Course Schedule: The One-Week Novel Intensive

Format: 8 Sessions across 2 Weeks Time: 12:30 - 15:30 (3 hours per session) Total Contact Hours: 24 hours

Quick Reference

Week Day Date Focus
1 1 Wed, Jan 14 Greeting the Skeleton & Story Development
1 2 Thu, Jan 15 NotebookLM Curation & “Strategic Audit”
1 3 Fri, Jan 16 JSON Export & Intro to Story Bible
2 4 Mon, Jan 19 Story Bible & Voice Calibration
2 5 Tue, Jan 20 High-Velocity Drafting Start
2 6 Wed, Jan 21 Drafting Sprint & Diagnostics
2 7 Thu, Jan 22 Group Forensics & Final Drafting Push
2 8 Fri, Jan 23 Final Showcase (All Tracks) & Wrap-Up

Week 1: Foundation (Jan 14-16)

Day 1 | Wednesday, Jan 14

Greeting the Skeleton

Goal: Understand the methodology and create the structural foundation.

  • Theory: “Structure Before Freedom” & The Context Engineering approach.
  • Activity: Complete the Story Development Interview (Stage 2).
  • Output: Generate Story_Skeleton.md.
  • Homework: Begin gathering raw research sources (aim for 10-15 sources).

Day 2 | Thursday, Jan 15

Curation & The Strategic Audit

Goal: Transform chaos into structured research using NotebookLM.

  • Setup: Create NotebookLM project & Upload Story_Skeleton.md as a source.
  • Curation: Upload your research sources (PDFs, URLs, YouTube).
  • Activity (The Audit): Run the Strategic Audit Prompt to create your curation manifesto.
  • Refinement: Clean up low-quality sources based on the audit.

Homework: Finalize your notebook curation.

Day 3 | Friday, Jan 16

JSON Export & Story Bible Foundation

Goal: Bridge the gap between research and narrative engine.

First Half:

  • Finalize Curation: Ensure your notebook is clean and audited.
  • Export: Use the Chrome Extension to export your notebook as .json.
  • Organization: Save and organize your JSON files locally.

Second Half:

  • Import: Drag & Drop your JSON files into Writers Factory (Research Tab).
  • Theory: Introduction to the Story Bible.
  • Preview: How your research feeds the knowledge graph.

Weekend Homework: Rest well. Monday we build the world.

Week 2: Production (Jan 19-23)

Day 4 | Monday, Jan 19

Story Bible & Voice Calibration

Goal: Generate the Story Bible and calibrate your narrative voice to prepare for production.

  • Concepts (Stage 5): Run Concept Generation (Collision or Standard) based on your imported research.
  • Generation: Select concept and generate full Story Bible.
  • Voice (Stage 6): Run the Voice Calibration Tournament to discover your narrative voice.
  • Setup: Ensure your project is ready for Director Mode (Stage 7).

Day 5 | Tuesday, Jan 20

High-Velocity Drafting Start

Goal: Begin production drafting using your calibrated components.

  • Drafting (Stage 7): High-Velocity Drafting using Director Mode.
  • Sprint: Target 2,000 words in class.
  • Diagnostics: Early check of your prose against your intended tone.

Day 6 | Wednesday, Jan 21

Drafting Sprint & Diagnostics

Goal: Push through the middle and diagnose issues.

  • Sprint Cluster: Intensive drafting session.
  • Diagnostics: Pacing analysis, tension arc visualization.
  • Technique: Recursive Refinement (Draft → Critic → Editor).

Homework: The Big Push (target: 10,000+ words or complete skeleton).

Day 7 | Thursday, Jan 22

Group Forensics & Final Drafting Push

Goal: Share learnings, troubleshoot blocks, and complete the manuscript.

Group Forensics (First Half):

  • Successes & Failures: Roundtable discussion on what worked and what broke.
  • Workflow Sharing: Students demonstrate their specific “aha” moments.
  • Diagnostics: Group trouble-shooting for stuck projects.

The Final Sprint (Second Half):

  • Goal: Complete the 10,000 word target or finish the Architect proposal.
  • Support: Instructor 1:1s for final polish.

Day 8 | Friday, Jan 23

Final Showcase & Celebration

Goal: Ship the product and celebrate.

Final Polish:

  • Typesetting (Markdown → PDF/Epub).
  • Cover Design: Generating cover art.

The Showcase (All Tracks):

  • Architects: Present technical proposals and PRs (10-15 min).
  • Writers: Present creative readings / Golden Excerpts (10-15 min).

Wrap-Up: Course retrospective and next steps.

Grading & Certification (Pass/Fail)

The course is graded on Effort, Risk-Taking, and Completion, not perfection. You must complete 4 out of 6 criteria to pass.

The Rubric

  1. Pipeline Stage 2 (Day 1):
    • Completed Story Development Interview (Story_Skeleton.md exists)
  2. Pipeline Stage 5 (Day 3):
    • Successfully imported NotebookLM JSON research
  3. Pipeline Stage 7 (Day 4):
    • Generated full Story Bible (Story_Bible_Complete.md exists)
  4. Pipeline Stage 6 (Day 4):
    • Voice Bundle calibrated
  5. Drafting (Days 5-8):
    • Minimum 10,000 words drafted in Director Mode
  6. Final Deliverable (Day 8):
    • Complete manuscript/excerpt or technical proposal

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