Writing Workshops

Valuable Real Estate: Crafting Your Novel’s Opening with Charles Bock

$345

4 sessions

Out of stock

Once a week Mondays, 6:00 pm EDT - 8:00 pm EDT June 23 to July 14, 2025

Online via Zoom

I once heard Amy Hempel say that she gives a manuscript three sentences: If she isn’t interested by then, she’s done. Obviously, the start of a book is important real estate; you have to get readers interested, but also need to start setting up and building your world. A lot is at stake.

This workshop will focus on the start of your books and give you a strong understanding of what openings of books must do, by analyzing the opening chapters and sections of different types of books and novels.

Course Outline:

In our first class, we’ll cover what the openings of manuscripts do, and touch upon important guidelines. We also will discuss how beginnings of books directly connect to endings.

After that, we’ll discuss a prominent novel each week, consider how its opening chapter works, and explore how it connects to its ending. (Possible texts may include The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay; Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow; The Great Gatsby; The Color Purple; Lolita; and The Girls). We’ll also break down matters such as description vs. exposition, character and world building, how to establish theme, and common errors that capsize budding novels before they’ve even had a chance to bloom.

Levels: Intermediate & Advanced

This course is held online via Zoom.

Led by

Charles Bock

Charles Bock

Charles Bock is the author of the memoir, I Will Do Better, as well as the novels Alice & Oliver and Beautiful Children, which was a New York Times bestseller and Notable Book, and which won the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His fiction and nonfiction have appeared in the New Yorker, Harper’s, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Newsweek, the Believer, Vice, the Los Angeles Times, Slate, Writer’s Digest, and in numerous anthologies. He has received fellowships from Civitella Ranieri, Yaddo, UCross, and the Vermont Studio Center. Charles is a graduate of the Bennington Writing Seminars. He teaches fiction at NYU, and has taught in the MFA program at Columbia University.

About this series

Writing Workshops

We strive to make our classes the most inviting and rewarding available, offering an intimate environment to study with award-winning, world-class writers. Each class is specially designed by the instructor, so whether you’re a fledgling writer or an MFA graduate polishing your novel, you’ll find a perfect fit here.

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