apply today for our 2025 novel intensive

The Redbud Novel Intensive is a year-long program designed for advanced writers who are ready to make serious progress on a novel project. For 2025, we will select ten students for our cohort, who will go through a year of classes, group work, and one-on-one meetings and manuscript reviews. The year will end with each student having a one-on-one meeting with a literary agent to receive advice about pitching and shaping their project for the marketplace.

how does the intensive work?

The intensive will begin on Wednesday, January 15, 2025. The intensive will follow the same six weeks on, two-three weeks off model of our regular Redbud courses, with classes meeting in Jan-Feb, March-April, May-June*, August-September, and October-November. During the on weeks, students will meet once a week, on Wednesdays from 6-8 p.m., at the Redbud space at 719 N. Person Street for workshops and instruction (the occasional class will take place online over Zoom). At the beginning of July, students will have one-on-one meetings with the instructor to review their progress so far. Please note that during the off weeks between sessions, and during the six-week summer break, students are expected to use their time outside of class to make progress on their manuscripts.

(*The May-June dates may be shifted according to instructor availability, but selected students will receive final meetings dates as soon as possible.)

who is eligible to apply?

We encourage you to take Writing the Novel with the Redbud Writing Project before applying. However, if you’ve taken other Redbud classes or novel-writing classes with other schools, or completed an MFA program, we will happily review your application.

In terms of where you should be with your project: both those who are drafting a novel and those who are revising a novel are welcome in the intensive. We ask that you have a solid idea for a novel before starting the program.

We are looking for serious applicants who are ready to commit themselves to a demanding, rewarding year of writing, revising, and  learning and who are also supportive community members ready to work closely with a cohort of peers for a year.

Why should you participate?

Writing a novel is often a lonely, arduous process. The Redbud Novel Intensive is an opportunity for dedicated, advanced students to receive rigorous, careful, supportive guidance on their novels in a classroom setting. The intensive will provide students with accountability and motivation, and will give them the tools to tackle the hard middle parts of writing a novel and finish what they’ve started. It will also provide students with camaraderie and support from other peer writers.

Please note that progress on novels will vary from student to student. In our two past cohorts, some writers finished their novel drafts, while some didn’t—which is to be expected! Everybody works at a different pace, and we’re proud of each and every student and what they managed to accomplish over the course of the year. That said, we’re seeking students who will enter the intensive with the intention of drafting or revising their novel over the course of the year, and who can be adaptable as they face various challenges—both internal and external. The difficult truth is that life won’t stay still while you write your novel and you’ll have to balance work, busy schedules, caretaking responsibilities, and all the outside facets of your life while taking on such an ambitious project.

Participants should be aware that the intensive is a serious time commitment and the collaborative nature of workshop requires everyone's presence and participation.

Ultimately, this novel intensive will provide structure, guidance, and community as you tackle your writing goals and the overarching goal is to help you make as much progress as you can on your novel.

how much does the program cost?

Base price: $2349 for returning students, $2799 for new students

True price: $4100 for returning students, $4900 for new students

Note: The “true price” reflects the true cost of the class, which includes paying a fair wage to our staff and instructors, rental fees for the Redbud headquarters and for the community spaces where we host our classes, website and administrative/commerce fees, outreach and advertising to spread the word about our offerings, and the coordination and administration for our community classes, which serve people who could not otherwise access creative writing. The “base price” is the subsidized price. Please select the price that works best for you.

We will offer one scholarship to allow a student to participate in the course tuition-free. If you would like to donate to that scholarship fund to help your classmate, you’ll have the option when you pay for the course. All payments for the course are due by Jan. 8, 2025.

Is there a genre preference?

We are open to all genres including YA, middle-grade, sci-fi, historical, fantasy, and more; we are looking most of all for seriousness and commitment to the year-long endeavor rather than a particular kind of story.

Do i need to have my novel fully plotted out?

Definitely not! You just need a solid novel idea to describe in your application. We want to see that you’ve given your novel project some thought and have ideas about characters, settings, and potential plot points. Your ideas can, and—in fact, most likely—will change as the course progresses.

who is the instructor?

Ben Murphy, who teaches writing, both creative and academic, at North Carolina State University, from which he also holds an MFA.

How can i apply?

Fill out the novel intensive application below. The deadline is at 11:59 p.m. on December 5, 2024. We will get back to all applicants by December 20, 2025.

Let us know at asimkin [at] redbudwriting [dot] org if you have any questions! We look forward to reviewing your application!