A SELF-PACED NOVEL COURSE WITH DEREK MURPHY
Stop starting novels. Finish one.
The Twelve-Week Novel is a plan from plot to proofread: four weeks of story structure, four weeks of drafting with a milestone every week, and four weeks of revision. Work through it at your own pace.
You can see the story in your head. Getting it onto the page is the hard part.
Most unfinished novels don't stall because the idea was bad. They stall in the middle, where things keep happening but nothing builds, and you can't tell whether the problem is the plot, the characters or you. So the draft goes in a drawer and a shinier idea takes its place.
This course gives the book a shape before you write it, then walks you through the draft one turning point at a time, so every week has a job and you always know what the next scene is for.
The twelve weeks
It follows a simple plot, write, revise order. You can watch a week at a time, or binge the plotting weeks first and come back for the rest when you're drafting.
Plot
- Week 1: Fiction basics (68 min)
- Week 2: Your hero's journey (72 min)
- Week 3: Plotting your book (151 min), the longest lesson in the course
- Week 4: Raising the stakes (77 min), plus a lesson on point of view (18 min)
Write
- Week 5: Point of no return (10,000 words)
- Week 6: Midpoint (20,000 words)
- Week 7: Dark night of the soul (30,000 words)
- Week 8: Final battle (40,000 words)
Before you start drafting there's a lesson called "Commas suck (the perfect is the enemy of the good)". The ugly first draft is allowed. Getting the turns in the right place comes first.
Revise
- Weeks 9 to 12: describing scenes, conflict and suspense, repetition and redundancy, then the final polish: motivation and plot holes, show don't tell, proofreading, and almost two hours of feedback case studies on real writing samples.
The goal is a clean rough draft of around 50,000 words. In theory you could plot and write alongside the course and get there in about three months. But the truth is, it might take a lot of time and practice before you really "get" these ideas, and that's fine. The lessons will still be there.
Writing a novel in November? Weeks 1 to 4 are the plan you want before day one, and the drafting milestones line up with a 50,000-word month.
What you'll be able to do
- Outline a novel and hit the turning points that keep readers reading
- Raise the stakes, drama and conflict so the middle builds
- Write characters readers care about, with motivation that holds up
- Draft without stalling, one milestone at a time
- Revise in the right order: story first, sentences last
Got Questions?
"Thank you, thank you, thank you! I was always puzzled when people told me I needed to add more conflict, or add more tension and I was never sure what that meant or how to it, but now it's a lot clearer for me. I can't believe this awesome content is for free, my man, I have paid so much money for courses and books and editors that won't reach 15% of the knowledge you share here with us."
- Adriana Rivera, indie author
"Thank you so much for making this course. I very much appreciate your offering legitimate creative writing instruction that teaches more than just the basics. Accessibility means everything. Once again, you've been incredibly generous to the writing community. This course is pure gold."
- Beth Navarro, indie author
"Thank you for everything that you have offered so far in this course! I can finally sort out my thoughts with the help of a very precise formula that I have needed."
- Isabella Lapuerta Guerra, Indie Author
"Thank you so much for all the information and help you’ve put into this course! I’ve never tried plotting or planning this stuff out beforehand, but it gives me such a clearer picture of where I want my story to go and when I’m no longer heading into the scenes blind, it makes my writing feel more cohesive."
- Mira Jiang, Indie Author
"I can not thank you enough Derek. Before the course I was just winging it and hit a dead end with what amounted to a short story rather than a novel. Your structure has helped motivate me again and flesh out my plot in a proper way to build suspense. What a treasure and inspiration you are to amateur writers everywhere!"
- Stephen Kenney, Indie Author
Your instructor
I have a PhD in Literature, and I wrote The Plot Dot and Book Craft, my guides to plotting and the craft of story. I've written over a dozen novels and worked with over a thousand writers on their books, as an editor, book coach and cover designer. I also got featured on CNN for renting castles for writing retreats, which is a story for another time.
I never completed any fiction until I figured out plotting. This course is the plan I wish I'd had for my first draft.
The Twelve-Week Novel
- Twelve weeks of lessons, about 14.5 hours of video: plot, write, revise
- Weekly drafting milestones from 10,000 to 40,000 words
- Revision lessons and almost two hours of feedback case studies
- Self-paced, with lifetime access
- 30-day money-back guarantee
$197 on its own. Or get all three of my writing courses for $37: this one, Bookcraft Academy (the 25-chapter outline, scenes, conflict and revision) and Navigate Your Nonfiction. See Bookcraft Academy.
Want my eyes on your pages? The enrollment box has two more options, both with the course: a First Chapter Critique ($297), where I give your first 5,000 words a deep developmental edit, and Support and Guidance (10 monthly payments of $297), where you send me a 5,000-word section each month.
If the course isn't what you needed, email support within 30 days of your purchase and you'll get a full refund.