So, you may have heard some rumors floating around... something about me developing a writing "curriculum" for Holy Worlds... And I'm here to tell you that these rumors are 100% true! Now, "curriculum" is a bit of a weak word for what I want to do, and details on the "program" will be coming later. So, just sit tight on that. But in the meantime, I need to research writing programs in preparation for developing our own.

So my question to you is--what writing programs or curriculum have you used? I'm talking things like One Year Adventure Novel. What did you like about them? What did you dislike about them? Did you get a finished novel out of the deal?

My plan is to at least read through some of these curriculum, as well as put my own books-that-need-to-be-published-this-year through some of them as practice. But the only major one I've heard of is OYAN, so I'm wondering what else y'all have used. Thanks in advance!

I really enjoyed Learn to Write the Novel Way by Karen somebody-or-other. It was easy to use and you planned, wrote, and I believe edited a novel. Or what she said was a novel. She didn't get into the different story lengths. Now that I know more, I think mine was more novella lengthened than novel. I think it's been 8-10 years since I used it, so I can't remember if there were problems or not.

Well, since you asked...

James Patterson Master Class, on-line.

Pretty much everything written by Jeff Gerke
My wife found some Writer's Digest Sci-Fi books; excellent stuff
Bunch of the other Writer's Digest books

I don't think I've ever gone through a formal writing curriculum (except in "creative writing" class in seventh grade and "writing workshop 1" in tenth grade, which were not well-designed or particularly well-taught curricula for all that the work I did in them was formative for me); the only one I'd really heard of before this week was the "One Year Adventure Novel," and I didn't hear of that until after I joined HW, when I was well past its target experience level and nearly past its target age level (though I do still want to read that book and see what I can get from it). On the other hand, I can come up with any number of resources to draw on in creating such a curriculum. Here are some of the first ones that leap immediately to mind (without consulting my bookmarks database):

• The various "fractalling systems" developed by Seer et al. here on HW. ("Deep Culture Fractalling System" aka "DCFS", "Intense Race Fractalling System" aka "IRFS", and whatever the one for characters was called.)
• "The snowflake method" (which I wish I'd started using years ago).
• It may go without saying, but ... Jordan Smith's book Finding the Core of Your Story.
• The "Fantasy Worldbuilding Questions" by Patricia C. Wrede---more a collection of her pet peeves and known possible blind spots than a comprehensive list, but no less valuable for that. (And probably at least a quarter of the links I would pull out of my bookmarks would be posts on her blog.)

I hope this helps! (And if you'd like me to go digging through my bookmarks database for more articles and such, let me know. )

The Master Class isn't a terrible price tag, so I'd probably try it at some point for research.

I do plan to go through OYAN, because it's probably the closest thing I've discovered so far to what I'm envisioning for our program. The social aspect of OYAN is also enviable; there is a strong "alumni" mentality attached to it, and that's something I want to emulate. Just the price tag is fairly steep, so I've had to put it off for now.

Book resources are good too! While my first priority is to take some of my own books through actual "courses," I will be doing supplemental reading later, and the program itself will probably involve "required reading."

I have been a self-taught person on several skills. I know I learn better from books than lecture. Yet there are likely other models to learn from. I would also suggest Seth Godin "Tribes" and Josh Kaufman "The Personal MBA". Your program is a product and the alumni can be a supportive tribe.

Book resources as in fiction books to study, or nonfiction books? I can suggest a couple: On Writing Well, by William Zissner, and Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Browne and King in the non-fiction category.

And for fiction, depending on what the user's preference is, Maps in a Mirror by Orson Scott Card (though containing some objectionable content), is basically a master course in how to write speculative short stories (especially if paired with Cascade Point and Other Stories by Timothy Zahn).

... I was about to start listing other fiction books, and then I realized I'd be here all night xD If you need suggestions, you know where to find me.

*laughs* Yes, I'll come find you. But no, I'm focusing on the nonfiction/writing instruction end for now. Fiction to use as examples will come later.

I second the snowflake method. Not sure if this counts but I also like K.M. Weiland's & Jami Gold's blogs/articles.

Self-taught's my favorite. Only one I ever did outside of college classes.

K.M. Weiland's books and blog posts are excellent. They've helped my writing loads. O_O

I just read most of the internet and books from the library. K.M. Weiland and Jeff Gerke being prominent.

I was just getting past highschool age when I started writing, so I was just slightly old for OYAN. (and I didn't have money to spend) I'm guessing you're creating something that's less school curriculum oriented.