YES, MOLECULE

A 12-Month Online Novel Generator


“Everything in the world began with a yes. One molecule said yes to another molecule and life was born.”
—Hour of the Star, Clarice Lispector

Yes, I want to write a novel. Yes, I want to draft my novel in ONE YEAR. Yes, I want monthly classes to motivate, inspire, and equip me. Yes, I want to hear from four different working novelists about their varied strategies and processes. Yes, I want a writing community where we cheer on, support, and hold one another accountable. Yes, I want to feel nourished and engaged, and develop approaches I can return to throughout my writing life.

YES, MOLECULE is an intensive, one-of-a-kind 12-month novel-writing course created by four award-winning and bestselling novelists and friends. We know how difficult and rewarding the novel-writing process can be, and we know that writing in community can make a daunting prospect more joyful and enriching. YES, MOLECULE is designed to offer writers the manifold types of support and stimulation writing a novel requires: intellectual, spiritual, aesthetic, structural, and communal. 

We invite writers committed to making significant progress on a novel to join us in a year-long intensive online course. Each month you’ll take part in an inspiring, practical class and meet with an accountability group to support your progress. We welcome writers of all experience levels and backgrounds, as long as you are serious about producing a draft of a novel (or making major headway on a draft of a novel) over the course of one year. This class will require considerable writing and reading. Students should be prepared to commit to writing 15–20 new pages every month and reading up to 100 pages every month.

Each month includes: one 3-hour class, optional office hours with the month’s lecturer, and a small group (cluster) meeting scheduled with your peers. Our schedule builds from beginnings to middles to endings. This is not a traditional workshop based on a critical model. Though there will be monthly opportunities to give and receive feedback, YES, MOLECULE is conceived with a radical yes philosophy. Instead of learning by a set of given rules, what is possible when your wildest and most original instincts are celebrated, nourished, and given space and direction to grow? 

By joining YES, MOLECULE, you’re saying yes to a year of writing, accountability, and support. 

Here’s what that looks like in 2026:


  • Monthly 3-hour Zoom class including craft mechanics, guided generative prompts, discussions of preassigned readings (craft essays, novel samples and examples), assignments, and practical tips and strategies
  • Monthly office hours with The Dream Side 
  • Opportunities for feedback, discussion, and support within a small accountability group (cluster)
  • Support and materials for conducting your small group, including how to receive and offer constructive feedback
  • Structure and support to generate up to 240 pages of new writing towards your novel draft
  • Two one-on-one meetings with a Dream Side writer: one at the start of the year and one at the end, when you’ll share 20 pages of your novel and discuss next steps
  • Skills and strategies you can carry into your writing practice beyond the course

Each writer will be expected to:


  • Share 15 to 20 new pages with a five-person cluster every month
  • Quickly read and give encouraging YES feedback to writing submitted by fellow cluster members every month
  • Facilitate cluster meetings twice a year

Your Instructors


Learn more about The Dream Side — Meng Jin, Rachel Khong, Susanna Kwan, and Shruti Swamy — here. 



Course fee & Application information


Participation is by application and acceptance only. Enrollment is limited to 20 writers to keep the experience personal and supportive. We encourage you to apply early.

Course fee: $5,000 
($2,500 deposit at acceptance, $2,500 by January 6)
We are offering four need-based scholarships at $167/month. (We also hope to offer an asynchronous, pre-recorded version of the class in the future for those who are interested in a more accessible, self-directed option. Sign up for our newsletter to stay updated.)

Please note that tuition is non-refundable once paid.

APPLICATION DEADLINE: December 1, 2025
ONLINE INFO SESSION: November 19, 5 p.m. PST (register here)




Class Schedule*


All meetings will take place over Zoom.
Three-hour lectures held Saturdays 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. PST
Optional office hours held Wednesdays, 5 to 7 p.m. PST
Small group meeting (cluster) to be scheduled with your group
*Class topics subject to change, but these are the actual dates: 

Jan 7
INTRODUCTION AND ORIENTATION

BEGINNINGS

Jan 10 
DISCOVERY / total POSSIBILITY / modes of COLLECTING / cultivating attention

Feb 7
FIRST SENTENCES / first paragraphs / first pages / hearing a VOICE

Mar 7
NOT KNOWING / following trails / FASCINATION / getting lost / RESEARCH

Apr 11
DRIVING QUESTIONS / secrets / ENGINES / building a reality and BELIEVING

MIDDLES

May 9
SIGNS OF LIFE / maps and plans / STRUCTURE

Jun 13 
DEEPENING / expanding world through character / STAMINA

Jul 11
MAKING THINGS HAPPEN / getting distracted staying focused / inviting randomness / BEING HAUNTED

Aug 8
TENSION / suspense / OPPOSITES

ENDINGS

Sept 12 
LETTING GO / ego death / mystery and certainty / TRANSFORMATION

Oct 10
PLEASURE / pleasurable endings / CLIMAX AND SATISFACTION

Nov 7
DEVOTION / seeing it through  / doubt / HOW IT CHANGES YOU

Dec 5
PULLING A THREAD TAUTLY / stepping back to see / What did I make? Who am I now? / RE-VISIONING 

Dec 9
CELEBRATORY READING




Questions? 


Join us for our Zoom info session on November 19 (Register here.) Or send us an email: hello AT thedreamside.com