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  • Hooked on Fiction: Crafting Your First Chapter (Fall 2025)

Fall 2025

Hooked on Fiction: Crafting Your First Chapter

In this Journey, we’ll tackle one of the most daunting parts of novel writing: the opening chapter. Participants will explore how to hook readers while establishing character, setting, and stakes—asking big questions like where to begin and how to share key details without overload. Whether starting fresh or revising a draft, writers will gain tools to craft impactful, memorable openings.

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This Journey is Closed, but You Can Apply for a Fall 2026 Journey Now!

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Learning Objectives

Master the Key Elements of a Strong Opening

Learn how to craft a compelling hook, introduce characters, set the scene, and raise the stakes—all within your first chapter.

Develop Rich, Motivated Characters

Explore techniques to establish character depth and motivation early in your story.

Build Strong Settings and Stakes

Use limited space to create a vivid world and high-stakes tension that draws readers in.

Choose the Right Starting Point

Identify where your story should begin to immediately capture interest and momentum.

Balance Exposition and Tension

Revise your opening pages to keep readers engaged without overwhelming them.

Hooked on Fiction: Crafting Your First Chapter Community Experiences

Mentees and mentors in this Journey are required to attend the monthly Journey Meetings and one Journey Workshop listed below.

  • Saturday, November 15, 2025, 1 pm ET
  • Saturday, December 13, 2025, 1 pm ET
  • Saturday, January 24, 2026, 1 pm ET

Query Letter Workshop:

  • Tuesday January 27, 2026, 4:30 pm ET

If you’re unable to attend a Journey meeting, you must notify your Staff Lead in advance and attend a community event to make up for it—strongly recommended options include Community Studios and Salon Experiences.

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Journey Circle: Community

Hooked on Fiction: Crafting Your First Chapter Courses

First Pages That Grip: Writing the Opening Chapter
This course is designed to guide you through the essential elements of a powerful opening chapter. Through short lessons, writing prompts, and examples from published works, you’ll explore how to develop complex characters, set up stakes, establish a vivid setting, and create a strong hook—all within the first few pages. Whether you’re drafting something new or revising existing work, this course will help you gain confidence and clarity in your storytelling.

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Writing

Hooked on Fiction: Crafting Your First Chapter Mentoring

Mentees and mentors in this Journey will be matched for one cycle. Pairs will meet for at least two hour-long sessions each month. This journey is open to both Mentor/Mentee pairs and Peer-to-Peer pairs.

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Journey Teaching Artist

Jennifer L. Brown

(she/her) Alum, Mentor

Jennifer L. Brown is an author of middle grade and young adult novels. She spent many years as a performer, working in theatres across the country in plays ranging from contemporary musicals to Shakespeare. When not writing, she tutors standardized tests, English, and essay writing. Her novel won a space in an intensive mentoring program called Pitch Wars in the fall of 2017. She has served as a mentor in that same program for the last four years. Her writing is represented by Alyssa Jennette at Stonesong Literary.

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Chiamaka Okafor

Mentee

Chiamaka Okafor is an undergraduate university student who considers herself a multi-passionate creative, with a strong passion for reading and writing. She enjoys a lot of fantasy, sci-fi, and nonfiction. She has been a part of GWN as a mentee for over three years. Chiamaka loves writing stories at any chance she gets, and when she is not reading, watching TV, or studying (of course 😉 ), she also enjoys drawing, researching, and learning languages.

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Author Page Photo

Journeys in the Multigenre 360 Adventure focus on writing in a particular genre. It is perfect for mentees and mentors who want to focus on a specific kind of creative writing.

Hooked on Fiction: Crafting Your First Chapter is a Journey in the Multigenre 360 Adventure.

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Everything’s a Story: Nonfiction that Reads like Fiction (Fall 2026)

In this Journey, mentees and mentors will explore the ways in which creative storytelling techniques can be applied to nonfiction writing of all kinds, from memoir and personal essay to op-ed and how-to articles. We will dive into what makes a story—from structural archetypes to writing that flows—and learn how to harness the power of story to make nonfiction compelling and transformative.

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Girls Write Now Girls Write Now .

Wild Ideas: Nature, Science & Creativity (Fall 2026)

Created in honor of Helen Ghiradella, the biologist who uncovered the hidden architecture of butterfly wings, this Journey invites you, mentor and mentee, to explore the natural world through the complementary lenses of scientific inquiry and creative expression. Through close observation, research, and reflection, you'll investigate the forms, patterns, and processes found in nature, then build an original project—writing, visual art, media, performance, music, or a form of your own choosing—that celebrates where these disciplines meet. Along the way, you'll sharpen your powers of observation, stretch your interdisciplinary thinking, and develop the ability to translate scientific understanding into meaningful art.

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Girls Write Now Girls Write Now .

Civil Discourse: Connection & Persuasion (Fall 2026)

In this Journey, you—mentor and mentee—will build essential skills in public speaking, argumentation, and critical thinking. Through hands-on activities and lively discussion, you'll learn to craft persuasive speeches, construct well-reasoned arguments, and present your ideas with confidence. You'll explore what makes communication land, sharpen your thinking under pressure, and practice responding to perspectives unlike your own in a structured setting. By the end, you'll be able to make your case clearly, engage in dialogue that goes somewhere, and carry these skills into academic, professional, and civic life.

Civil Discourse Connection & Persuasion; two girls speaking with a mic
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Girls Write Now Girls Write Now .

Dark Tales: A Horror Book Club (Fall 2026)

Step into the shadows of horror and discover what makes a story truly unsettling. Across three monthly book club meetings, you—mentor and mentee—will dig into close readings and lively discussion of selected works, examining how authors build suspense, conjure atmosphere, evoke fear, and use the genre to probe deeper social, psychological, and cultural questions. Together you'll unpack narrative technique, character development, and the many shapes the genre can take. By summer's end, you'll have a richer appreciation for horror, sharper critical instincts as readers, and a store of inspiration and craft to carry into your own writing. Required books this cycle: Dark Is When the Devil Comes by Daisy Pearce, The Body by Bethany C. Morrow, and I'll Watch Your Baby by Neena Viel.

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