Outliers Novel Writing for Medical and Legal Professionals
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COMING 10-15-25
Space is very limited so sign up now
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Stories are part of the human experience. They are how we communicate and learn. Whether huddled in a cave, or around a campfire, or the kitchen table, we share these stories.
Everyone wants to write a novel. It’s virtually a universal dream. We each have stories and the desire to write them and share them with others.
Few professions have more tales to tell than those of medicine and law. Stories of trauma, angst, life-and-death, courage, and redemption. Such stories involve characters at their darkest, and brightest, moments. Success and failure, courage and weakness, triumph and fear, right and wrong interact in good stories. The ones you want to write.
Whether you’re a doctor, lawyer, nurse, medic, paralegal, or work in any capacity in the medical or legal worlds, you have stories. Riveting and dramatic stories. You’ve always wanted to put them on paper. To write that novel that’s been rattling around in your head for years.
Where do you begin? What tools and techniques must you master? How do you hone the craft needed to create a publishable story?
That’s where the Outliers Writing University’s Novel Writing for Medical and Legal Professionals enters the picture. This three-week class will give you the skills needed to pen that best-seller. Join best-selling, award-winning authors DP Lyle MD and Meg Gardiner to begin your journey, or continue it if you’ve already begun. Learn the craft you need in a series of convenient, interactive ZOOM classes.
DETAILS:
Three two-hour ZOOM classes over three weeks.
Access to the classes for review will remain available for one month after the last class.
Wednesdays at 4 PM Pacific/7 PM Eastern
Begins October 15, 2025 (Classes 10/15, 10/22, 10/29)
Course Fee: $299
What You Will Learn:
The essential elements of a compelling story
How to develop a strong premise for your story
How to create believable characters and bring them to life
How to create a dynamic plot that will engage readers
How to determine the best Point Of View for your story
How to create believable and compelling Dialog
How Setting and Mood affect your story
What is a writer’s Voice and how do you find yours
COURSE OUTLINE:
Session 1: Storytelling, Premise, and Characters
Every story has a What If? What if this happened, or that situation popped up? This is the premise or the main story question. The central problem the protagonist must resolve. The writer poses this question for the reader and the story answers it. This is the “hook” that grabs readers’ attention and draws them into the story.
In this class, we will examine the elements of a strong premise and delve into the creation of characters that engage the reader and give them someone to root for, and against. A protagonist they empathize with and worry about. Good characters possess strengths, weaknesses, needs, and fears, and each of these impacts the flow of your story and ultimately how the story question will be resolved.
Session 2: Point of View and Dialog
Point Of View (POV) is critical to how a story unfolds. First person, the “I” character can draw the reader tightly inside the protagonist, but can also limit how a story is told. Third person POV, the he, she, they characters, can be as close as first person or much more detached from the readar. We will examine the things you must consider when choosing the best POV for your story.
Dialog isn’t like talking. It’s tighter, cleaner, and more focused. It reveals character, creates conflict, moves the story forward, and ramps up tension. Well handled dialog can make or break a story. We will dive into how compelling dialog is created.
Session 3: Setting, Mood, and Voice
Setting is more than simply a place and a time frame. It sets the story’s mood and effects everything—the characters, the plot, the story outcome. It is a living, breathing character on its own. We will examine how to select and use setting to enhance your story.
Voice is elusive, but critical. It is your personal style of storytelling. The tone, rhythm, word choice, and mood. Remember, every story has been told, but not by you. Your voice is yours and yours alone. This more than anything draws a reader into your story world, and attracts the attention of agents and editors. We will show you how to find your voice and tell your story your way.
YOUR INSTRUCTORS
DP Lyle, MD is the Amazon #1 Bestselling; Macavity and Benjamin Franklin Award-winning; and Edgar(2), Agatha, Anthony, Shamus, Scribe, and USA Today Best Book(2) Award-nominated author of 27 books, both fiction and non-fiction. He hosts the Crime Fiction Writer’s Blog and the Criminal Mischief: The Art and Science of Crime Fiction podcast series. As a founding member of International Thriller Writers he created and directed CraftFest and the Online Thriller school, and co-created and directed the Master Class program. He has worked with many novelists and with the writers of popular television shows such as Law & Order, CSI: Miami, Diagnosis Murder, Monk, Judging Amy, Peacemakers, Cold Case, House, Medium, Women’s Murder Club, 1-800-Missing, The Glades, and Pretty Little Liars.
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Meg Gardiner is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of seventeen novels. Her thrillers have won the Edgar Award and been summer reading picks by The Today Show and O, the Oprah magazine. Heat 2, co-authored with Michael Mann, debuted at #1 on the New York Times best seller list. A former lawyer and two-time president of Mystery Writers of America, she taught in the Writing Program at UC Santa Barbara and has given keynote addresses and taught courses for the American Bar Association, the West Virginia Bar Association, the Santa Barbara Writers Conference, the Oklahoma Writers Federation, MWA University, International Thriller Writers (CraftFest and Master Class), Curtis Brown Creative in London, HarperCollins UK, and Texas Writes.
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