Caroline Leavitt

Teaching and Mentoring

Advanced and beginning novel writing courses, as well as one week courses on plotting and more are taught online through UCLA Writers Program. One-on-one mentoring/manuscript consultation is also available, either through UCLA or privately. Please see the following links for more details and/or contact me for more information.

UCLA Writers Program

UCLA Writers Program Blog

UCLA Winner of the first Writing Instructor of the Year Award

Praise

"Outstanding. Ms. Leavitt is funny and comforting, knowedgeable, and unafraid to say what needs to be fixed without destroying the author's confidence."
Anonymous UCLA class evaluation

"Caroline Leavitt is sheer perfection, Knowledge of the field? Not only is she a mesmerizing writer, she has the abiity to impart her skills to the class. She is a rare combination of author, teacher and editor. Her communication was always on-point, straightforward, yet sensitive, encouraging, warm and funny."
Anonymous UCLA class evaluation

"As a screenwriter trying to become a novelist, I found that Caroline was more than a teacher to me. She was a kindred spirit. Not only did she have the chops to teach the craft side of writing, she walks the talk in her own life as a working writer. It's rare to find someone who knows how to teach and who loves writing and who knows how to write. Caroline taught me basic skills I will use my enntire career and toughened me up as a writer so that I can "kill my babies" and tell myself the truth about my own writing, goodor bad. We even worked on a screenplay together and it blew me away that a novelist like Caroline could be as savvy and knowledgeable about scriptwriting as she was about novel writing. She is a true gem. "
Jeff Lyons, screenwriter and founder of Storygeeks.com

"After my first novel, Edges, was written and published by Grace Paley Glad Day Books, when I finished my second novel, Hystera, I was at a terrible loss. I had the magical privilege of working intimately with Grace Paley and when she died, I needed and wanted a writing relationship like that. I needed another writer. What I was hoping for was a tough, sensitive read, at best, before I could turn the novel over to my agent and publishing house, but Caroline went way beyond that. She gave me back what I thought I had lost by losing Grace. She gave me on-going and tireless dialogue about the work even before scenes were written, then compassionate editing. Caroline gave me pages of detailed notes and ways of structuring without formulaic dogma. She unlocked my novel. Even when my novel Edges was bought for the screen, she offered incredibly astute advice on how to map it out for a script. She helped me reach a new place of faith in my work."
Leora Skolkin-Smith, author of Edges and Hystera

"Before I handed Miriam the Medium into Simon and Schuster, I had Caroline Leavitt take a look-see. She found things I needed to revise that would have passed right by me because I had read it so many times already that I almost didn't know what it said anymore. Caroline is a gifted editor and is detailed and specific in her feedback. My novel ended up being nominated for the Harold U. Ribelow Award and is being sold in the U.K., Belgium an Holland, as well as in the United States."
Rochelle Jewell Shapiro, author of Miriam the Medium

"As a result of working with Caroline, I've received a lot of praise and interest for my debut novel and after being called "a great writer" by a top agent who referred to my book as "a perfect novel", I can say that studying with Caroline was the wisest decision I have ever made."
Gina Sorell, author of Naval Gazing

"When I first started with Caroline, I was a closet-writer, too scared to show anyone my work, but degermined to get my books written. Caroline was the carrot that drew me out of my rabbit hole. Now, two classes and two one-on-one manuscript sessions later, I have two novels and I am represented by a fantastic agency in New York City. Caroline cares. She grabs her students and takes them where they need to go--whether we like it or not. The truth is, and it makes me shudder just thinking about it, I would be year behind if I hadn't signed up for that first class with Caroline."
Jennifer Gooch Hummer