Paz Pardo | Writers.com https://writers.com/instructor/paz-pardo Your voice is a gift. Share it. Tue, 06 Jan 2026 11:02:00 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.3 From Novel Pages to First Draft: Finish Your Manuscript https://writers.com/course/from-draft-to-novel-the-momentum-to-finish-your-manuscript Thu, 03 Oct 2024 16:56:47 +0000 https://writers.com/?post_type=product&p=23369 Get one-to-one feedback on up to 50,000 words of a draft, write or revise 12,000 more, and set yourself up to have a polished draft.

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]]> Whether you’ve got a project that’s been gathering dust in a drawer, or have fifty thousand brand-new words that arrived in a bolt from the blue but now need to build a sustainable writing practice in your normal life, this course will give you direction and accountability on your novel.

In a private, half-hour long Zoom consultation at the start of the course, I’ll give you actionable notes on up to fifty thousand words you’ve already written. During the following weeks, I’ll provide inline feedback on up to twelve thousand new or revised words and two craft assignments. Halfway through the course, I’ll write you a detailed letter on writing areas that you can strengthen in your novel.

The course will include two optional Zoom sessions to exchange tips and tricks for what is working in our writing practice and kvetch about what’s not. Weekly check-ins on the Wet.Ink platform’s message board will allow us to all be each other’s accountability buddies. I will also meet with you one-to-one for a final private half-hour at the end of the course to wrap up feedback and check in on your writing plan moving forward.

You will leave the course with a plan for finishing the draft you’re working on, and the momentum to keep writing.

Please note: This course will not meet the final week of the year. The 8 weeks of course material are spread over 9 weeks. 

Who This Course is For:

This course is fiction writers working on completing or revising a novel, and who want to set themselves up to have a polished draft. Whether it’s your first novel or your tenth, all levels are welcome.

Learning and Writing Goals

Learning Goals:

  • Develop a writing practice that fits your life.
  • Craft a realistic plan to finish the draft you are working on based on professional feedback.
  • Gather an arsenal of tactics and tricks to get past the blocks and complications that are a part of any large writing project.

Writing Goals:

  • Write or revise up to 12,000 words on your novel in progress.
  • Create a plan and set a routine to complete and/or refine your draft. 

Zoom Schedule

We will meet for two optional Zoom sessions on Thursday, November 20th from 7-9 PM Eastern and Saturday, January 3rd, from 2-4 PM Eastern. During the first and last weeks of the course, you will schedule a private Zoom call with me to discuss your novel project.

Weekly Syllabus

Week One: Jumping In

This week, you’ll introduce your project and process to your classmates on Wet.Ink. Private Zoom feedback sessions on what you’ve already written will commence.

Week Two: Outline

How do you hold a whole book in your head? On Wet.Ink, we’ll talk using outlines to free your writing instead of constraining it. This week, you’ll submit an outline of your novel and comment on your fellow students’ work. If you didn’t have your private Zoom feedback session last week, we’ll get to it now.

Week Three: First 3,000 Words and Option Zoom Check-In

This week, you’ll submit three thousand new or revised words for feedback from me. On Wet.Ink, we’ll talk filling our creative wells: where do you find inspiration? Does reading in your genre feed or block you? We’ll have our first optional group Zoom check-in session.

Week Four: Second 3,000 Words

You’ll submit another three thousand words for feedback from me. On Wet.Ink, we’ll discuss tactics to build writing time into your life and what to do when life gets in the way of writing. 

Week Five: Scenecraft 

This week, you’ll analyze scene structure and apply what you learn to your own work. I will send you a detailed midterm letter with feedback on areas you could strengthen that I’ve identified over the first half of your novel and two writing submissions.

Week Six: Third 3,000 Words

You’ll submit another three thousand words for feedback from me. On Wet.Ink, we’ll talk tips and tricks for tackling writer’s block.

Week Seven: Fourth 3,000 Words and Option Zoom Check-In

You’ll submit your last three thousand words for feedback from me. On Wet.Ink, we’ll share our plans for continuing the work after the course ends. We’ll have a final group Zoom check-in session

Week Eight: Final Private Session

This week, you’ll have a final private half-hour Zoom meeting with me to discuss the work you submitted and your plans for continuing to write.

Why Take a Novel Writing Course with Writers.com?

