Whether you’re just starting a novel and unsure where to go with the initial idea, or in the middle somewhere and feeling stalled out, this session will get the wheels turning again. We’ll discuss familiar elements of the novel, but we’ll also use tricks to shake up your plot: we’ll consider your characters’ secrets and lies, and their general power dynamics. We’ll discuss the Rule of Neat Stuff, and Magic Objects—two tricks to help the novel gel together. We’ll look at some scenes from published books to inspire us, and we’ll discuss what it takes to finish a novel without going mad-hatter crazy.

Annie Hartnett is the author of novels Rabbit Cake (Tin House Books, 2017) and Unlikely Animals (Ballantine/Random House, 2022). She lives in Massachusetts with her husband, daughter, and darling border collie.