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Creative Writing

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Whether you're looking to improve your writing for personal fulfillment, want to be published, or are preparing to apply to an MFA program, the Writers' Program can help you achieve your goals. You will find a supportive community of instructors, academic counselors and fellow students to help you on your journey.

We offer a wide range of open-enrollment courses, all of which may be taken individually. A guide on where to get started is provided below.

We also offer a fully customizable 21-unit Certificate in Creative Writing  where you can develop professional creative writing skills in the genre of your choice.

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Develop your skills in the genre of your choice, including fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and more.

This customizable program culminates in a capstone project where you will make significant progress on a polished collection of work.

Taught by a prestigious roster of instructors who are published writers and active professionals, courses can be taken onsite, online, or a combination of both.

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4-day in-person, intensive workshops in Creative Writing & Screenwriting.

Perfect for both aspiring and experienced writers looking for new inspiration.

August 1-4, 2024 Registration opens Monday, February 5

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If you have a completed draft of a manuscript and need feedback for your work, you may consider a one-on-one consultation with a Writers’ Program instructor.

Consultations give you a full cover-to-cover read of your work, a written evaluation, and a follow-up conversation in person, via phone, or web chat.

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CREATIVE WRITING AT STANFORD

Whether you’re just beginning to write or putting the finishing touches on your first novel, our on-campus and online writing courses offer expert instruction, individual attention, and supportive feedback at all levels, in all genres of creative writing. Most of the instructors in our program have established careers as novelists, journalists, playwrights, and screenwriters. Many have served as fellows in Stanford’s prestigious Stegner Creative Writing Program. Choose from writing courses in creative nonfiction, fiction, poetry, memoir, magazine writing, travel writing, the short story and more. Stanford Continuing Studies offers writing workshops and online and on-campus writing courses, so you can choose the format that best fits your schedule.

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Hugo House isn’t just a place. It’s a community.

Hugo House is a nonprofit literary arts organization that aims to make writing accessible. Everyone has a story to tell. Whether you’re a new writer wanting to learn, an experienced author seeking a supportive environment to share your work, or a reader looking for new books to love—at Hugo House, you’ll find ways to explore your creativity, whatever your interest or budget.

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Whether you’re struggling to write your first poem or have a few novels under your belt, Hugo House offers classes, workshops, and other programs to help you achieve your writing goals. Our classes are taught by published writers who are also stellar teachers. Our students come from a variety of backgrounds and life experiences. What they all have in common: a love of words.

Phenomenology of Roundness

Instructor: Noah Zanella. For writers eager to play with new ideas and experimental creative writing. Write alongside master writers exploring the subject of roundness and learn how abstract concepts can open new doors for thought and writing. 

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The Writer’s Center offers hundreds of writing workshops and classes every year. Workshops cover all genres and all experience levels. Join us in person and online.

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Event views navigation, august 2024, short fiction intensive with r. o. kwon.

Work with acclaimed author R. O. Kwon to revise your stories, generate new work, and prepare for publication. In this 10-month intensive class, we’ll workshop our short fiction, whether they’re […]

Book Promotion Through Podcasting

Podcasting is one of the easiest ways to get your book and your voice out there, and we’ll not only be looking at how to find good podcasts and get booked on them, we’ll even talk about how to start your own podcast!

Short Story I

Participants will bring in work which to be workshopped by the entire class. This workshop will teach participnats how to edit other’s work, read like a writer, scrutinize sentences, and how to submit to magazines.

Best Served Cold: Writing Revenge Poems

This generative workshop will review and discuss poems that serve, in some way, a bit of revenge on someone. We’ll then write our own revenge poems, participants can expect to leave with 2-4 new drafts of poems.

Journaling Techniques for Writing Memories

This workshop is about the pursuit of insight through writing personal memories. Whether you currently keep a journal or want to start journaling to nurture a consistent writing practice, in this two-day workshop you will learn journaling techniques that help you recall significant memories and explore the meaning behind those experiences. We will explore how a memoir writer’s journal differs from a regular journal, how to get your memoir journal started, and how to work with your captured memories to create a single storyline.

Exercises to Improve Your Writing

Not only will you learn from expert feedback in this workshop, you can continue to learn from this workshop even after it’s over. Exercises offered in this workshop are designed for repeated use in your practice at home—including some tailored to jump-start your inspiration.

Write Like the News

Lead with the future — not background — for lead-ership, especially in a crisis. That’s the most important of eight journalism skills that will transform your writing. The others: write your readers’ language, be positive (to be both clear and upbeat), lay out logically, be consistent, be precise, be concise and choose strong verbs. (Plus a Speak Like the News skill: avoid “uptalk?”) Emulate the vivid news examples you’ll see in this workshop, and you’ll strengthen your writing voice with lively, engaging news style. At 7 sharp, we’ll critique TheWallStreetJournal.com, seeing how to communicate your main point in just a few words. To cover as much ground as possible, we’ll have just a few writing exercises and most of them will take less than a minute each.

September 2024

Crafting your life into story.

Following a tried-and-true formula (“Once upon a time . . . . Then, one day . . .”), you will learn how to identify, begin, and structure an autobiographical story, whether fiction or non-fiction. Participants will finish the workshop with the plots of at least three new autobiographical works, a two-page beginning of a new essay, story, novel, or memoir, or a revised beginning of their work-in-progress. Participants should bring either paper and pen or a writing device.Part 1: Learn how to begin and structure your new work. Part 2 (two weeks later): Workshop the drafts (5 pages max.) of your new work.

$40 Pop Up! Getting Ready for Submission Season!

Many literary journals are about to open back up for submissions after their summer breaks, so now is the perfect time for a submission tune-up! For writers who are new to the submission process or more […]

Latine Heritage Through a Literary Lens

The Writer’s Center presents an informative and inspiring symposium addressing the subject of Latine heritage in literature and popular culture, offering free creative writing workshops followed by a panel discussion. […]

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10 Best Creative Writing Courses for 2024: Craft Authentic Stories

Learn how to tell your story and engage your readers with great storytelling.

As a lifelong literature enthusiast, I decided to challenge myself in 2010 by participating in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), which tasks participants with writing a 50,000-word draft within a month. Although I’ve only achieved this goal twice since then, the experience has been invaluable. I’ve connected with a wonderful community of writers, both online and in person.

Through my experience, I can confidently say that creative writing is a skill that can be developed and honed, just like any other. While traditionally associated with literature, creative writing is increasingly being recognized as a powerful tool in various forms of writing, from copywriting and storytelling to novels and poetry. It has the ability to captivate readers and elevate the impact of written expression.

If you’re searching for the best online Creative Writing courses and resources, you’ve come to the right place. This Best Courses Guide (BCG) is built from Class Central’s catalog of over 300 Creative Writing courses and selected according to a methodology that you can check below.

Click on the shortcuts for more details:

What is Creative Writing?

Courses overview, why you should trust us, how we made our picks and tested them, here are our top picks.

Click on one to skip to the course details:

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Creative writing is a genre of writing that seeks to evoke emotions and feelings in its readers. It surpasses the limits of traditional forms of literature and emphasizes narrative craft, character development, and the use of literary tropes and poetic traditions. Creative writing finds application in various forms of writing, including screenplays, plays, novels, poems, and other written works. In this guide, I will delve into some of its most popular facets.

Enhancing resilience and creativity through writing

Research shows that the brains of professional writers work differently from those of novice writers. Moreover, creative writing has been found to boost resilience in students . If you want to enjoy the benefits of writing, it’s important to develop the habit of jotting down your thoughts and words. Doing so can help you overcome writer’s block.

Creative writing is so powerful that it’s used in prisons to give inmates a chance to express themselves in programs like PEN America . “By providing resources, mentorship, and audiences outside the walls, we help these writers to join and enrich the broader literary community.”

Creative writing is a skill that can be learned and practiced like any other. Techniques such as ABDCE structure, 1st or 3rd person point of view, “show don’t tell”, dialogues, and tropes can be easily learned through the online courses in this guide.

• Together, they account for over 1M enrollments
• Skillshare, with 2 courses, is the most featured provider
• The single most popular course has nearly 400k enrollments
• Three courses are entirely free or free-to-audit.

Best Fantasy And Short-Stories Writing Lessons For Beginners (Brandon Sanderson)

Besides being an awesome writer, Sanderson is an instructor with a very unique talent for keeping us engaged. He has also made available a full course in creative writing on YouTube , originally presented at Brigham Young University, which includes the most crucial tools for any beginner or even experienced writers. The course is comprehensive and rich in content, with great sound and video quality.

Each video discusses a specific tool or technique, so you can easily select the theme you want to explore next or watch it all in sequence. It’s up to you. I recommend you take your time, watch one video at a time and experiment with each concept, or even better, find a writing buddy or form a group to practice writing together.

What you’ll learn:

• Plot construction, character development, and engaging storytelling
• Techniques for crafting immersive worlds and believable viewpoints
• Insights into the publishing industry, tailored for emerging writers
• Strategies for writing compelling short stories and leveraging them for larger projects.

“Very informative! I’m a beginner writer looking to study writing for video games, and this class gave me a lot of helpful tools to start understanding how stories work/how to organize my ideas! Will definitely be returning to some of these lectures in the future for guidance 👍” – Paige Webster

Best University-level Creative Writing Course (Wesleyan University)

Creative Writing by Wesleyan University is a specialization for those looking for a way to improve their writing structure, scene and character creations and finding your style. Each course includes writing practice (for paying learners) and insightful interviews. It’s worth your time and effort if you are a disorganized writer like myself.

• Techniques for crafting a bracing story with memorable characters and an interesting setting
• How to employ a fresh descriptive style in your writing
• Skills for analyzing and constructively evaluating peer writing
• The ability to refine your writing, critique writing in general, and draw inspiration from existing literature
• The process of drafting, rewriting, and completing an original story in the genre of your choosing.

It should be noted that the peer-grading system often lacks depth. However, the assignments are well-crafted and can be easily evaluated with minimal effort, providing some insights from other participants in the form of feedback or inspiration from their submissions.

“Great information about plot and scene structure. The information about revision was entirely new to me – thank you! The exercises were good and difficult in a good way that helped me hone my writing.” – Laura B, Coursera learner

Best Course to Find Your Voice (Neil Gaiman)

Neil Gaiman is currently one the most prolific writers I know of: he’s written books , comics , movies and even TV shows . Even if you’re not a fan of his style, there is definitely something you can learn from him.

