$395
6 Sessions
Out of stock
Once a week Tuesdays, 6:00 pm EST - 8:00 pm EST March 21 to April 25, 2023
Online via Zoom
This workshop has reached its capacity. To join the waitlist, please email Randy Winston at [email protected].
Literary thrillers contain elegant prose, thematic richness, and propulsive plots. In this class, we will examine different elements of the genre, including character, style, tone, and voice. We will also discuss plots and subplots, and how to brainstorm plot twists, manage disparate timelines, and how to generate suspense throughout a novel.
The Secret History by Donna Tartt will be our touchstone, and all students will be expected to read it prior to the first class. Students will also be recommended a number of other books depending on what the instructor feels will be most useful for their projects. We will also use Raymond Chandler’s “Ten Commandments for the Detective Novel,” and discuss what writers of literary fiction can learn from more traditional mysteries and thrillers.
Each student will have the opportunity to workshop both an outline for a novel and an excerpt. The workshops will focus on character, voice, and setting as well as building and sustaining suspense. Previous workshop experience is recommended, but not a requirement.
We will also discuss the challenges unique to the genre and how students can meet them as they continue the writing process. By the end of the class, students will be ready to write a full-length literary thriller.
Course Outline
- Session I: Discuss The Secret History (plot, character, voice, structure, etc.) Discuss what brings students to this particular class and the projects they have in mind.
- Sessions II–VI: Each student will workshop both an outline of a literary novel and an excerpt from that project. They will be able to choose which order will be most helpful for them.
Capacity: 12

Led by
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Nicola Maye Goldberg
Nicola Maye Goldberg
Nicola Maye Goldberg is the author of Other Women and Nothing Can Hurt You. Her work has appeared in Vogue, New York Tyrant, Joyland, and elsewhere. She has taught at Catapult and Columbia University. She lives in New York City.
By Nicola Maye Goldberg
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Nothing Can Hurt You
By Nicola Maye Goldberg
Published by Bloomsbury
On a cold day in 1997, student Sara Morgan was killed in the woods surrounding her liberal arts college in upstate New York. Her boyfriend, Blake Campbell, confessed, his plea of temporary insanity raising more questions than it answered.
In the wake of his acquittal, the case comes to haunt a strange and surprising network of community members, from the young woman who discovers Sara’s body to the junior reporter who senses its connection to convicted local serial killer John Logan. Others are looking for retribution or explanation: Sara’s half sister, stifled by her family’s bereft silence about Blake, poses as a babysitter and seeks out her own form of justice, while the teenager Sara used to babysit starts writing to Logan in prison.
A propulsive, taut tale of voyeurism and obsession, Nothing Can Hurt You dares to examine gendered violence not as an anomaly, but as the very core of everyday life. Tracing the concentric circles of violence rippling out from Sara’s murder, Nicola Maye Goldberg masterfully conducts an unforgettable chorus of disparate voices.
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.