Over the years, Francesca Lia Block has helped hundreds and hundreds of writers discover and develop their novels using twelve essential, inter-related questions: What is the character gift and flaw? What is the character want and need? What is the character’s arc? Who is the antagonist and how to they contribute to the story problem? What is the setting? What style will you use to tell your story and how does it reflect the story problem? What is the crisis? What is the climax? What is the resolution? What is your theme? In this five-day course Francesca will present daily lessons and exercises to help you answer these questions and find the structure of your book. Memoir, short stories and poetry can also be structured with these tools and writer in those genres are also welcome. Each student will receive an email from the instructor at the end of the class on their work, with ideas about moving forward.