Mistakes are an inevitable part of the writing journey as you find your way into the world of a novel manuscript. However, some mistakes can be prevented if you know what to avoid. In this lecture, Afabwaje Kurian will distill the lessons she learned in the ten years it took her to complete her debut novel. This lecture will pull from Kurian's experience and will cover approaches to navigating novel architecture, shaping characters, trusting beta readers, honing authorial sensibility, and surviving the grueling process of revision.

Afabwaje Kurian is the author of the novel Before the Mango Ripens (Dzanc 2024), which was a finalist for the 2025 Aspen Words Literary Prize and longlisted for the 2025 VCU Cabell First Novelist Award. She received her MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop. Her short fiction has appeared in Guernica, McSweeney’s, Callaloo, The Bare Life Review, Joyland Magazine, and other literary publications. She has served as visiting faculty at the Iowa Writers' Workshop and has taught fiction at the University of Iowa, for the International Writing Program, and for The Writer’s Center.