In Neil Gaiman Teaches The Art Of Storytelling you will discover Neil’s philosophy on what drives a story and learn to unlock new stories within yourself.

While MasterClass doesn’t sell single courses, a subscription provides access to their entire library, including other writing courses like Margaret Atwood Teaches Creative Writing , Dan Brown Teaches Writing Thrillers , Malcolm Gladwell Teaches Writing , and James Patterson Teaches Writing . If you are considering the purchase, you should definitely enjoy the rest of their catalog.

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

• Discover and develop your unique writing voice
• Generate and develop original ideas
• Create dynamic, well-rounded characters that come to life on the page.

This course includes a 94-page workbook that includes assignments and supplemental material.

Best Practical Writing Course With Support (Trace Crawford)

I love it when a passionate teacher like Trace Crawford puts the effort into creating a comprehensive curriculum. COMPLETE Creative Writing – All Genres is a 12-hour course with 145 downloadable resources. In this course, you will learn how to write engaging fiction, poetry, drama, and creative non-fiction, helping you become the successful writer you want to be.

• The four genres of creative writing: fiction, poetry, drama, and creative non-fiction
• How to discover, refine, and share your unique writing voice
• A series of authentic writing assignments designed to target the skills you need to develop
• Writing techniques, literary devices, and specialized skills to enhance your writing
• Opportunities for publishing, podcasts, and how to create a professional creative writing portfolio
• Discover multiple public outlets to share your writing with others as you gain confidence and experience success in your writing ability.

This is a practical creative writing course that includes assignments reviewed by the instructor, though response time may vary.

“The short snippets of theory in combination with the short assignments suits my learning style. I don’t remember the last time I’ve written anything creative, but this course gave me the incentive to set some foundation and its actually quite enjoyable if you stick to it.” – Nikolaos-Stylianos Z., Udemy learner

Best Course to Overcome Writer’s Block: 10-Day Journaling Challenge (Emily Gould)

I couldn’t resist adding Creative Writing for All: A 10-Day Journaling Challenge to this guide. Emily Gould is a delightful instructor, and her approach to inviting you to participate in the challenge is impossible to decline. It’s the perfect course to overcome writer’s block, which is exactly what she proposes. In this 10-day creative writing challenge, filled with inspiring examples, observation prompts, and clever revision tricks, writers and enthusiasts will be able to express their creativity in a personal and artful way.

This course is the shortest one on the list, and it’s more about the challenge of keeping a journal. If you decide to subscribe to Skillshare, you can also enjoy their entire library of courses. In addition to the other two recommended courses on this list, you can also check out these other Skillshare courses: Writing Suspense: How to Write Stories That Thrill in Any Genre and The Writer’s Toolkit: 6 Steps to a Successful Writing Habit .

Best Course to Create Fiction From Personal Experience (Shaun Levin)

Shaun’s approach to writing in Short Story Writing: Create Fiction from Personal Experience is an unusual one. It draws from your personal experience to create a compelling fictional story. I can say from experience that this technique will help you write with more depth and authenticity. Every time we bring our own life to the story, it becomes alive, believable and relatable. In a way, all fictional stories are based on the author’s life.

This course will help you with techniques and a series of practical exercises to start writing your scenes from a more philosophical point of view, creating compelling stories. You’ll learn how to delve into your imagination to find everything you’ll need to become a prolific writer, no matter where you are.

By the end of the course, you will have a final project that will receive feedback from Shaun and other learners as well. Actually, if you want to check it out, in the course page on Domestika you can open the submitted projects and read the comments.

Shaun’s other courses: Creative Writing for Beginners: Bringing Your Story to Life .

“A practical course. Shaun Levin talks about theory but also demonstrates his process, which was invaluable. The exercises got my creative juices flowing. Thinking about doing his other course in the future.” – Maya Dicheva

Best Course to Make Writing Less Stressful with Best Practices (Jennie Nash)

If you struggle to start or get stuck in your writing, Write Your Book: Start Strong and Get It Done can help. With good advice and emotional support, you’ll learn techniques to make writing less stressful. The accompanying workbook guides you to think methodically by asking the right questions to keep you focused on your story and not chasing your own tail.

In this class, you’ll learn how to:

• Design every element of your novel or memoir, including the protagonist, plot, story structure and a project success plan
• Define your narrator’s voice
• Determine where your story begins and where it ends
• Decide what point you’re making about human nature
• Make sure you’re giving your ideal reader exactly what they want
• Gain the confidence you need to push past any doubts and finish your book.

This course is more of a masterclass, so there are no assignments included but it teaches good practices and provides a very useful workbook.

Best Course to Create A Compelling Story (Lisa Cron)

Writing: The Craft of Story is a series of well-produced lectures covering the basic building blocks of a story. Taught by author Lisa Cron, you will learn how to create compelling stories based on the way the brain responds to storytelling. This course emphasizes the importance of capturing the reader’s attention through techniques such as suspense, exploring the protagonist’s inner issues and dreams, specificity, and cause and effect. Upon completion of the quizzes, you will receive a certificate for your LinkedIn profile. Additionally, you can watch all the videos without subscribing to the course.

“Learning the fundamentals of crafting a story was and is a fascinating experience. And yes, I would highly recommend writing to anyone interested in learning how to express the communication of feeling.” – Nicole Gillard, LinkedIn learner.

Best Course to Write Personal Essays with Impact (Roxane Gay)

Discover the art of crafting powerful personal essays with best-selling author Roxane Gay in her course, Creative Writing: Crafting Personal Essays with Impact . Through her honest and thoughtful approach, Roxane will help you find your story, craft your truth, and write to make a difference.

This master class offers eight video lessons that are filled with practical guidance, actionable tactics, and example essays to guide you from the first idea to a final, publication-ready work.

You’ll learn how to:

• Find a specific purpose for telling your story
• Connect your work to larger conversations and timely themes
• Conduct crucial research to support your work
• Navigate personal memories to write your truth
• Write and revise your final work, and submit your work for publication.

Additionally, the class provides a downloadable worksheet to support your ongoing creative nonfiction writing practice, as well as links to additional resources.

If you enjoy creative nonfiction writing, you might consider this course that’s also on Skillshare: Creative Nonfiction: Write Truth with Style (Skillshare Original) by Susan Orlean

Best Course to Develop Your Ideas And Research for Characters (The Open University)

Start Writing Fiction explores the writing process, from journaling and idea development to reflection and editing. It features insights from established writers such as Louis de Bernières, Patricia Duncker, Alex Garland, Abdulrazak Gurnah, Tim Pears, Michèle Roberts, and Monique Roffey,  who share their approaches to research and turning events into plot. Led by Derek Neale, a novelist and short story writer, this course provides a comprehensive understanding of the writing rituals and techniques used by successful writers.

You’ll get to critique the work of other writers and receive feedback. This course is designed for individuals interested in starting or improving their fiction writing and does not require prior experience in the subject.

You’ll learn:

• Creation of characters in fiction
• Different sources and ways of presenting characters in stories
• Reading as a writer
• Writing practice including creativity, research, observation and editing
• Peer reviewing, workshops and the importance of feedback.

“This course takes learners through many aspects of writing such as developing characters, observing and describing details, finding inspiration, writing and editing. It includes some peer reviews which can be varying in quality. I was lucky enough to have some of my writing reviewed by a reviewer who gave very helpful and positive feedback.” – Pat Bowden

What’s Next

Scribophile is one of the largest online writing communities. You can get feedback on your writing and join writing groups. If you decide to join with a free plan, you need to collect points by reviewing other writers’ work before submitting your own work for review. They also developed some advanced tools for evaluating work and guidelines to make sure you give/receive feedback that is actually meaningful.

NaNoWriMo started out as a month-long challenge where you invite your friends and join other writers in your region, be it online in their forums or in person, to challenge yourself in writing your first draft. Nowadays, they run all-year round writing challenges (but November is still the biggest one in terms of participation). What is cool about it is you actually get to meet people in real life with various writing skills and backgrounds. I was able to make some great friends over the years and even met a few professional writers that decided to join our local group just to support us.

If you have any resources you would like to have added here, leave a comment below.

Class Central , a Tripadvisor for online education, has helped 60 million learners find their next course. We’ve been combing through online education for more than a decade to aggregate a catalog of 200,000 online courses and 200,000 reviews written by our users. And we’re online learners ourselves: combined, the Class Central team has completed over 400 online courses, including online degrees.

Trying to find “the best” can be daunting, even for those of us who live and breathe online courses. Here’s how I approached this task.

First, I combed through Class Central’s Catalog and the internet to find a variety of free and paid open courses, some with certificates. You don’t need to enroll in a university to learn about creative writing.

When choosing courses, I considered the following factors:

• Renowned Institutions : I looked for recognized institutions in creative writing
• Instructor experience : I sought instructors with extensive experience in creative writing and engaging presentation styles
• Popularity : I checked numbers of enrollments and views to find popular courses
• Course content : I examined courses that covered a range of topics and presentation styles, including the basics and more advanced topics. I watched some course videos to sample courses I hadn’t already taken
• Learner reviews : I read learner reviews (when available) to get a sense of the quality of each course, leveraging the Class Central database with its thousands of course ratings and reviews written by our users as well as available course provider reviews.

Then, I defined the scope for these recommendations. A creative writing course can cover various topics, so I chose top courses from a range of sub-fields.

Ultimately, I used a combination of data and my own judgment to make these picks. I’m confident these recommendations will be a reliable way to learn about creative writing.

Fabio Dantas

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Your generosity funds scholarships and free programs, allowing more teen and adult writers to participate in creative writing workshops at our new center in the Seaport, in neighborhoods around Boston, and online.

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Writing Roadmap

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Instructor Spotlight

Katherine Yeh Katherine is the instructor for GrubStreet's Fall Novel Generator program.

Writing Programs in Every Genre, at Every Level

We've created a simple, goal-based roadmap to help you find the perfect GrubStreet course for your writing needs. Whether you're just starting or getting ready to publish, we have classes for every stage of your writing journey.

