ABOUT
This summer writing program for teens offers a curriculum designed to develop and support students’ imaginative and academic writing across literary genres. Courses every year range from humor to horror, writing plays and playing with writing, making arguments and making memories, all taught by teachers versed in instruction and publication. The Teen Writers Institute features guest presenters, authors and various workshop choices for 8th to 12th graders.
Teen Writers Institute
Program Overview
WHO
Grades 8-12
WHAT
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Novel Writing taught by Hannah Jayne
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The Writer's Room: Adventures in Screenwriting taught by Jane Gilmore
WHEN
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June 23 - June 27, 2025
9:30am - 2:30pm
WHERE
San Jose State University
1 Washington Square, San Jose, CA, 95192
COURSE 1
Novel Writing
with Hannah Jayne
This course will cover everything you ever wanted to know about writing a book—and culminate with you writing one! We’ll tackle concepts, first lines, chapter structure, and everything else needed to craft exciting and meaningful worlds for our characters, including the minute details of world building that really make a story come to life. While writing, we’ll work on ways to keep up motivation, tackle writer’s block, and avoid creating another unfinished work. This course is designed as a precursor to our Novel Writing Program. At the end of the month students will have pages ready to apply for our year-round online program.
COURSE 3
Once Upon a Novel
with Jane Gilmore
Any novelist knows the hardest part of writing is sitting down in the chair and working out your creative muscle by practicing your craft every day. It is not the most brilliant-minded people who become published, but rather those who tone their writing through regular word workouts. This class will support students in creating a writing routine by providing prompts and inspiration on a daily basis, Monday-Friday, for three weeks - the same amount of time it takes to form a habit - in an online setting. From “Once upon a time,” through the major plot line of a story, this is the perfect course for those students looking to enroll in our Novel Writing Program, or simply for those looking for a creative way to spend their slower summer months. Students will gain access to the online classroom on July 5th and will be able to submit pages through July 22nd.
Please note that this course is entirely online and asynchronous, meaning that students will NOT be meeting with the instructor at a set time everyday. Students will be working online entirely at their own pace. Each morning a new writing prompt will be posted for students in the online classroom. Students will work in their own time to write pieces inspired by the daily prompt and will post in the online classroom by the end of each day. Students are welcome to post the pages they wrote or they may choose to simply update the class on their writing for the day. The intention of this course is to foster a love of writing and to take the beginning steps of drafting a novel. As such this will be a low-stress, high-inspiration environment and while students will be encouraged to share their work they should feel no pressure to do so. This course is priced lower than our other Teen Writers Institute classes as there will be no formal lectures and it will be run with a simplified format of daily writing exercises for students to engage in and share with a community of peers. Please note that while the instructor will regularly write quick notes of encouragement to students, there will be no formal extensive feedback in the basic package for this course. Students may purchase an add on to submit up to 2500 words for detailed instructor feedback after the first week of the course.
Please note that many of the students admitted into our Teen Novel Writing Program begin with this class as well as Novel Writing (taught in person in Session 1 of the Teen Writers Institute). Students will walk away from these courses with more than enough pages to get them through the application process for the Novel Writing Program!
COURSE 2
The Writer's Room: Adventures in Screenwriting
with Jane Gilmore
A Writer's Room is a space where screenwriters come together to break ideas, draft scripts, and refine their writing. For a week we will emulate a writer's room to learn the art of crafting scripts for shorts, television, and film. Together we will study scripts of our favorite shows, write scenes for spec scripts (fanfiction for screenwriters!) and brainstorm ideas for our own original work. Students will have the option of writing collaboratively or alone. Our time together will culminate in a table read of select scenes from our scripts. All levels of writers are welcome to join in the adventure of screenwriting!
COURSE 2
Flip the Script
with Arcadia Conrad
Want to write for film, theatre or television? In this genre-bending class you will learn to turn your poetry, short stories, and novel chapters into scripts. You’ll learn basic formatting and how plot, character, dialogue, imagery and sound effects fit into a script to tell compelling stories that can be brought to life as plays, animation, tv, film and web content. Star in your own story or learn how to work with partners, build a writer’s room, or bring a script to a production team. Come learn a new storytelling form and take your writing journey to the next level!
