-paced, direct feedback from instructor, video lecture supplements, and online discussion.
- $229 Full Price
- $209 Early Bird Discount
- $199 Returning Student Discount
- Includes a FREE copy of your choice of Jordan's books.
Fiction's Magic Ingredient
This is a crucial crash-course for the fiction writer who wants to take their writing to the next level (and never go back).
Click here for class description.
In this class you'll learn the "magic" ingredient to create the pulse-pounding drama of a good story using strong, powerful scenes, and revolutionize the way you write.
You’ll learn how to:
- Activate and enliven your writing
- Create a stylized, “sexier” experience of "real time"
- Build a powerful, layered "tapestry" on every page
- Plan a tight and tense plot
- Demonstrate unforgettable characters. And more!
You can participate to your own level in online discussion and the assignments are weekly and self-paced for busy, working people.
- $309 Full Price
- $289 Early Bird Discount before Sept. 1st
- $279 Returning Student Discount
- Includes a FREE copy of your choice of Jordan's books.
NEW! One-Week Intensives
Looking for a fast and furious writing intensive to boost crucial elements of the craft? These one-week intensives are for you!
One-week intensives: Returning Summer 2012!- $69 Per Class
- $229 Four-Pack/Save $47!
- Four-pack includes a FREE copy of your choice of Jordan's books.
Method Writing |
Some of the most widely acclaimed actors use a strategy said to have “revolutionized” modern cinema: “method acting.” In the form, rather than attempting to simulate emotional experiences in scenes, actors draw from their own emotional stores, channeling real feelings of their own to create characters so vibrant and alive that the line between actor and character vanishes.
In fiction, writers can use this same concept to create compelling scenes and characters. I call it “method writing.”
In this intensive 1-week course you’ll learn to draw from several rich personal fonts for the energy and emotion needed to make scenes feel authentic.
Learn to Layer Scene Types |
(*This lesson is included in Fiction’s Magic Ingredient)
You may know how to make a scene, but now learn to layer them for powerful effect. Avoid “monochromatic” fiction that lacks variety and texture. In this intensive you’ll learn about the ingredients of, and how to wield, different scene types, from slow, contemplative scenes, to heavy-hitting dramatic scenes and dozens of others in between.
Point of View |
Whose story are you telling? Is your character’s story best told up close in a first person point of view, or better at a distance? What about multiple points of view? This one week intensive will clarify common confusions about point of view and help you practice them to find out which one is right for the story you’re trying to tell.
Image Building |
(*This lesson is included in Fiction’s Magic Ingredient)
The visual world of your novel or story is a powerful way to evoke mood and feeling. There may be nothing more effective than using “images”—stylized, poetic visuals that specifically conjure a feeling, a mood, or a theme. Images are different than mere descriptions in that they speak to the reader on the unconscious, metaphoric, and emotional levels. They bypass the logical mind and resonate in your reader’s mind and heart long after the page is turned.
