ONLINE CLASSFrom Good to Great: Elevating Your Novel, One Sentence at a Time
With Francesca Violich Kennedy
The May class has sold out. Please join the waiting list to get notified when we offer this class again.
📍 WhereZoom
🕒 WHENWednesdays, 5/8, 5/15, 5/22 & 5/29
6PM - 8PM EST
💲 HOW MUCH$500
($425 Early Bird)
🧑🤝🧑 WHO12 Writers
About the Class
In the world of publishing, a compelling narrative is only half the battle. The other, often more challenging half, is how that story is told. So many writers have captivating stories, loveable characters, and addictive plots. Yet, there's a barrier that holds them back: prose that fails to match the depth and dynamism of their ideas. This disconnect not only diminishes the story's impact but also stands between writers and literary agents, the gatekeepers to traditional publishing deals.
This transformative four-week class will help you redefine your writing at its most fundamental level: the sentence. We’ll delve deep into the essence of style, voice, and literary devices, guiding you toward crafting prose that not only tells a story but does so with finesse and impact.
Course Takeaways
Advanced Writer’s Toolkit: Graduates of this intensive will leave with an advanced toolkit for crafting sentences that convey emotion, build tension, and bring stories to life. Learn how to imbue your writing with a specific mood, voice, and tone, and become adept at editing your work to level up your prose.
Reworked Opening Pages: Apply your newfound skills to create or enhance the opening pages of your current project, setting the stage for a manuscript that captures and holds attention from the very first sentence.
Who is this class for?
This course is for writers of all genres (both fiction and nonfiction), at all levels, and with manuscripts at any stage (from idea to final draft)!
Class Structure
We’ll have weekly 2-hour sessions that will be a blend of lectures and workshops, focusing on the following:
Learning from the Greats: Analyzing and deconstructing literature to understand the gears of great writing. Through the technique of close-reading, you'll unlock the potential to not only appreciate but also emulate the styles that resonate with you.
Hands-on Workshops: Your writing will be challenged and nurtured through emulation exercises, intensive editing workshops, and explorations into varying tones and styles. These sessions are designed to push your boundaries and refine your writing, elevating ordinary passages into compelling narratives.
Curated Reading List: I encourage you to engage with an optional reading list that’s targeted toward helping you improve in different areas — from dialogue to characterization to setting.
Unable to attend all the live sessions? You'll have access to recordings of each lecture. But active participation is highly encouraged to fully benefit from what this course has to offer.
(Optional office hours will be held on Week 1 and Week 3.)
Course Syllabus
Week 1: Dialogue and Characterization - Crafting Characters Through Their Words
Week 2: Voice, Tone, and Slant - Coloring Your Narrative
Week 3: Literary Devices - Creating Depth and Drama
Week 4: Editing Masterclass - Refining Your Craft
Meet Your Instructor
Francesca Violich Kennedy is a writer, educator, and team member at Lauren Kay Writes. She is passionate about helping all writers learn the joy of form, the novel as craft, and how to tell their stories through precise, powerful prose.
Francesca graduated from Harvard magna cum laude in History & Literature. She is a passionate novelist and editor with seven years of experience working with both domestic and international clients.
Her work has been published in the Harvard Advocate, Oxford’s Isis magazine, and in the 2017 H.G. Wells Short Story Competition Anthology, Light. She was a recipient of a 2022 Hawthornden Fellowship in Fiction.
Francesca lives down the street from Lauren in Brooklyn, and when she's not working, you can find her making unnecessary amounts of black iced coffee, annotating new books in the park, and/or sailing in the New York Harbor.
Testimonials from francesca’s Editing clients
Haley Hix
Francesca (and this entire experience) way exceeded my expectations. I knew based on Francesca's background and experience that she would provide me with excellent/actionable feedback, but I did not realize I was working with one of the best editors out there (haha). I was basically thrilled when I received her notes, edits, and suggestions. She answered all the questions I had in great detail, and posed many that I hadn't thought of, as well as pointing out some (now glaringly obvious) structural issues I needed to address. She diagnosed the issues, and she's helping me formulate a plan to address them. I can't imagine even editors during the publishing process providing this level of expertise/diagnosis.
I feel beyond lucky that I get to work with her - she has saved me from what would have been premature submission to agents. The MS isn't ready, but it will be. Because she handed me the tools to fix it.
Shannon N.
Working with Francesca has been just what the doctor ordered. Francesca has made suggestions in such a kind way, but also a thoughtful one. I love that she likes to get granular with her edits. As a writer, sometimes we want a more specific suggestion and she does just that. I am thrilled to be working with her and can't wait for her to read the rest of my manuscript, so I can learn from one of the best.
Update: Shannon signed with an agent and sent along this followup.
Having you and Francesca has been one of the greatest gifts the universe sent me!
Juana Belgrano
Francesca surpassed expectations. I really connected with Francesca and found her feedback truly helpful. She was really nice and brutally honest which I really appreciated because it pushed me to rethink what I want from my writing. I hope to work with her again in the future!