REFUND POLICY
-
75% refund will be given until June 1
-
50% refund will be given with written notice up until a week before camp.
-
No refund after
DISCOUNTS
-
$50 sibling discount available
-
$75 Round 1 early bird discount until April 15 at 11:59pm
-
$50 Round 2 early bird discount from April 16 to May 15 at 11:59p
-
Discounts available when you purchase two or more eligible events!
Refund and Discount Information
COURSE 3
Once Upon a Novel
with Jane Gilmore
Any novelist knows the hardest part of writing is sitting down in the chair and working out your creative muscle by practicing your craft every day. It is not the most brilliant-minded people who become published, but rather those who tone their writing through regular word workouts. This class will support students in creating a writing routine by providing prompts and inspiration on a daily basis, Monday-Friday, for three weeks - the same amount of time it takes to form a habit - in an online setting. From “Once upon a time,” through the major plot line of a story, this is the perfect course for those students looking to enroll in our Novel Writing Program, or simply for those looking for a creative way to spend their slower summer months. Students will gain access to the online classroom on July 5th and will be able to submit pages through July 22nd.
Please note that this course is entirely online and asynchronous, meaning that students will NOT be meeting with the instructor at a set time everyday. Students will be working online entirely at their own pace. Each morning a new writing prompt will be posted for students in the online classroom. Students will work in their own time to write pieces inspired by the daily prompt and will post in the online classroom by the end of each day. Students are welcome to post the pages they wrote or they may choose to simply update the class on their writing for the day. The intention of this course is to foster a love of writing and to take the beginning steps of drafting a novel. As such this will be a low-stress, high-inspiration environment and while students will be encouraged to share their work they should feel no pressure to do so. This course is priced lower than our other Teen Writers Institute classes as there will be no formal lectures and it will be run with a simplified format of daily writing exercises for students to engage in and share with a community of peers. Please note that while the instructor will regularly write quick notes of encouragement to students, there will be no formal extensive feedback in the basic package for this course. Students may purchase an add on to submit up to 2500 words for detailed instructor feedback after the first week of the course.
Please note that many of the students admitted into our Teen Novel Writing Program begin with this class as well as Novel Writing (taught in person in Session 1 of the Teen Writers Institute). Students will walk away from these courses with more than enough pages to get them through the application process for the Novel Writing Program!
COURSE 2
Flip the Script
with Arcadia Conrad
Want to write for film, theatre or television? In this genre-bending class you will learn to turn your poetry, short stories, and novel chapters into scripts. You’ll learn basic formatting and how plot, character, dialogue, imagery and sound effects fit into a script to tell compelling stories that can be brought to life as plays, animation, tv, film and web content. Star in your own story or learn how to work with partners, build a writer’s room, or bring a script to a production team. Come learn a new storytelling form and take your writing journey to the next level!
REFUND POLICY
-
75% refund will be given until June 1
-
50% refund will be given with written notice up until a week before camp.
-
No refund after
DISCOUNTS
-
$50 sibling discount available
-
$75 Round 1 early bird discount until April 15 at 11:59pm
-
$50 Round 2 early bird discount from April 16 to May 15 at 11:59p
-
Discounts available when you purchase two or more eligible events!
Refund and Discount Information
About the
Instructors
Jane Gilmore
Jane Gilmore is a teacher at Lynbrook High School in San Jose & Program Director for the San Jose Area Writing Project. She holds a Certificate in Novel Writing from Stanford University and her original television pilot, The Week's List, recently placed second in the screenwriting competition for the Sedona International Film Festival.
Director
jane.gilmore@sjsu.edu
Hannah Jayne
Hannah Jayne is the author of the UNDERWORLD DETECTION AGENCY CHRONICLES from Kensington books and the young adult thrillers TRULY, MADLY, DEADLY, SEE JANE RUN, THE DARE, and THE ESCAPE, available from Sourcebooks, Inc. When she’s not battling the demons of the Underworld or tackling a murderer at Hawthorne High, Jayne kicks her feet up in her San Francisco Bay Area home with her rock star husband, daughter, and their three enormous cats.