Author Michelle Hoover has announced a free webinar and podcast series called The 7am Novelist to inspire and guide writers.

“Introducing the 7am Novelist Webinar and Podcast, first draft edition, a free seven-week, seven-days-of-the-week (+1 day) morning wake up call for beginning writers or more advanced writers who are beginning new projects—and everyone in between. Join us at 7am beginning October 4 for a daily live webinar with short lessons and guest appearances intended to jump start your writing day, all in our pajamas, all with a crew of fellow writers discovering and suffering alongside you.

“7am too early—or too late? Watch the webinar recording or listen to the podcast here on your own schedule. We’ll talk about how to get a new project going, renew your writing energies, build characters, choose the best POV, how to build a scene, find the beginning, middle, and end, and ways to think about revision. Throughout, we’ll offer tips on keeping the faith and staying in your chair. Afterwards, join the 7am Novelist community here on Substack, ask questions and take part in the ongoing discussion. Intended for novelists but helpful for writers of all genres at whatever stage.

“I’m a published author who has been teaching writing for 25 years at colleges and universities. I co-founded the GrubStreet Novel Incubator program, now in its twelfth year. Mostly I want to get the writing community together after some tough years and help out those who otherwise don’t have support for their work. Our guests will be teachers and writers at all levels, from literary stars to those about to publish their first or second books, to writers working on their early drafts, thinking about and struggling with the same concerns you are.”

To join the free live webinar, email 7amnovelist@substack.com to receive an invitation.

Learn more here: https://7amnovelist.substack.com/

Hoover also posted a list of the writing books she talks about in her classes. https://bookshop.org/lists/best-craft-books-for-wanna-be-wanna-be-better-writers

WEEK 1: GOAL SETTING & GENERATING METHODS (OCTOBER 4-10)

October 4: Intro & Setting Goals (w Kelly Ford, Real Bad Things)

October 5: Pantsers (w writer Lissa Franz & Louise Berliner, Texas Guinan: Queen of the Nightclubs)

October 6: Plotters (w Virginia Pye, Shelf Life of Happiness & Anjali Mitter Duva, Faint Promise of Rain)

October 7: Something In-Between (w Dawn Tripp, Georgia & Jane Roper, The Society of Shame)

October 8: Burrowing (w Jessica Keener, Strangers in Budapest & Grace Talusan, The Body Papers)

October 9: How to Stay in the Chair (w writer Tracey Palmer & Belle Brett, Gina in the Floating World )

October 10: What holds you back? (w Dariel Suarez, The Playwright’s House)

WEEK 2: CHARACTER BUILDING (OCTOBER 11-17)

October 11: Goals & Yearning (characters w & w/o agency) (w Ilan Mochari, Zinsky the Obscure & Marjan Kamali, The Stationery Shop)

October 12: Observer vs. Participant & Protecting Your Character (w Steve Almond, All the Secrets of the World & Kate Racculia, Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts)

October 13: What your Characters Need to Learn: Flaws & Wounds (w writer Meghana Ranganathan)

October 14: Attitude (w Margot Livesey, The Boy in the Field & Courtney Maum, The Year of the Horses)

October 15: Is it backstory? Or is it a second plotline? (w Aube Rey Lescure, The Foreigner & Shilpi Suneja, House Caravans)

October 16: How to Find the Stakes of your Story

October 17: Supporting Characters (w Nancy Crochiere, Graceland)

WEEK 3: POINT OF VIEW (OCTOBER 18-24)

October 18: First Person Pros & Cons (w Maya Shanbhag Lang, What We Carry)

October 19: Third Person Limited Pros & Cons (w Linda Schlossberg, Life in Miniature & Whitney Scharer, The Age of Light)

October 20: Third & 1st Person Omniscient (w writer Julia Rold & Weike Wang, Joan is Okay)

October 21: Second Person & The Royal We (w Allison Amend, Enchanted Islands)

October 22: How to Handle Multiple POVS (w EB Moore, Stones in the Road & Mark Guerin, You Can See More From Up Here)

October 23: The Author/Character/Narrator Merge (w writer Shuchi Saraswat & Karen Wilfrid, Just Lizzie)

October 24: Voice (w Rachel Barenbaum, Atomic Anna & EB Bartels, Good Grief)

WEEK 4: EARLY PAGES (OCTOBER 25-31)

October 25: Unstable Ground Situation (w Rosie Sultan, Helen in Love, &Steven Lee Beeber, Heebie Jeebies at CBGBs)

October 26: Inciting Incident (w Rebecca Rolland, The Art of Talking with Children & Devi Snively, Bride of Frankie)

October 27: Point of Attack (w RonMacLean, We Might as Well Light Something on Fire)

October 28: Character Determines Incident, Incident Reveals Character (w Lise Haines, Book of Knives & Katherine Sherbrooke, Leaving Coy’s Hill)

October 29: Tension (w Katrin Schumann, This Terrible Beauty)

October 30: Setting: Place & Time Period (w writer Hesse Phillips)

October 31: Mystery & Clarity (w Emily Ross, Half in Love with Death)

WEEK 5: WHAT IS A SCENE? (NOVEMBER 1-7)

November 1: Scene vs Summary (w Susan Bernhard, Winter Loon)

November 2: Intention & Conflict/Negotiation (w Crystal King, The Chef’s Secret)

November 3: Turning Point/Most Important Moment (w Henriette Lazaridis, Terra Nova)

November 4: Consequence (w Sandra Scolfield, This is Not a Novel)

November 5: Sensory Detail (w writer Lara Wilson & Dan Fogarty, Kill the Prince)

November 6: Pacing & Time (w writers Sharissa Jones & Stacy Mattingly)

November 7: Dialogue (w writer Pamela Loring)

WEEK 6: HOLDING UP THE MIDDLE (NOVEMBER 8-14)

November 8: Escalations & The Signature (w writer Nicole Vecchiotti)

November 9: Beyond Freytag (w Ethan Gilsdorf, Fantasy Freaks & Gaming Geeks)

November 10: The Dramatic Question (w writer John McClure)

November 11: Character, Story, & Other Arcs (w Patricia Park, Imposter Syndrome & Other Confessions of Alejandra Kim & Jennifer De Leon, Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From)

November 12: Fun & Games & The Midpoint (w Sara Shukla, Pink Whales & Annie Hartnett, Unlikely Animals)

November 13: The Clock (w Steve Yarbrough, Stay Gone Days & Sabina Murray, The Human Zoo)

November 14: Obstacles, the Crucible & Other Tension Tricks (w Desmond Hall, Your Corner Dark & Erica Ferencik, Girl in Ice)

WEEK 7: FINDING THE ENDING & FINISHING THE DRAFT (NOVEMBER 15-21)

November 15: The Dark Night of the Soul, The Crisis & Climax (w Julie Carrick Dalton, The Last Beekeeper & Tara Masih, My Real Name is Hanna)

November 16: Jim Shepard’s Rate of Revelation (w Jim Shepard, Phase Six)

November 17: Denouement, Complexified Equilibrium, & The 5-Point Finale (w Rishi Reddi, Passage West)

November 18: What is an Ending? (w the Novel Incubator Retreat all-stars)

November 19: When & How to Get Feedback & the Implied Author (w the Novel Incubator Retreat all-stars)

November 20: Keeping the Faith (w the Novel Incubator Retreat all-stars)

November 21: Keeping the Faith (w the Novel Incubator Retreat all-stars)

EPISODE 50!

November 22: How do I know I’m done? (w Kasey LeBlanc, Flyboy & Shalene Gupta, The Power of Trust)