  • We welcome writers of all backgrounds and experience levels, and we are here for one reason: to support you on your writing journey.
  • Small groups keep our online writing classes lively and intimate.
  • Work through your weekly written lectures, course materials, and writing assignments at your own pace.
  • Share and discuss your work with classmates in a supportive class environment.
  • Award-winning instructor Paz Pardo will offer you direct, personal feedback and suggestions on every assignment you submit.
From Novel Pages to First Draft: Finish Your Manuscript
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]]> The Story of Us: Write Personal Essays on Love and Relationships https://writers.com/course/the-story-of-us-write-personal-essays-on-love-and-relationships Mon, 11 Dec 2023 21:07:29 +0000 https://writers.com/?post_type=product&p=19478 How do you distill the complexity of (modern) love into language? Learn how in this workshop, where you'll transform your lived experience of romance into an essay. 

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]]> The Story of Us: Write Personal Essays on Love and Relationships is a nonfiction course for writers of all levels interested in transforming their lived experience of romance into an essay. You’ll learn how to transfer your story of love onto the page in a compelling, authentic way, while avoiding the pitfalls of cliché.

We will read essays from the New York Times’s Modern Love and Tiny love series; excerpts from longer form memoir by Ocean Vuong, Sophie Calle, and Elizabeth McCracken, among others; poetry by Frank O’Hara; monologues from documentary theater by Leigh Fondakowski. Always, we’ll be searching for the methods and tactics other authors used to tackle the challenge of finding fresh ways to write about love. Always, we’ll be looking for how you can steal their tools. You will look at how specificity, voice, and form hook the reader and keep them reading. Then, you will apply these lessons to your own work.

Over five weeks, you will work your way from concept to a full draft of an essay. Your piece will be workshopped by the group, providing concrete feedback for revision. We will also talk about the personal essay market, how to know when your work is ready for submission, and how a short essay can be a jumping off point for longer work.

At the end of the class, you will have taken the raw material of life and shaped it into a tight and intriguing piece of nonfiction writing.

Learning Goals

  • Learn to use specifics to fend off the danger of falling into clichéd language or imagery
  • Discover how a clear voice carries the reader through a piece
  • Identify the mechanics of how different forms of essay support different stories

Writing Goals

  • Write and workshop a full essay
  • Revise essay, based on feedback, into a submission-ready essay

Zoom Schedule

We will meet on Zoom each Wednesday from 7-9pm Eastern. 

Weekly Syllabus 

Week 1. Devil’s in the Details: Specifics

The specifics of a love story are what make it unique, what make the reader really feel like they’re there, and what allow you to avoid the dreaded cliché.

This week, you’ll map out specifics of your love story: not just what happened, but how it felt—across all five senses.

Assignment: Pick a moment—or a few—in your love story. Write down each specific thing you can remember surrounding that moment, making sure to pay attention to every sense.

Week 2. Comic, Tragic, Epic, Other: Container

You’ll explore different forms for the love essay—from tiny to full-length, comic to epic—drawn from the New York Times’ Modern Love and beyond. You’ll consider how they work as vehicles to get their stories of love across to the reader.

This week, you’ll identify an ideal form for your love essay.

Assignment: Imagine your essay in at least two different containers. Sketch an outline of what facts each would include.

Week 3. Siren song: Voice

How does the “voice” of a love essay drive it? How does it keep the reader moving along?

This week, you’ll zero in on the voice of your love essay.

Assignment: Write a full draft of your essay. 

Week 4. Workshop, Round One

How can you craft active questions to get the information you need out of a workshop? How can you give effective feedback? This week, we’ll talk strategies for workshopping and begin to workshop your essay.

Assignment: Prepare for second class workshop. 

Week 5. Workshop, Round Two

This week, we’ll finish workshopping essays and talk strategies for revision: how to make the most of the feedback you’ve received; how to come back to the work with fresh eyes; how to keep going when you hit the doldrums.

By the end of the two weeks of workshop, you’ll have a plan for revising your essay and actionable notes to get you to your next draft.

Why Take a Modern Love Essay Writing Course with Writers.com?

  • We welcome writers of all backgrounds and experience levels, and we are here for one reason: to support you on your writing journey.
  • Small groups keep our online writing courses lively and intimate.
  • Work through your weekly lectures, course materials, and writing assignments at your own pace.
  • Share and discuss your work with fellow writers in a supportive course environment.
  • Award-winning instructor Paz Pardo will offer you direct, personal feedback and suggestions on every assignment you submit.

Click the Enroll Now button below, enter your details on the Checkout page,
and reserve your spot in the course.

$395.00Enroll Now

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