• Perspective

Classes Find A Class

With nearly a thousand classes to choose from every year, GrubStreet programs cater to a wide range of writing genres and are open to anyone with an interest in creative writing.

• Multi-Week Workshops
• Short Classes
• Online Experience
• Teen Program

Boston Writers of Color

GrubStreet’s Boston Writers of Color (BWOC) offers literary support funding, free writing sessions, a network of BIPOC writers and artistic leaders, and a variety of free events that focus on community, artistic growth, and publishing.

Like personal trainers for your writing life, our consultants work one-on-one with writers to help them finish drafts, set writing goals, or revise their work. Whether you want to polish your manuscript before an agent sees it, get one-on-one feedback on a story, or seek advice on furthering your writing career, our consultants cover all genres.

• Meet Our Consultants

GrubStreet offers unique fellowships that support writers and writing instructors in developing their craft and finding writing community that can sustain them for years to come.

• Summer Teen Writing Fellowship
• Emerging Writer Fellowship
• Teaching Fellowship for Black Writers

Literary Arts

The Multnomah Arts enter offers a variety of writing classes for adults and youth year-round. Our program consists of a variety of genres and topics, allowing students to build skills as they create a body of work. Students take one-day workshops or ten-week classes to explore their written voice. Quarterly public readings of student and faculty work bring our community together to celebrate the written word.

Literary Arts Coordinator: Patrick Browne

Core Writing Classes

MEMOIR Anyone can write a memoir. We all have stories-young and old, rich and poor, famous and not so. Participants will use prompts and other exercises to trigger and unlock their memories in order to zero in on those moments that are both rich and significant. Draw inspiration and craft secrets from other authors and address and put aside the inner critic, so that you may engage your creative process in a safe and encouraging environment.

FICTION Do you have a story to tell? Have you dreamt up characters who you want to know more about? Do you want to use your imagination to create fictional worlds? Whether you have great ideas for stories but no idea how to start, or drafts of stories that don’t feel quite finished, this class is for you. Together we’ll explore how character, language, and narrative structure work in each other’s writing as well as in published works.

CREATIVE NONFICTION The blank page’s potential can intimidate some writers into silence. Bring an empty notebook and be guided through the writing process from its messiest beginnings to a completed story. This genre includes memoir, essay, narrative journalism, interviews, and all other true stories.

POETRY Poetry as a means of expression, exploration, and experience is available to everyone. Take time in class to write poems in response to prompts, prompts, and more prompts, leaning into your imagination and following the impulses of your right brain. Read and respond to one another’s work in this supportive setting, suggesting and sharing revisions.

Past Offerings

The Writer Within

Writing Our Lives as Story

Reading & Writing About Oregon

Poetry Collage

So, You Want to Write a Novel

Writing the Ten-Minute Play

Revision: Getting Beyond I Like It

Writing Your Spiritual Autobiography

Writing Through Loss

Reading & Writing About Nature

Getting Your Work Out There

Being Your Own Publisher

Writing Characters into life

Interviewing for Personal Histories

Writing from Art

Reading Your Work Out Loud

WRITING CLASSES FOR YOUTH

Writing Creative Stories

Writing Poetry

Young Artists Book Camp

Literary Arts Post

The Literary Arts Post was a collaboration with artists: Jerry Harris, woodwork; Greg Wilbur, metalworks; Christine Colasurdo, calligraphy; Nicole Rawlins, copper etching; and Tracy Wolf-Paquin, glass. Poet Kim Stafford contributed the inscription. Thanks to everyone, including the Multnomah Arts Center Association, for this wonderful addition to our community. Visit the Literary Arts Pole monthly to be inspired by new works from MAC faculty, students, and community members.

Classes at a Glance

Online  classes meet over Zoom; you can take them from anywhere.

In  In-person  classes, everyone will meet at our physical center.

Hybrid  classes are where it's your choice whether to attend In-Person or through Zoom each class meeting. We have installed an excellent hybrid system to ensure both In-Person and Zoom students have the same great experience. The instructor will host the class in a physical Muse classroom.

All Class Times listed are Eastern Time

Art for Writers

Camps (summer).

• The Muse Fiction Camp for Adults Day 1 with Hannah Capin, Jayne Ann Krentz, Michael Krentz, Cassandra Clarke, John Aguiar, Diane Fine, Alison Schoew (7 out of 20 seats open) - In-Person
• The Muse Fiction Camp for Adults Day 2 with Jason Carney, Preslaysa Williams, Timothy Norton, Caitie Van Dore, Nathan Kelley, Cassandra Clarke, Meredith Byrd (6 out of 20 seats open) - In-Person

Comics/Graphic Novels

• Creating Comic Books with Leighton Cobb (closed) - Online
• The Advanced Fiction Workshop with Billy Hallal (closed) - Hybrid
• Speculative Fiction Studio with Cassandra Clarke (closed) - Online
• Fiction 2: Deeper into Character & Story (Mornings) with Helen Peluso (closed) - Hybrid
• Fiction 3: Deeper into Voice & Revision (Mornings) with Abi Putnam (closed) - Hybrid
• Fiction 2: Deeper into Character & Story (Evenings) with Helen Peluso (closed) - Hybrid
• Fiction 3: Deeper into Voice & Revision (Evenings) with Abi Putnam (closed) - Hybrid
• The Fiction Studio (Monday Evenings) with Michael Khandelwal (closed) - Hybrid
• Horror Writing Fundamentals with Holly Day (closed) - Online
• The Fiction Studio Wednesday Mornings with Michael Krentz (closed) - Hybrid

Food Writing

General & multi-genre.

• The Generative Workshop with Timothy Norton (closed) - Hybrid
• Prose Revision Workshop with Timothy Norton (closed) - Hybrid

Military/Family & Caregivers

Nonfiction & memoir.

• Memoir Exploration with Bridget Dolan (closed) - Online
• The Memoir Studio with Libby Kurz (closed) - Online
• Essay Exploration with Cristina Foss (closed) - Online
• Nonfiction in a Flash with Cristina Foss (closed) - Online
• The Morning Memoir Workshop with Lisa Cooper (closed) - Online
• Memoir 4X4 Workshop with Kathleen Volk Miller (closed) - Online
• Writing about Your Family with Deborah J. Cohan (5 out of 8 seats open) - Online
• Creative Nonfiction and Memoir 2: Diving into Style and Forms (Mornings) with Shawn Girvan (4 out of 8 seats open) - Hybrid
• Creative Nonfiction and Memoir 3: Deeper into Revision and Exploring Publication (Mornings) with Shawn Girvan (7 out of 8 seats open) - Hybrid
• Creative Nonfiction and Memoir 3: Deeper into Revision and Exploring Publication (Evenings) with James Beardsley (6 out of 8 seats open) - Hybrid

Playwriting

• From Wounds to Words with Tina Carey (4 out of 8 seats open) - Hybrid
• Queer Poetics with (5 out of 8 seats open) - Online
• Writing "The Thing" with Isabel Hoin (closed) - Hybrid
• The Art of Effective Metaphor in Poetry with Gabriela Igloria (3 out of 8 seats open) - Hybrid
• Words We Can Hear: Sound in Writing with Rocko Foltz (closed) - Online
• The Monday Night Poetry Studio with Noah Renn (closed) - Hybrid
• The Online Poetry Workshop with Suzanne Rhodes (closed) - Online
• Poetry Exploration with Bridget Dolan (closed) - Hybrid
• Intro to the Poetry Zine with Gabriela Igloria (5 out of 8 seats open) - Hybrid
• Writing in the Moment: A Pop Culture Poetry Session with Bridget Dolan (6 out of 8 seats open) - Hybrid
• Cover Versions: Poetry and Inspiration with Tom Yuill (6 out of 8 seats open) - Hybrid
• The Poetry Studio (Tuesday Evening) with Michael Khandelwal (closed) - Hybrid

Screenwriting

• Screenwriting 1: The Fundamentals of Script & Story with Matt Friedman (closed) - Hybrid
• Screenwriting 2: Getting Your Script on Its Feet  with Diane Fine (closed) - Hybrid

Songwriting

Storytelling.

• Storytelling for Writers with April Uhrin (5 out of 8 seats open) - In-Person

Writers Craft

• Screen Awareness: Writing Stories in the Internet Age with Sean Fitzpatrick (8 out of 8 seats open) - Hybrid
• The Third Ear: Voice, Style, and Flow with Sean Fitzpatrick (6 out of 8 seats open) - Hybrid

Writers Knowledge

Writers life & creativity.

• The Mindful Journal with Lisa Cooper (3 out of 8 seats open) - Online
• Healing through Writing with Kathleen Volk Miller (2 out of 8 seats open) - Online
• Sound Bath Meditation: Enhance Your Creativity with Karrie Loomis (8 out of 12 seats open) - In-Person
• Community Zine Making: Our Surroundings and Mental Well-Being with Lissette Lorenz (8 out of 8 seats open) - In-Person

Writers Prof. Development

• Give a Reading Like a Rock Star with April Uhrin (9 out of 10 seats open) - In-Person
• The Digital Muse: Harnessing AI in Writing and Teaching with Shawn Girvan (9 out of 12 seats open) - Hybrid
• From Boomers to Zoomers: Generational Perspectives in Writing with Sean Fitzpatrick (9 out of 12 seats open) - Hybrid
• Leading the Best Writers Workshop Ever! with (4 out of 12 seats open) - Hybrid
• A Writers Workshop Guide: Getting the Most and Giving your Best with Gabriela Igloria (8 out of 12 seats open) - Hybrid
• Social Media Management for Authors with Sylvia Liu (6 out of 12 seats open) - Hybrid
• Mastering Bullet Journaling: Organize Your Life and Manage Large Writing Projects with Lissette Lorenz (9 out of 12 seats open) - Hybrid
• A Punctuation Refresher with Linda Carol Cobb (10 out of 12 seats open) - Hybrid
• Build Your Online Platform with a Blog with Belinda Elliott (6 out of 12 seats open) - Hybrid
• Blueprints & Breakthroughs: A Plotter's Guide to Pantsing with Shawn Girvan (7 out of 12 seats open) - Hybrid

Youth & Teens

• 2024 Summer Fellowship Class with Jeffrey Hecker, Jessica Grace Kelley (closed) - Hybrid
• Creative Writing for Middle School Youth with Rebecca Tigner, Kelsey Holden-Northerner, Jessica Grace Kelley, Isabel Hoin (closed) - In-Person
• Creative Writing for High School Teens (Hybrid) with Jessica Grace Kelley, Jeffrey Hecker, Jorge Mendez, Rebecca Tigner (closed) - Hybrid
• Young Writers Workshop with Jessica Grace Kelley, Kelsey Holden-Northerner, Isabel Hoin (closed) - In-Person

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Gotham Writers Workshop

Classes starting now.

