Class Starts Tuesday, June 3rd, 2025

This class will meet via Zoom on Tuesdays from 6:30PM - 8:30PM Eastern

Any questions about this class? Use the Chat Button (lower left) to talk with us.

Instructor Carol Goodman is the New York Times Bestselling author of twenty-seven novels, including The Lake of Dead Languages, The Seduction of Water, which won the 2003 Hammett Prize, The Widow’s House, which won the 2018 Mary Higgins Clark Award, and The Night Visitors, which won the 2020 Mary Higgins Clark Award. She has twice been nominated for the Dublin IMPAC award and has been a Hawthornden fellow and an Essere Artist-in-Residence. Her books have been translated into over twenty languages. For over twenty years, she has taught creative writing at The New School and SUNY New Paltz. She combines her love of and long experience in reading, writing, and teaching to offer a supportive and constructive framework for writers at every level and stage of the writing process.

Read an Interview with Carol on Creating Mystery and Suspense in Fiction.

How to plot a mystery novel when you're not a plotter.

Mystery is at the heart of every story. Whether you want to write mystery, suspense, or general fiction—or you don’t know what you’re writing yet—mystery provides the engine to drive a compelling narrative.

In this six-week intensive, we will look at the basic elements of storytelling—voice, characterization, setting, imagery, dialogue—and examine how each element can work to create conflict, tension, and suspense to keep the reader turning the page.

Short outside readings and guided exercises illustrate issues of craft. Students’ work is critiqued in a supportive and constructive workshop environment. We'll meet live on Zoom for six weeks, and it will be a lot of fun! 

Course texts:

We will read short excerpts from writers such as Dennis Lehane, Tana French, Raymond Chandler, Attica Locke, and others.

COURSE OUTLINE:

• Week 1 – Introductions, Voice, Point of View, and the Unreliable Narrator
• Week 2 – Setting, Time, Place, Ominous Atmosphere and Murder Spots
• Week 3 – Character Development, the Rule of Three, and Suspects
• Week 4 – Dialogue, Scene, Action, and Red Herrings
• Week 5 – Plotting, Outlines, Chronology, and Time Travel
• Week 6 – Revision and Going Forward

COURSE TAKEAWAYS:

• An understanding of the mystery novel structure.
• A first chapter of your mystery.
• The confidence to embark on a mystery plot.

ONLINE COURSE STRUCTURE:

This class meets weekly via Zoom. Come prepared for a super fun class with live interaction on Zoom each week and plenty of writing, reading, and talking!

PAYMENT OPTIONS:

Tuition is $495 USD. You can pay for the course in full or use Shop Pay or Affirm to pay over time with equal Monthly Payments. Both options are available at checkout.

• Instructor: Carol Goodman
• Class Starts Tuesday, June 3rd, 2025
• This class will meet via Zoom on Tuesdays from 6:30PM - 8:30PM Eastern
  
• Tuition is $495 USD

Contact us HERE if you have any questions about this class.