San Jose Area Writing Project

Curriculum at a Glance Spring Semester – Course 4: The Aftermath In Novel IV, young authors will learn how to steer their explosive climaxes into emotionally satisfying endings. A particular focus will be on whole-novel and character arcs, making sure young authors are creating dynamic characters with complete emotional arcs and storylines are thorough and lack plot holes. After novel completion, we’ll have a strong focus on self and peer editing, guiding novelists to look at their finished products with a critical eye while not losing their personal voices in the editing process. The course runs from February 3, 2024 - April 27, 2024. Note the later event date is to give late registrants additional time to enroll. In addition. there will be 3 live zoom classes with our Authors in Residence for the Teen Writer's Salon with dates TBD.

Curriculum at a Glance Spring Semester – Course 2: Novel Writing Into The Middle This course will take up where Novel Beginnings left off: by exploring what happens to characters when they leave their ordinary worlds behind and launch into journeys that forever change the trajectory of their lives. Whereas the first novel writing course focused on crafting the ordinary world of the protagonist, this course will additionally focus on exploring secondary characters and subplots in order to create complex and dynamic worlds. A particular focus will be on writing fast and writing strong in order to hit the ground running in the early middle of the novel and to continue structured practice of the habits that allow writers to blast through the initial drafts of their novels. The course runs from February 3, 2024 - April 27, 2024. Note the later event date is to give late registrants additional time to enroll. In addition. there will be 3 live zoom classes with our Authors in Residence for the Teen Writer's Salon with dates TBD.

​This summer writing program for teens offers a curriculum designed to develop and support students’ imaginative and academic writing across literary genres. Courses every year range from humor to horror, writing plays and playing with writing, making arguments and making memories, all taught by teachers versed in instruction and publication. COURSES OFFERED: AUTHOR IN RESIDENCE: Novel Writing This course is taught by our author in residence, Hannah Jayne, and will cover everything you ever wanted to know about writing a book—and culminate with you writing one! We’ll tackle concepts, first lines, chapter structure, those sagging middles, and punch-powerful endings. While writing, we’ll work on ways to keep up motivation, tackle writer’s block, and avoid creating another unfinished work. Students should have a working knowledge of genre and basic story structure prior to taking this class and will be expected to write. Laptops equipped with WORD preferred. Instructor Hannah Jayne is the author of seventeen published books, including THE UNDERWORLD DETECTION AGENCY CHRONICLES from Kensington books and the young adult thrillers TRULY, MADLY, DEADLY, SEE JANE RUN, THE DARE, SEE JANE RUN, and WHAT HAPPENED ON HICKS ROAD available from Sourcebooks, Inc. When she’s not battling the demons of the Underworld or tackling a murderer at Hawthorne High, Jayne kicks her feet up in her San Francisco bay area home with her rock star husband, daughter, and their three enormous cats. Classes will run: June 17 - June 21, 2024* 9:30am - 2:30pm *Juneteenth, June 19, will be observed as a holiday for Juneteenth

Date & Time June 23-27, 9:30am-2:30pm General Information This course is designed for students entering 8th-12th grades. Please be sure to pack a healthy snack and lunch for writers. Students will have access to restaurants within the SJSU SU, but we likely will not know which eateries are open until the week of camp. NOVEL WRITING COURSE DESCRIPTION This course will cover everything you ever wanted to know about writing a book—and culminate with you writing one! We’ll tackle concepts, first lines, chapter structure, and everything else needed to craft exciting and meaningful worlds for our characters, including the minute details of world building that really make a story come to life. While writing, we’ll work on ways to keep up motivation, tackle writer’s block, and avoid creating another unfinished work. This course is designed as a precursor to our Novel Writing Program. At the end of the week students will have pages ready to apply for our year-round online program. Instructor Bio Hannah Jayne is the author of the UNDERWORLD DETECTION AGENCY CHRONICLES from Kensington books and the young adult thrillers TRULY, MADLY, DEADLY, SEE JANE RUN, THE DARE, and THE ESCAPE, available from Sourcebooks, Inc. When she’s not battling the demons of the Underworld or tackling a murderer at Hawthorne High, Jayne kicks her feet up in her San Francisco bay area home with her rock star husband, daughter, and their three enormous cats. The Writer's Room: Adventures in Screenwriting A Writer's Room is a space where screenwriters come together to break ideas, draft scripts, and refine their writing. For a week we will emulate a writer's room to learn the art of crafting scripts for shorts, television, and film. Together we will study scripts of our favorite shows, write scenes for spec scripts—fanfiction for screenwriters! and brainstorm ideas for our own original work. Students will have the option of writing collaboratively or alone. Our time together will culminate in a table read of scenes from our scripts. All levels of writers are welcome to join in the adventure of screenwriting! Instructor Bio Jane Gilmore is a teacher at Lynbrook High School in San Jose & Program Director for the San Jose Area Writing Project. She holds a Certificate in Novel Writing from Stanford University and her original television pilot, The Week's List, recently placed second in the screenwriting competition for the Sedona International Film Festival.

​This summer writing program for teens offers a curriculum designed to develop and support students’ imaginative and academic writing across literary genres. Courses every year range from humor to horror, writing plays and playing with writing, making arguments and making memories, all taught by teachers versed in instruction and publication. COURSES OFFERED: AUTHOR IN RESIDENCE: Novel Writing This course is taught by our author in residence, Hannah Jayne, and will cover everything you ever wanted to know about writing a book—and culminate with you writing one! We’ll tackle concepts, first lines, chapter structure, those sagging middles, and punch-powerful endings. While writing, we’ll work on ways to keep up motivation, tackle writer’s block, and avoid creating another unfinished work. Students should have a working knowledge of genre and basic story structure prior to taking this class and will be expected to write. Laptops equipped with WORD preferred. Instructor Hannah Jayne is the author of seventeen published books, including THE UNDERWORLD DETECTION AGENCY CHRONICLES from Kensington books and the young adult thrillers TRULY, MADLY, DEADLY, SEE JANE RUN, THE DARE, SEE JANE RUN, and WHAT HAPPENED ON HICKS ROAD available from Sourcebooks, Inc. When she’s not battling the demons of the Underworld or tackling a murderer at Hawthorne High, Jayne kicks her feet up in her San Francisco bay area home with her rock star husband, daughter, and their three enormous cats. Classes will run: June 17 - June 21, 2024* 9:30am - 2:30pm *Juneteenth, June 19, will be observed as a holiday for Juneteenth