• Short Fiction Writing II (Online)
• How To Get Published (Online)
• Novel II First Draft—Part 1 (Online)
• Grammar 2: Expertise and Finesse (Zoom)
• Character (Online)
• Creative Writing 101 (Online)
• Essay & Opinion Writing I (Online)
• Plot 2: Machinations (Online)
• Plot 1: Mechanics (Online)
• Poetry Writing I (Online)
• Science Fiction & Fantasy Writing I (Online)
• Novel II Critique (Online)

Gotham Writers Workshop is a creative home where writers develop their craft and come together in the spirit of discovery and fellowship. We’ve been teaching creative writing and business writing since 1993.

Gotham is now offering Online and Zoom (videoconference) classes.

Join us for a free Open House via Zoom videoconference on April 1 and 2.

• Scriptwriting
• Comedy, Poetry & Song
• Professional Development

The Art of Craft

We teach the craft of writing in a way that’s clear, practical, and inspiring. Explore our wide variety of courses for adults and teens, as well as our One-on-One options. New classes are starting all the time, in NYC, on Zoom, and asynchronously Online.

The Gotham Writers Children’s Lit Conference Sep 28-29

Two sharp stories each month—fiction and nonfiction. Presented with text, audio, and original art.

Enter the experience.

Scholarships for Writers of Color

Scholarships for Writers of Color are available to all people of color who aspire to improve their writing skills, either in the fields of creative writing or elsewhere.

Postcards from Summer Camp Contest

Summer camp is a setting that evokes heightened emotion. With that in mind, we invite you to submit a story about summer camp—with a twist.

How to Get Published

Here you will learn how to navigate the ins-and-outs of the publishing business and you’ll write (and refine) the most important selling tool for your book—the query letter. All under the guidance of an established literary agent.

Stella Kupferberg Memorial Short Story Prize

Every year, the Selected Shorts program at Symphony Space hosts the Stella Kupferberg Memorial Short Story Contest. The winner will have his or her work performed and recorded live at Symphony Space in NYC.

Summer Classes

Summer classes are now available for enrollment , on Zoom, Online, and in NYC!

Online classes now available for Fall!

Stay Connected

Sign up for our email list to receive writing advice, news, and special deals. We promise to send you great content that enlightens and brightens your day.

Expert Teachers, Working Writers

A skilled teacher is the key to an exceptional class. Our teachers have been in the trenches, working daily at the craft of writing. They know the lay of the land. And they are equally adept at the fine art of teaching.

A Wealth of Resources

The tools needed to write are quite simple—pen and paper, or electronic device. But it’s useful to have advice and information within easy reach. We’ve put together all kinds of resources to guide your journey as a writer, including Gotham books.

The Gotham Experience

We believe everyone has a story to tell. And we like to help people tell their stories better. We’ve been practicing this philosophy for more than three decades, and it’s made us the leading private writing school in the world.

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• 212.974.8377

© 2024 Gotham Writers Workshop, Inc.

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Upcoming Online Writing Courses

August courses, comics for people who can’t draw, with aubrey hirsch.

Course full. Contact us to join waitlist.

Can't draw? No problem! In this workshop, learn how to tell complete stories in publication-ready comics, no matter your artistic background. 

Lifestyle and Wellness , Personal Essay , Short Story

In Focus: Writing Short Stories

With elwin cotman.

Discover the power and impact of the short story form. Explore new ideas freely and begin up to 6 new short stories.

Fiction , Short Story

Writing Chronic Illness

With margo steines.

Creative nonfiction offers a container for the sharing and exploration of illness. Tell the story of your body in this healing-oriented workshop.

Creative Nonfiction , Lifestyle and Wellness , Memoir , Personal Essay

Crafting Poems in Form: Rhyme, Meter, Fixed Forms, and More

With jonathan j.g. mcclure.

Working within the guidelines of a fixed poetic structure can make your poetry more creative, not less. Find freedom in form in this 8 week workshop. 

Long Story Short: Compressing Life into Meaningful Micro Memoirs

With gretchen clark.

Distill the spirit of your story in fewer than 500 words. Learn to craft compelling short nonfiction, and write and revise five new pieces of micro memoir.

Creative Nonfiction , Memoir , Personal Essay

Rapid Story Development: A Master Plan for Building Stories That Work

With jeff lyons.

In this 10 week story writing class, Jeff Lyons pairs the Enneagram with story development techniques to revolutionize your writing practice.

Creative Nonfiction , Fiction , Memoir , Novel , Personal Essay , Short Story

The Deep Dive: Poem As Self-Discovery

With meghan sterling.

Through poetry, we can access our deepest truths. Use the poem as a roadmap to self-discovery in this 6-week poetic deep-dive.

Lifestyle and Wellness , Poetry

Writing About Family

With rudri patel.

Family is complicated, and so is writing about it. Navigate the complexities of writing about real relationships in this generative essay class.

Poems of All Sizes: Haiku, Tanka, and Japanese Poetic Forms

With miho kinnas.

Explore the history and poetics of Japanese poetry forms, and write haiku, tanka, renga, haiga, and linked verse poetry.

Live Workshop , Poetry

Warp and Weft: Weaving Free Verse Poetry from Life

With anna scotti.

Weave everyday events into deftly-written free verse poems in this generative, creativity-centered poetry workshop. 

Where the Diary Ends and the Essay Begins

With shelby hinte.

Start a diary practice and turn it into a mode of writing personal essays in this generative journaling workshop. 

Creative Nonfiction , Lifestyle and Wellness , Personal Essay

Write Your Picture Book!

With kelly bingham.

Picture books have changed greatly over the last few decades, and the market is wide open for fresh ideas. Join us in this six-week intensive where we’ll take that idea of yours and turn it into a manuscript!

Fiction , Novel , Short Story

Long Night’s Journey into Day: Writing Poetry Through and About Serious Illness

With caryn mirriam-goldberg.

Poetry can help us integrate and learn from our experiences as patients, survivors, and/or caregivers. Join a supportive community, explore poetic and healing traditions, and spark powerful poems into being.

The Joy of Poetry: A Beginner-Friendly Workshop

With joy roulier sawyer.

Have you wanted to get into poetry, but don't know where to start? Learn the craft from the Joy of poetry herself in this welcoming workshop.

Write into Mystery: Writing Flash Memoir on Wonder and the Unexplained

With joanna penn cooper.

We often encounter wonder, mystery, and the unexplained in our everyday lives. Turn those experiences into flash essays in this community-centered course.

Creative Nonfiction , Personal Essay

Write Your Novel in 16 Weeks!

With briana una mcguckin.

In this generative novel writing course, we'll go from writing a strong beginning to writing "The End" on your novel's first draft.

Fiction , Novel

September Courses

A writerly life: develop a writing routine that works for you.

What does a writer's life look like? Build a productive writing habit in this course for writers of all backgrounds.

Creative Nonfiction , Fiction , Lifestyle and Wellness , Memoir , Novel , Personal Essay , Poetry , Short Story

Creative Nonfiction and the Personal Essay

Gretchen Clark pick axes her way into the volcanic marriage of real life and fiction. Weekly writing with incisive feedback.

Flash Fiction: Writing the Short-Short Story

With barbara henning.

Write 1–3-page flash fiction in this online course with Barbara Henning, drawing on classic, poetic & experimental elements. Read the form’s masters.

Telling Truth: A Poetry Workshop

With ollie schminkey.

Learn how to tell your story and write a mini chapbook of poems in this truth-driven poetry workshop.

Get It Done: Fast-Draft Your Novel in 13 Weeks

With troy wilderson.

Write a complete first draft of your novel in this 13-week intensive, where you'll learn everything you need to write a successful story. 

Penning Passion: Finish the First Draft of your Romance Novel in Ten Weeks

With jeanne de vita.

In this comprehensive class, you'll learn the ropes of romance writing and finish a first draft of your romance novel. 

Poetry Workshop: Bring Your Poems to Life

With rosemary tantra bensko.

Join us for this workshop on creating powerful poems—poems that are clear and organized, fresh and moving, full of life.

Suspense Sells! Power Up Your Writing With Conflict, Tension and Emotion

With giulietta nardone.

Inject suspense into your stories to keep readers turning pages. For writers of all kinds of fiction: thrillers, mysteries, romance, humor, literary and memoir. A four week class with Giulietta Nardone.

Creative Nonfiction , Fiction , Memoir , Novel , Short Story

Write Your Memoir in 12 Weeks

With blaise allysen kearsley.

Writing a full memoir takes energy, momentum, and moral support. Find all three in this memoir writing intensive.

Creative Nonfiction , Memoir

Writing with Consistency and Courage

With tamara dean.

What makes a successful writer? It's not talent, craft, or even the right connections—it's consistency and courage.

Creative Nonfiction , Fiction , Lifestyle and Wellness , Live Workshop , Memoir , Novel , Personal Essay , Poetry , Short Story

Anatomy of a Premise Line: How to Use Story and Premise Development for Writing Success

The premise line is the only reliable tool that can tell you, BEFORE you start writing, whether or not your story will “work.” In this class participants will learn how to master the process of premise line development—the essential first step in any book or screenplay’s development process.

Creative Nonfiction , Fiction , Memoir , Novel , Stage and Broadcast

From Memory: Writing Fiction or Memoir from Lived Experience

With chin-sun lee.

Only 3 seats left!

In this class, you'll use a nearly infinite resource—your own memory—to craft compelling fiction or nonfiction stories.

It Starts with Play: Get (Back) into Writing

With janée baugher.

Harness the joy of creativity in this inspiration-focused class, where we'll uncover new ideas for writing projects and draft loads of new material. 

