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Juliana Goodman

Black Girlhood: Writing Young Adult Fiction | 4-Week Online Writing Workshop

$279.00

What does it mean to be a Black girl in our world?

Black Girlhood: Writing Young Adult Fiction will take participants on a thrilling ride through a rapidly expanding genre: Black Young Adult fiction.

We’ll explore short works by authors like L.L. McKinney, Renee Watson and Liselle Sambury. Through creative and collaborative exercises, we’ll learn the conventions and traditions of contemporary (realistic) YA fiction as well as navigate new speculative (fantastic) worlds. Between crushes and demons, we will come to an understanding about the importance of representing Black girlhood to a teen audience and how to write our lived experiences in a way that will capture both readers’ attention and hearts.

Students will leave this course with a completed short story or first chapter of a novel. 

4 class sessions
Wednesdays, March 11 - Apr 1
7p-9p ET
4p-6p PT
6p-8p CT

All class meetings will be held via Zoom. For more information on how to download or use Zoom, please click here.

    Course Takeaways

    • Learn the conventions of the Young Adult genre, how to craft original and timely pieces about the Black girlhood experience and critique classmates' work
    • Knowledge about how to position yourself and your work as a Black writer within a predominantly white publishing sphere.

    Course Expectations

    • Students are expected to complete readings, contribute to discussions, and engage thoughtfully with their own work and shared work.

    Course Skeleton

    • Week 1: "Let's Get it Started"
      Introduction to the YA Genre. Overview of craft elements with special emphasis on character and plot.
    • Week 2: "Party Over Here"
      Exploring YA conventions and speculative worlds.
    • Week 3: "Work(shop) It!"
      Workshop including peer and instructor feedback + Revision Plans.
    • Week 4: "This is American Publishing"
      Learning to navigate traditional publishing and how to market yourself.

    For Classes: We offer full refunds for cancellation with written notice up until 7 days before your class start date. From 6 days to more than 24 hours before class begins, we offer a 25% refund. If you drop a class less than 24 hours before the class begins or after it has started, you are ineligible for a refund.

    By signing up for a class, you agree to our refund policy and code of conduct here.

    For Editing packages: Refunds are not offered after your story or manuscript is submitted for review.

    Meet Your Instructor

    Juliana Goodman

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    Juliana Goodman is the Edgar-nominated author of The Black Girls Left Standing and the forthcoming Too Perfect to Die. She has received many awards for her writing including the Tulsa Artist Fellowship. Her work has been published in three languages. She received her MFA in fiction from Purdue University and currently works as an Assistant Professor of English in Texas.