Tuesdays, April 9th - May 14th| This course is designed for aspiring novelists who want to learn the craft of plotting a compelling and cohesive story. Whether you’re working on your first novel or looking to refine your storytelling skills, this course will provide you with the tools and techniques to plot your novel effectively. Through a combination of lectures, workshops, and individual feedback, you’ll learn how to create engaging plots, develop well-rounded characters, and maintain narrative tension from beginning to end. Beginning from the second class, four students per week will submit a 2-3 page outline of their novel, for constructive input from both peers and the instructor. 

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

1. Understand the key elements of a well-structured plot.
2. Develop a plot outline that balances character development with narrative momentum.
3. Create compelling plot twists and turns that keep readers engaged.
4. Identify and resolve common plotting pitfalls.
5. Apply plotting techniques to their own novel-writing projects.

Anoop Judge is the author of four novels: The Rummy Club, which received the 2015 Beverly Hills Book Award; The Awakening of Meena Rawat, an excerpt of which was nominated for the 2019 Pushcart Prize; No Ordinary Thursday; and Mercy and Grace. Her essays and short stories have appeared in Green Hills Literary Lantern, Rigorous Journal, The Lumiere Review, Doubleback Review, and the Ornament anthology. She received an MFA from Saint Mary’s College of California and was the recipient of the 2021 Advisory Board Award and the 2023 Alumni Scholarship. She is an alumna of Vona, the Writers of Color workshop, and was selected for the 2020 Writers Grotto’s Rooted & Written conference. She has served as a mentor-in-residence for the Write Team Mentorship online program. She currently teaches a course at Stanford University titled "Novel Writing: From Concept to Creation."