Creative Nonfiction , Fiction , Lifestyle and Wellness , Memoir , Novel , Personal Essay , Poetry , Short Story , Stage and Broadcast

Putting It All Together: Completing Your First Poetry Manuscript

With caitlin scarano.

How do you put together a poetry book? From choosing a theme to ordering your poems, you'll end this course with a ready-to-publish manuscript.

Writing Circle Workshop: A Focus on Six Contemporary Poets

With susan vespoli.

By studying the poems of Mary Oliver, Diane Seuss, Matthew Olzmann, and Patricia Smith, and more, write stunning poetry in this generative writing circle workshop.

How to Start a Podcast

With cara stevens.

Share your voice with the world! Learn everything you need to plan, record, and share your first podcast episode and beyond.

Creative Nonfiction , Fiction , Lifestyle and Wellness , Live Workshop , Memoir , Novel , Personal Essay , Poetry , Short Story , Stage and Broadcast

Cheap Shots: Writing Shoestring Budget Movies

With malcolm pelles.

Pull yourself up by your shoestrings! Complete a short film script that you can later produce on a micro-budget.

Fiction , Stage and Broadcast

Dread and Desire: Gothic Fiction Techniques to Lure and Horrify Your Readers

This Halloween, learn how to write eerie, haunting moods in this comprehensive course on Gothic writing techniques.

Six Flash Essays in Six Weeks

Tell the stories of your life in 1,000 words or less in this generative flash essays workshop. 

Writing Mindfulness: Sensual World/Poetry Mind

With marc olmsted.

A four-week class, melding the language mind with the sensual: How to turn detailed observation into a poem. With Marc Olmsted.

October Courses

Opening the door to poetry, with jude nutter.

How do we use poetry to express life's marvelous complexity? Learn how to control language beyond the "ordinary" and discover the many possibilities of poetry.

Plumbing the Past: Turning Life Experience into Poetry, Flash and Creative Non-Fiction

With tina barry.

Dig deep into personal ritual while studying narrative poets, short fiction and non-fiction authors, and food writers.

Creative Nonfiction , Personal Essay , Poetry , Short Story

The Checklist: Perfect Your Novel’s Opening Pages

With carla damron.

Nail your opening pages! Apply the 11 core elements your novel opening must get right, and hook readers and agents into your story.

Write Your Novel! The Workshop With Jack

With jack smith.

Get a good start on a novel in just ten weeks, or revise a novel you’ve already written. Free your imagination, move steadily ahead and count the pages!

Experiments in Poetry

With elizabeth winder.

See poetry in a totally new light! Draw inspiration from the most radical, innovative, and imaginative poets in literary history, master their techniques, and write new exciting poems of your own.

The Lyric Essay

Explore non-traditional and imaginative ways to tell your stories with this ten-week writing course online. Creative nonfiction teacher Gretchen Clark provides detailed feedback on weekly writing assignments that emphasize creative freedom.

Food Writing: Meals And Manuscripts

With jennifer billock.

Do you love cookbooks, cooking, or reading anything about food? This food writing course is for you. With award winning writer Jennifer Billock.

Plot Your Novel

Over eight weeks, you'll develop a solid basis in the fictional elements—protagonist, setting, secondary characters, point of view, plot, and theme—while you develop the outline of your novel. You'll receive feedback at all stages from your fellow writers and your instructor.

The Spirituality of Poetry

Let the spirit of language move through you. In this 6 week course, we will study, write, and share poetry about the sacredness of human experience.

Character is the Key: Unlock Your Best Stories

With jessie roy.

If you want to tell a good story, you need to write good characters. Learn how to unlock your best stories in this one-day character development workshop. 

Death Riding Shotgun: How Awareness of Our Mortality Impacts Poetry

With lisa c. taylor.

How can your own mortality inform your work? In this 6-week course, you'll use death to inspire and motivate your poetry writing.

Deep Waters: The Prose Poem Advanced Workshop

Take the plunge in this advanced prose poetry course, where you'll write and revise short, powerful works of prose that hit like poetry.

Hived Like Honey in Your Head: The Art and Craft of Writing Confessional Poetry

Discover the power and intimacy of confessional poetry, and unlock your authentic voice. 

Tiny and True: Creating Flash Essays with Mindfulness

With susan barr-toman.

How do you tell the full truth in under 1,000 words? Learn the art of flash essays and write nuggets of wisdom in this tiny essay class.

Stringing the Beads: Craft Your Personal Essay

Harness the freedom of the personal essay in this 4 week course, where we'll shape our ideas, thoughts, and obsessions into compelling nonfiction pieces. 

November Courses

How to firm up the “mushy middle” of any story.

Ensure a strong middle throughline for any story. Say goodbye to the "mushy middle," and hello to stories that work.

Creative Nonfiction , Fiction , Memoir , Novel , Short Story , Stage and Broadcast

Poetic Prose: The Prose Poem

Explore the border between prose poetry and flash fiction. For writers of fiction, poetry, essay and memoir.

Fiction , Poetry , Short Story

Radical Revision: Get Your Poems Published

Radically reimagine your poems, by transforming your revision process. Ideal for poets working toward publication.

December Courses

The only submission workshop you will ever need.

How do you get your poems in literary journals? This two part webinar shows you the ropes for getting your work published, read, and celebrated.

Show and Tell: How to Write Captivating Memoir and Nonfiction

With brad wetzler.

Your true story of healing or transformation can captivate and empower your readers. Learn how to balance showing the vivid details of your own journey with telling the broader themes for readers to apply in their own lives.

January Courses

The magic of flash nonfiction.

Tell your stories quickly and stylishly in this short form creative nonfiction workshop, where you'll come away honing the magic of flash nonfiction.

Toying with the Truth: Writing the Personal Essay

Experiment with creative nonfiction forms and find the best way to tell your personal stories. Write a short piece each week, and choose one draft to polish. 

A Poet’s Calling Card: Writing and Composing a Chapbook

The poetry chapbook gives poets the chance to make a small, artful collection around a poetic obsession. Learn how to craft yours in this 8 week chapbook intensive.

Unscheduled Courses

These online writing classes don’t currently have a next session on our calendar, but will soon. If you see a course you’re interested in, use the “I’m Interested” button to let us know, and we’ll follow up with you when the course is on our calendar next.

Want to reach us or our instructors with questions about our online writing courses? Contact us at [email protected] , or visit the contact form .

(Live Workshop) Dream Writing

With zining mok.

How can writers harness the power of dreams? Let your slumber supercharge your creativity in this three hour dream writing workshop.

Creative Nonfiction , Live Workshop , Memoir , Personal Essay

(Live Workshop) Haiku & Senryu: Rekindling A Sense of Wonder

Haiku, Senryu, and other Japanese poetry forms encourage us to slow down and write mindfully. Learn how to write these forms in this meditative writing workshop.

(Live Workshop) Intro to Screenwriting

With susan pohlman.

In this workshop, you'll learn the ropes of screenwriting and create living pieces of collaborative storytelling.

Fiction , Live Workshop , Stage and Broadcast

(Live Workshop) Move Your Writing Forward: The Art of the Bullet Journal

Want to have a productive new year? Set up your bullet journal in this one day live workshop.

Lifestyle and Wellness , Live Workshop

(Live Workshop) Revising the Novel: Take Your First Draft to the Next Level

With donna levin.

Ready to start revising your novel? Get rolling in this in-depth webinar.

Fiction , Live Workshop , Novel

(Live Workshop) The Art Friend’s Dilemma: Advice on Writing from Real Life

Are you writing about people from real life? This one-day live workshop answers the question of how to be a good art friend.

(Live Workshop) The Art of Love Stories: A Flash Fiction Workshop

How do you distill love into 1,500 words or less? Zining Mok explains in this love stories flash fiction workshop.

Fiction , Live Workshop , Short Story

(Live Workshop) Writing Beginnings and Endings

With sarah aronson.

How do you write a story that's compelling to start and satisfying to finish? Sarah Aronson explains in this comprehensive one-day workshop.

Creative Nonfiction , Fiction , Live Workshop , Memoir , Novel , Personal Essay , Short Story

(Live Workshop) Writing from a Strong Sense of Place: A Generative Workshop

With jacquelyn stolos.

Develop powerful and realistic settings in this generative three-hour workshop, with Jacquelyn Stolos.

Fiction , Live Workshop , Novel , Short Story , Stage and Broadcast

*Private Class | Embodied Writing: Improve Your Writing with Full-Body Creativity

Have a grand time with specific physical exercises that honor your health, generate imaginative ideas, explore deeply and make your creative writing entertaining.

*Private Class | Embodied Writing: Somatic Practices to Improve Your Work

*private class | finding confidence in the braided essay: a craft and empowerment workshop for literary nonfiction.

Weaving your story with facts and research can help you craft a stronger essay. Tell your story with confidence in this empowering essay writing course.

*Private Class | Food Writing: Meals And Manuscripts

*private class | from pitch to publication: writing narrative journalism.

Explore literary journalism as a powerful means to share fascinating characters, stories, and perspectives. Learn all you need to start pitching, landing, and writing reported essays and features.

*Private Class | Introduction to Writing Genre Fiction

Take the whirlwind tour! Learn the conventions of eight major fiction genres, try them out, and figure out your niche.

*Private Class | Poetry Workshop: Bring Your Poems to Life

*private class | the craft of poetry.

Poetry is alive and well. Contemporary poets can be touching, terrifying, and laugh-out-loud funny. Join us for an exploration of writing and reading poems.

*Private Class | The Literary Essay

Explore the literary essay - from the conventional to the experimental, the journalistic to essays in verse - while writing and workshopping your own.

*Private Class | The Micro-obstacles/Flow Technique

Create new work with fresh language, universal themes, sustained mystery and memorable characters. Stimulate your imagination.

*Private Class | Using Bullet Journaling to Achieve Writing Goals

Looking to keep your writing goals organized? Make it happen in our bullet journaling course. Learn the art of the BuJo with Rudri Patel!

*Private Class | Write Your World: Express Your Creativity through Article Writing, Blogging, and Essays

Want to write your world, your way? Join us for this six-week program on article writing, blogging, and essays.

*Private Class | Writing Our Grief: How to Channel Loss into Creative Expression

Writing about grief is a powerful healing tool. Turn pain into power in this personal essay course, with instructor Rudri Patel.

