One session: Sat, April 18, 2026, 9a-12p CST / 10-1p EST
Instructor: Susanna Daniel
Location: Zoom
Cost: $125
All books start somewhere.
Maybe you have little more than a vague idea, an opening image, or a character or subject.
Together, we’ll grow your seedling into a first scene, a series of actionable steps, and a map to the finish line.
During our time together, we’ll:
Define your book’s audience and purpose.
Determine your inciting incident and 2-3 turning points.
Choose your point of view, setting, and clock.
Plan a realistic personal writing schedule and 3 firm deadlines.
Meant for novelists and memoirists and suitable for writers of all levels of experience, whether you’ve never written or have published widely.
Over the past decade-plus of guiding writers, I’ve developed a nuts-and-bolts, encouraging approach that combines practical tips with supportive, actionable feedback. Expect a collaborative, warm atmosphere, smart prompts, and relatable examples.
This class is set at a maximum of 10 writers, to keep the group intimate and productive.
Writers who finish BYB are invited to continue with Book in a Year, a deep-dive workshop, for 25% off. Limited openings available.
ABOUT SUSANNA
Susanna Daniel is the author of three novels: Stiltsville was awarded the 2011 PEN/Bingham prize, Sea Creatures was a Target Book Club pick, and Girlfriending, her latest, is a spinoff of her award-winning short story, The Goddess of Illicit Choices.
“I LOVED our class about starting our books. Your advice was so practical and low-stress. So different (& more helpful) than other ‘write your book’ classes I’ve taken in the past. Writing the entire draft BEFORE trying to revise or have someone read/edit is revolutionary!! And the concrete plan with how many words we can write in a week and when we will finish was extremely helpful. ”