First Impressions: Fine-tuning the Opening of Your Novel

with Grace Bialecki

Genres: Fiction, Novel

Online

Intermediate

2 Sessions

Start Date: February 15, 2023
End Date: February 22, 2023
Day of Week: Wednesday
Time: 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm PT
Capacity: 15 seats
4 seats left!
Member Price: $108.00
General Price: $120.00

This course is designed for writers of fiction who want to fine-tune the first chapter of a longer work of fiction. By doing close readings from a variety of novels, we'll help writers identify different elements of a compelling opening, conceive the first chapter as its own work, and learn how to examine our openings as readers. Although the coursework will be relevant anyone writing fiction, we'll focus on novels and their specific pacing.

Registration dates:

December 5: Scholarship Donation Day (Learn more.)

December 6: Member registration opens

December 13: General registration opens

Grace Bialecki

Grace Bialecki

she/her

Grace Bialecki is a writer, spoken word poet, and workshop facilitator. She has performed at KGB Bar and as the featured poet at Paris Lit Up, and her work has appeared in various publications including Catapult and Epiphany Magazine. Bialecki is the co-founder of the storytelling series Thirst, and the author of the novel Purple Gold (ANTIBOOKCLUB). 

For more information check out Grace's website (www.graciebialecki.com) or Twitter (www.twitter.com/graciebialecki).

Most classes are offered at a general and member tuition rates based on instruction hours, with Hugo House members receiving a 10% discount on classes fewer than six sessions.

Early bird discounts are available during the first two weeks of registration and apply to both general and member tuition rates.

To help provide financial accessibility to our class offerings, some classes each quarter are offered with a sliding-scale tuition model, allowing students to pay what they can for the class. For these classes, tuition increments starting at $5 and going up to 125% of the standard pricing will be listed on the page.

Hugo House will only process refund requests that are submitted 5 business days or more before the class start date. To request a refund, log in to your account, go to “My Account,” select the “Orders” tab on the left-hand side, click the appropriate order, and request a refund for your specific class. Administrative fees apply. Please see our full refund policy here.

We do not record classes. However, an exception if a student has specific access needs.

We encourage students to only sign up for classes that fit with their schedule.   

We do not tolerate racist, sexist, homophobic, ableist, transphobic or any other oppressive behaviors, regardless of who commits them. Please check out our full community guidelines by clicking here. If an instance of community guidelines are violated and not resolved within the classroom, students may let us know by filling out the student incident report.

Classes may be cancelled if less than the minimum number of students are enrolled within ten days before the class start date. If Hugo House needs to cancel a class for any reason, students can choose between receiving a full credit toward future classes or full refund.

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