*Private Class | Writing the Short Story

*Private Class | Writing with Tarot

With sandra novack.

Jump-start your creative juices, and explore a world of divination, symbolism, and imagery right at your fingertips: learn short story and novel writing through Tarot.

30 Poems in 30 Days

This National Poetry Writing Month (NaPoWriMo), build community and get feedback on your work while writing a poem every day.

A Crazy Little Thing Called Love: Writing Original Love Poems

How do poets write about love in fresh, surprising, original ways? Tackle the art of love poetry and write about all kinds of love in this generative workshop.

Advanced Fiction Workshop with Emily Adrian

With emily adrian.

Build a feedback group and sharpen your novel or short stories for publication in this workshop-oriented fiction class. 

Ambient Grief: Writing the Alteration

With jacinda townsend.

How do we write about moments of painful transition, or grief that the world doesn't recognize as grief? Turn ambient pain into powerful words in this transformational personal essay workshop. 

Architecture of the Creative Heart: Writing Formal Poetry

With david mills.

Learn how diving into form—the coherent relationship of all of a poem’s parts—can enhance your creativity and freedom as a poet.

Battling the Blank Page: Writing the First Third of Your Novel

With elisa bonnin.

If the blank page daunts you, conquer it in this comprehensive novel writing course, where you'll end with over 1/3 of a first draft written.

Beginner’s Mind: A Mindful Approach to Personal Essays

Write true and meaningful personal essays with the tools of mindfulness. We'll discover new insights in our work as we center ourselves, confront our inner critics, and write mindfully. 

Beyond Formula: Writing Love Scenes With Spirit, Passion, Grit And Character Truth

With anya achtenberg.

Write about love beyond trite sentiment and shallow fictions. Work down to the real thing: deep, powerful, destructive, exalted, fundamental.

Fiction , Novel , Short Story , Stage and Broadcast

Block Buster: Turbocharge Your Creativity with Breakneck Writing

Banish writer's block, unearth fresh ideas, and sharpen your storytelling ability with the practice of fast, timed writing.

Creative Nonfiction , Fiction , Lifestyle and Wellness , Memoir , Novel , Personal Essay , Short Story , Stage and Broadcast

Boost Your Imagination and Reap the Literary Rewards

It happens to all of us: life gets in the way and our creativity falters. Get back on track with this four-week creativity boosting class!

Both Fish and Fowl: The Prose Poem

A successful prose poem reads like a magic trick. Learn how to wield the powers of poetry in the context of prose in this comprehensive prose poetry course.

Poetry , Short Story

Branches of Creative Nonfiction

With tess fahlgren.

What are the different types of creative nonfiction? From the personal essay to the hermit crab, learn the ropes of CNF in this 8 week class.

But What Is Your Story Really About? Finding the Core of Your Short Memoir, Story, or Personal Essay

Take a four-week writing adventure deep into the core of your story, to find the true theme of your personal essay, short story, or short memoir.

Creative Nonfiction , Fiction , Memoir , Personal Essay , Short Story

Call of the Weird: Poetry and Nature

Turn your poetic lens towards the outdoors in this six week workshop, where we'll put to verse everything strange and wonderful about the natural world. 

Character Transformation Workshop: How to Write Stories that Emotionally Resonate

Learn how to write emotionally resonant journeys that stick with the reader, using the power of character transformation.

Creative Nonfiction , Fiction , Lifestyle and Wellness , Memoir , Novel , Short Story , Stage and Broadcast

Claiming Our Stories: Autobiography, Memoir & Autobiographical Fiction

Turn your experience into fiction, autobiography, or creative memoir. Bring forward stories with a powerful truth at their core. Instructor Anya Achtenberg.

Comics for People Who Can’t Draw!: The One-Day Workshop

Comic strip artists rely much more on creativity than on artistic skill. In this workshop, you'll learn all the tools you need to make fun and engaging comic strips—even if your drawing level is "stick figures."

Craft Your Story: Short Fiction and Memoir Live Workshops

With margo perin.

Get tailored advice and inspiration for your fiction or nonfiction stories, in this weekly live workshop with award-winning instructor Margo Perin.

Crafting a Story or Novel Chapter Using Forward-Moving Tension

How do writers tell stories with tension, action, and emotion? Learn how to write forward-moving tension in this 5 week fiction course.

Crafting the Poetry Novel for Young Adults

Even if you’ve never written poetry before, you can begin the rewarding process of crafting a poetry novel for Young Adults. Is there a market for novels written in verse? Are they well received? Yes, there is, and yes, they are!

Fiction , Novel , Poetry

Crafting the Poetry Novel: Advanced Workshop

Want to make headway on your poetry novel? This workshop offers the structure and resources to get it done, with instructor Kelly Bingham.

Creative Nonfiction , Fiction , Memoir , Novel , Poetry

Crafting the Romance Novel

More than happily ever after. Writing a romance novel is about more than just telling the story of how two characters meet, fall in love, and ride off into the sunset of happily ever after. A romance novel follows the same structure as powerful novels in other genres and employs the building blocks of great…

Creating Narrative in Comics

Art and storytelling have a rich relationship to one another. Explore that relationship in this class on writing narrative comics. Open to all artistic skill levels!

Creative Nonfiction , Fiction , Lifestyle and Wellness , Personal Essay , Short Story

Creating the Visual Journal

With lissa jensen.

Go beyond narrow definitions of “journaling" to include visual images and let writing give what is seen a new voice. Surprise yourself.

Creative Nonfiction: The Art of Telling True Stories

With nicole hardy.

How do you tell your stories beautifully and authentically? Learn the fundamentals of creative nonfiction with Nicole Hardy.

Creative Writing & Storytelling Techniques For Business Professionals

Good writing helps business connect deeply with the clients they're hoping to work with. Learn how to hone the power of story in your professional career.

Creative Nonfiction , Fiction , Lifestyle and Wellness

De Novo: How to Build Your Own Fantasy or Sci-Fi World

Create captivating worlds in this comprehensive worldbuilding course. You'll come away with fantastic settings that make your stories mesmerizing, believable, and real.

Deepening and Organizing Our Stories: Memoir/Creative Nonfiction and Autobiographical Fiction

For writers of memoir, creative nonfiction and fiction, with some experience. Particularly helpful to writers in the midst of a longer work.

Drafty in Here: Write Your Novella in Ten Weeks

Write the entire first draft of a novella-length story, with plenty of feedback from stage to stage, and finish with a plan for revising toward a publishable manuscript.

Drawing Poems: the Art of Visual Poetry

By melding poetry with design, visual poets can create multidimensional works of art and literature. Explore the craft in this visual poetry workshop. 

Embodied Writing: Improve Your Writing with Full-Body Creativity

Embodied writing: somatic practices to improve your work, even smaller: adventures in short-form writing.

Less is more in this bite-sized writing class, where you'll learn how to tell complete stories under the tightest word counts.  

Fiction , Personal Essay , Poetry , Short Story

Fall (Back) In Love with Poetry

With moriel rothman-zecher.

Whether you're new to poetry or returning after a hiatus, rekindle the spark that puts verse to page in this exploratory poetry class.

Find Your Brave: Publishing As An Act Of Courage

In this fun, transformative four-week program, get tips and techniques to bring out your courage to publish a story in print or online.

Creative Nonfiction , Fiction , Personal Essay , Short Story

Finding Confidence in the Braided Essay: A Craft and Empowerment Workshop for Literary Nonfiction

Finding inspiration in dreams, with amy bonnaffons.

Our dreams are fertile fields of inspiration, meaning, and creativity. Learn how to use your dreams as doorways to future writing.

Finding the Real Story: Essential Elements of Story in Fiction and Memoir

Address the larger issues of writing story through a look at the essential elements of narrative in fiction and memoir.

Finding Wildness and Freedom in Poetry

Find a greater sense of comfort, ease, lightheartedness, and freedom in reading and writing poetry.

Finish Your Manuscript: Next-Level Picture Book Mentorship

During this six week program, you will work closely one-on-one with Kelly to finalize, refine, and polish your picture book into a manuscript ready to submit for publication or representation.

Fiction , Lifestyle and Wellness , Novel , Short Story

First Pages That Will Pull Agents In!

Polish your opening pages in this novel intensive, where you'll make your first pages so perfect, your readers will need to know what comes next.

Food Writing: Food-Focused Memoir

The food we eat and enjoy tells volumes about our lives and experiences. Write it all down in this food memoir course, with Jennifer Billock.

From Pitch to Publication: Writing Narrative Journalism

From the source: journaling for self-knowledge and creativity.

Journal to discover yourself, find a wellspring of creativity, and produce publication-ready pieces.

From Writing Circle to Finished Poem: Turn Raw Writing into Poetry

Gather together in a virtual writing circle, hit the mute button on your internal editor, and uncover inspiration to shape into poetry.

From Writing Circle to Poems in 6 Contemporary Forms

From the sonnet to the villanelle, turn your journal entries into formal poetry in this 6 week writing circle workshop.

From Writing Circle to Poems in 8 Contemporary Forms (Tuesdays and Saturdays)

From the sonnet to the villanelle, turn your journal entries into formal poetry in this 8 week writing circle workshop.

From Writing Circle to Poems of Kindness, Wonder, Connection & Joy (Mondays and Fridays)

Only 2 seats left!

Explore the power of joy, kindness, and community in this four week poetry workshop.

From Writing Circle to Poems of Kindness, Wonder, Connection & Joy (Tuesdays and Saturdays)

From writing circles to poems of gratitude & hope for the new year (mondays and fridays).

Want to move forward into the new year with gratefulness and clarity for 2024? Join us for 4 weeks of writing about gratitude and hope.

From Writing Circles to Poems of Gratitude & Hope for the New Year (Tuesdays and Saturdays)

From writing circles to poems of gratitude and hope.

Poetry is a powerful method for healing and happiness. Write poems about gratitude and hope in our intimate, live-video writing circles, with instructor Susan Vespoli.

Fundamentals of Travel Writing

Take to the skies in this online travel writing course. We'll discuss the market, different types of travel writing, and pitching your piece!

Get Back to That Book

For any number of reasons, the book we want to write gets waylaid. Get back to it in this motivational two part workshop.

Creative Nonfiction , Fiction , Lifestyle and Wellness , Memoir , Novel

Get Clear on Your Story and Voice

With nadia colburn.

What is your story about? What is your voice? Whether you write poetry, fiction, or nonfiction, hone your writing in this 3 hour workshop.

Get It Done: Create the Scaffolding to Start (and Finish) a Writing Project

With eman quotah.

Get your butt in the chair, your mind roaming freely, and your creative juices flowing in this motivational, all-genres writing class.

Get That Novel Finished! Tools and Inspiration to Complete Your First Draft

Finishing a novel requires guts, dedication, and stamina. When you find yourself struggling, our 10-week course with Donna Levin will help!

Get That Novel Started: A Two-Week Writing Workshop

Take the plunge! Put your ideas to paper, write and share the opening pages of your novel, and create a plan for writing a full first draft.

Get Your Book Done Intensive! 4 Weeks to Measurable Progress

The summer is the best time to get the ball rolling on your book. Join us if you really want to get your book into the world.

Get Your Book Noticed: Writing Loglines That Sell

Your logline helps you query agents, market your book, and figure out the story itself. Hone your logline and set your book up for success in this Zoom workshop.

Creative Nonfiction , Fiction , Memoir , Novel , Personal Essay , Short Story , Stage and Broadcast

Graphic Novel Writing Bootcamp

With cristian aluas.

Put pen to graphing paper in this workshop on crafting the graphic novel. By the end of the Zoom call, you'll have an 8 page graphic short story that's ready to illustrate.

Growing Smaller: The Art of Micro- and Short Fiction

Less is more. Learn the ropes of flash and micro-fiction in this 4-week course and hone the art of the short-short story.

How to Craft a Poem

A poem can tell a story, communicate our innermost thoughts, and reveal what moves us most deeply. Craft poems that do all of this and more in this guided poetry workshop.  

How to Pitch

With rachel krantz.

Learn the ins and outs of pitching your work to print and online publications from Rachel Krantz, a full-time writer and formerly the Senior Feature Editor at Bustle.

Creative Nonfiction , Live Workshop , Personal Essay

How To Start A Blog

With jessica festa.

Create your blog, brand it, create engaging content and successfully promote posts. Taught by journalist, writer and photographer Jessica Festa.

How To Start A Blog, Grow An Audience & Make Money

When planned right, a blog allows you to share your passion and make money in the process. Learn how to start a blog in this one-day webinar.

Creative Nonfiction , Lifestyle and Wellness , Live Workshop , Personal Essay

How To Turn Your Blog Into A Career

From branding to search engine optimization and advertising, this course puts bloggers on the path to earning an income through their blog.

How to Write Character-Driven Stories

Characters don't just drive the story, they are the story. Learn how to craft character-centered fiction and give life to the people on your page.

How to Write Great Stories

Learn how to combine character, setting, plot, and other elements of fiction to write powerful, compelling stories.

Humor Is The New Black!

Ready to add a splash of fun to your writing life? Join us for a four-week humor writing class. We’ll read. We’ll laugh. We’ll write. We’ll experiment.

I’ve Drunk Your Poisoned Nectar: Writing with the Goddess

With shankar narayan.

Dig deep into the rich mythology of South Asian goddesses to find new inspiration for your work in this generative, open-genre writing class.

Iconoclast: Reimagining the Line Break

Poets can express so much in just a line break. Hone this tool of the poetic craft in this two part Zoom workshop.

In Bloom: Nature Writing Workshop

With dana de greff.

Want to write about nature like Robert Frost, Henry David Thoreau, or Annie Dillard? Join us for this six-week nature writing course.

Creative Nonfiction , Fiction , Lifestyle and Wellness , Personal Essay , Poetry , Short Story

In Brief: Explorations in Short Story Forms

Explore the intricate world of short prose forms. Experiment with story forms from one-syllable micros to full-length short stories, and complete six new story drafts.

In Your Own Words: Transforming Life Into Memoir and Fiction

Learn how to draw inspiration and material from your life experiences or those of people you know, or want to know, to craft compelling, publishable memoirs, personal essays, autobiographical novels and short stories, and/or narrative poetry.

Intro to Fiction Writing

What makes a good fiction story? Learn how to write compelling stories in this eight-week intro to fiction course, with Donna Levin.

Introduction to Writing Genre Fiction

Kickstart your novel.

How do novelists turn an idea into a published book? Gain the confidence to  be a novelist in this transformational 3 hour workshop. 

Let It Rip: The Art of Writing Fiery Prose

You'll write prose that gets folks so hot and bothered they won't be able to put it down, even if it isn't about sex.

Let’s Get Personal: The Art and Craft of the Personal Essay

Draw inspiration and material from your life experiences or “real life” people you know to craft compelling, publishable personal essays. With author Margo Perin.

Look Again: Revision for Novel Writers

With amanda hosch.

Most novels become great through the power of revision. Learn how to turn a rough draft into a swoon-worthy manuscript that readers and publishers will love.

Make Your Prose Sing

With leslie lawrence.

Enrich your prose with techniques from poetry. Bring paper and pens; leave with a better ear and lots of ideas about how to make your prose sing.

Manuscript Review for Children’s Writers: Summer Edition

Instructor Sarah Aronson welcomes all writers who are working on manuscripts for kids and teens. This advanced workshop will focus entirely on the participants' own work in progress.

Manuscript Workshop: Writing For Young Readers

With denise santomauro.

Author Denise Santomauro leads this intermediate/advanced workshop on writing for children. It offers support, structure and detailed feedback on manuscripts.

Mastering the Elements of Fiction

In this course, you’ll work with the basic elements of fiction--the fundamentals that drive the story and determine the quality of the work.

Mastering the Manuscript: Completing a Full-Length Poetry Manuscript (from Start to Finish)

In this generative course, you'll write the bulk of the poems you'll use in your full-length manuscript, and learn how to structure them into a collection.

Next-Level Creative Nonfiction: Elevating Essays, Memoir, Travel Writing & Literary Journalism

With wendy call.

Elevate your memoir, travel writing, literary journalism, & lyric and personal essays.

No More Excuses! Four Weeks to Finish and Submit Your Personal Essay or Short Memoir

Join us for this insightful four-week “get the writing done” program, give and receive thoughtful comments from your fellow writers and the instructor, and enjoy heaps of encouragement and writing wisdom along the way.

Observing What’s Vivid in Prose and Poetry

Learn how to spotlight beauty through fresh, vivid, and surprising language, in this four week mindfulness writing course.

Creative Nonfiction , Fiction , Memoir , Novel , Personal Essay , Poetry , Short Story , Stage and Broadcast

Onward: Writing the Novel-in-Process

So now that you have your opening novel pages, what next? Get detailed, constructive feedback on your work-in-progress, wherever you're at in writing it.

Oral Storytelling Techniques for Writing Flash Nonfiction

With corey rosen.

In this class, you'll harness the power of oral storytelling to craft exceptional pieces of written nonfiction.

Ordinary to Extraordinary: Turning Everyday Experiences into Poetry

Only 1 seat left!

No experience is too small or mundane to serve as a foundation for extraordinary poetry and short fiction.

Creative Nonfiction , Personal Essay , Poetry

Overcome Writing Anxiety: Boost Your Storytelling Confidence in Four Short Weeks!

"Who are you to want to write?" Someone great, that's who! Politely ask Mr. or Ms. Fear to step aside while you sign up for this fun, freeing and functional adventure.

Plot Your Novel with the Three-Act Structure

The 3 act structure gives us the scaffolding we can hang our stories off of. Come away from this class with a fully plotted novel and a plan to write it.

Poetry and Performance: Slam Poetry 101

In these workshops, master the elements of poetry and performance, and learn to take your poems from the page to the stage.

Poetry as Sacred Attention

Poetry asks us to slow down, listen, and pay attention. In this meditative workshop, we'll open ourselves to the beauty and mystery of poetry.

Poetry II: Hone Your Voice for Emotional Impact

Write more powerful poetry though sound, form, and image. Explore poetic craft and creativity to write your most imaginative and moving work.

Roads Into Writing: Opening New Terrain In Your Work

Write like mad, read brilliant books & deepen your craft while exploring new paths to inspiration. With novelist and poet Anya Achtenberg, .

Scene Study: Strengthen Your Writing with Compelling Scenes

Great stories are constructed with great scenes. Immerse your reader in your stories by learning the ropes of scene development.

Secrets & Confessions: Writing Deeply Personal Nonfiction

In this fully anonymous class, we will write and share the secrets we hold closest to our chests, and turn those secrets into compelling creative nonfiction. 

Shape Your Stories: Write Five Styles of the Personal Essay

Craft powerful nonfiction essays! By exploring five exciting essay forms, you'll learn to bring the stories of your life alive on the page. 

Simple Summer Writing Circles

Sail through the summer and survive the heat with these chill writing circles, where you'll laugh, vent, and honor the season in poetry.

Simple Winter Sanity-Saving Writing Circles

Write your way to the finish line of 2023: let go of and say goodbye to a momentous year, honor the changes in yourself and the world, and set your intentions for a new chapter.

Sing the Body Electric: Poetry of the Body

With andrea jurjević.

The human body is a continuous source of inspiration for poetry. Embody the poetic in this electric workshop. 

Six Flash Stories in Six Weeks

Pack the maximum punch in the fewest words! Learn the craft of flash fiction writing, and complete six flash stories.

Speculative Fiction: Sci-fi, Fantasy, & More

With tara campbell.

Speculative fiction isn't (only) warp drives and magic wands; it's anything that examines human lives and relationships through alternate realities. In this course, learn how to wield the fantastic in your fiction.

Story Lab: Story Structure 101

Structure is essential to great storytelling. Learn how to roadmap any story in this comprehensive story structure class.

Story Lab: The Story-Subplot Connection

Subplots are key to maintaining narrative pace and tension in a story. Drive your story forward with this deep dive into the elements of good storytelling.

Style and Sense: Bring Your Writing to Life

With john gottberg anderson.

How do we transport our readers to vivid worlds? In this course, learn the skills that evoke the senses and bring your writing to life.

Tales From The Memory Palace: 6 to 250 Word Memoirs

If you want to be an in demand storyteller in the digital age, you need to get in, get out and get going. In this "short" four-week memoir writing adventure, you'll learn to scope out, swoop down and snatch up important memories from your life then speed write them into miniature masterpieces.

Techwashed!: Writing with AI, Data, and Surveillance

Raise a mirror against society's relationship to technology in this two part workshop series where we will learn how to write about tech.

Creative Nonfiction , Fiction , Live Workshop , Memoir , Novel , Personal Essay , Poetry , Short Story

Teen Writers’ Workshop: Discover the Writer You Want to Be

Give your teens the power of writing and community in this two part workshop, where teen writers will learn the skills to become professional authors.

Telling the Stories Your Body Holds: Writing and Shaping Strong Personal Essays

With sarah herrington.

Where do essays come from? In this course, they come from the body. Learn how to start—and finish—powerful essays that begin inside the self.

Telling Your Food Story

With hannah howard.

Let's write at the kitchen table together, as we explore using food as a lens to tell our stories.

Ten Steps to Creating Interesting, In-Depth Characters

How do you write about people convincingly? Empower your character development in this workshop filled with exercises and character discussion.

Fiction , Live Workshop , Novel , Short Story

The Body and Soul of Your Memoir: Shape, Focus, and Write Your Memoir

Unearth your memoir's soul (its main focus and calling) and body (its organization and structure) as you write toward a completed draft. 

The Cabin In The (Virtual) Woods: Writing Horror Comedy

The line between horror and comedy is a lot thinner than you think. In this class, make your readers laugh in one sentence and cower in the next.

The Chronology of Mind: From Journal to Poem or Prose

Gather material through writing and experimenting with journaling, researching and taking notes to develop into poems or prose works.

Creative Nonfiction , Fiction , Memoir , Personal Essay , Poetry , Short Story

The Complete Beginner’s Guide to Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy

Create fantastical worlds with mythical beings in this comprehensive introduction to fantasy and science fiction.

The Craft of Poetry

The elements of fiction.

Good fiction writing can feel like juggling as you balance all the different elements of storytelling. By the end of this course, you'll be an expert juggler.

The First Fifty Pages of the Novel

The first 50 pages sets up plot, characters, and voice, and it lays the groundwork for your book's overall structure and success. Receive critical, supportive feedback on your book's start from novelist Sandra Novack.

The Five Ws (and One H) of Drafting Middle Grade and Young Adult Novels

Asking yourself these six questions will give you the scaffolding for your next young adult or middle grade novel.

The Healing Power of Poetry

Poetry heals. Journey alongside several poets whose works resonate with a variety of healing themes, and learn how to use craft elements as healing tools.

The Heart Remembers: Writing About Loss

With charlotte maya.

How can we organize grief and loss into language? Honor your feelings and write moving essays in this heart-centered creative nonfiction class. 

The Literary Essay

The lyric essay: invitation to play.

Create dynamic, genre-bending works of musical prose in this playful and exploratory lyric essay workshop. 

The Micro-obstacles/Flow Technique

The poetry of play.

Get playful in your poetry in this fun-focused workshop, where we'll experiment our ways into new and delightful poems. 

The Sixth Sense: Writing Horror with a Message

Looking to write the substance of nightmares? Learn the ropes of horror writing in this spine-chilling fiction course.

The Soundtrack of Your Life: Writing About Music, Memories and Mix Tapes

In a song inspired class, write several essays about the music that has moved you through life: the emotions, the relationships, the events, the outcomes.

The Surprising Sentence: Honing Your Prose Style

Great sentences stack up into great stories. Learn how to hone your style and voice at the most basic unit of writing, the sentence, in this workshop.

The Wandering Heart: Tales of Connection

Wander through the rooms of your own life to discover stories of deep connection, reconnection or loss of connection and fashion your findings into stories suitable for blog posts, essays, short memoirs, short plays, scenes in screenplays, or chapters of novels.

Creative Nonfiction , Lifestyle and Wellness , Memoir

The Watching Eye/Thinking Mind: Writing Flash Fiction

In this ten-week workshop with poet and novelist Barbara Henning, write tiny fictions while experimenting with first and third person points of view and analyzing how point of view affects the craft of fiction writing. Barbara will provide practical instruction and assignments, suggestions for revision, and lectures and and articles.

These Fragments: From Journal Pages to Personal Essays

Learn to harvest the raw creativity of journaling into inspired, publication-worthy personal essays.

Turn Up the Heat: How to Write Good Sex

How do you write sex scenes that are both erotic and realistic? Make your reader's heart race in this webinar on writing good sex.

Twoness Poems

With e. ethelbert miller , miho kinnas.

Twoness poems are poems written collaboratively with another poet. Learn something new about yourself, your writing partner, and poetry in this collaborative Valentine's Day workshop.

Untie the Tropes: Write In-Depth YA Protagonists

Do you want to write YA, but you're terrified of teenagers? Learn how to write authentic teen characters without tropes in this generative YA course.

Using Bullet Journaling to Achieve Writing Goals

Creative Nonfiction , Fiction , Lifestyle and Wellness , Poetry

Using Your Poetry Skills to Write Memoir

With freesia mckee.

How do poets tell their stories in prose? Take the leap from poetry to memoir in this hybrid writing workshop.

Creative Nonfiction , Live Workshop , Memoir , Poetry

What to Do When Your Characters Fall in Love: Writing Romance in Any Genre

Relationships are an important feature of fiction—and not just romances! If your non-romance work has love involved, learn the ropes in this 5 week course, open to writers of all genres.

What’s So Funny? Writing Poetic Humor

Can a poem make the audience laugh out loud? Learn how to harness poetic humor in this class about knocking the reader's socks off.

Word Flashes & Eye Snapshots: Sketching Your Life Awake

For any writer wanting to root writing in vision and vision in the body: for poetry, fiction, essay, memoir & pleasure.

Write from the Untamed Mind: Find Your Voice

Join Susan in two writing circles each week: intimate spaces for writers to free-write together, saying yes to whatever shows up, followed by group read-arounds. These writing sessions are spontaneous, intimate, freeing, and transformative.

Write Your Children’s Book!

If you’re looking for accountability, support, enthusiasm, feedback, and a chance to make progress on your Children's Book or YA story, then this is the place for you.

Write Your Novel Draft!

With aatif rashid.

Move far ahead in your novel draft, while learning the craft of novel writing and developing a stronger writing practice.

Write Your Novel: The Art of the Outline

Structure and start your novel in this comprehensive class. You'll come away with a skeleton for your story and at least 20 pages written.

Write Your World: Express Your Creativity through Article Writing, Blogging, and Essays

Writing autobiographical fiction.

Learn to depart from "what really happened," and write compelling fiction from your own life experiences.

Writing Circle Workshop: A Focus on Eight Contemporary Poets (Section 2)

By studying the poems of Billy Collins, Ellen Bass, Natalie Diaz, and more, write stunning poetry in this generative writing circle workshop.

Writing Circle Workshop: A Focus on Nine Contemporary Poets

Write freely and expressively in this 8-week poetry workshop. Along the way, we'll explore the transformative work of 9 contemporary poets.

Writing Circle Workshop: Finding Community and Creativity in a Challenging Time

Write out the storm: Join supportive, friendly faces in twice-weekly virtual community writing circles.

Writing Circle Workshop: Moving Toward Creativity & Light

Connect with other writers, spark your creativity, and write light-filled poems in this writing circle workshop. 

Writing Circle Workshop: Writing for Happiness, Healing, and Health (Monday/Friday)

Expressive writing can be a powerful elixir for what ails you. Learn and practice tools for writing expressively, including two virtual writing circles each week, turn raw writing into poetry or prose, and come away with a better understanding of how writing can lead toward wellness.

Creative Nonfiction , Fiction , Lifestyle and Wellness , Memoir , Personal Essay , Poetry , Short Story

Writing Circle Workshop: Writing for Happiness, Healing, and Health (Tuesday/Saturday)

Writing circles & exercises to spark new poems (mondays and fridays).

Looking for inspiration? Write, vent, laugh, and honor your writing practice in these generative writing circle workshops.

Writing Circles & Exercises to Spark New Poems (Tuesdays and Saturdays)

Writing circles: finding community, clarity, poetry, and prose.

Join our writing circle to form a writing community, find clarity in your words, and turn your untamed free-writes into poetry and/or prose.

Lifestyle and Wellness , Poetry , Short Story

Writing for Kids: Entering the World of Children’s Literature

Learn the fundamentals of writing for children in this one day workshop, and write the kinds of stories that kids simply can't put down.

Writing Magical Fiction

In this workshop series, you won't just write using magic in fiction—you'll harness the magic that only fiction can make.

Writing Our Grief: How to Channel Loss into Creative Expression

Writing paranormal flash fiction: adventures with angels, spirits and ghosts.

Create captivating stories about characters who live by rules different than our own. A fun, supportive foray into imaginative fiction, with an eye to publication. 

Writing Place in Creative Nonfiction

In Creative Nonfiction, place is a character in itself. Deeply explore a narrative and a place of your choosing, and make weekly progress on your essay or memoir.

Writing Poetry About Family Histories

To write about our families means reconciling past and present, our origins and our futures. Put these contradictions to verse in this two part webinar.

Writing Short Stories with the Empathic Approach

Great fiction brings deeper understanding. Foster a greater sense of connection and supercharge your stories in this empathy-driven fiction class.

Writing Spontaneously: How to Let Your Stories Surprise You

Some of the best stories don't follow a specific plot structure; they develop organically. Learn how to hone spontaneity in your fiction writing and come away surprised by your work.

Writing the (Modern) Love Essay

With paz pardo.

How do you distill the complexity of (modern) love into language? Learn how in this workshop, where you'll transform your lived experience of romance into an essay. 

Writing the Absurd

If you turn on to the absurd in life—to the ironic, edgy, bizarre, and grotesque—this is the course for you. Learn the key techniques of writing absurdist fiction, dark fiction, and satire.

Writing the Body: A Nonfiction Craft Seminar

The weird and wild body is a rich site of exploration in creative nonfiction. Explore the questions, stories, and lessons your body holds in this seminar with Margo Steines.

Writing the Memoir-in-Essays

Learn how to tell your story through the memoir-in-essays, a form that allows writers to interweave the facts of their lives in interesting and evocative ways.

Writing the Short Story

Writing with tarot, you are drinker and you are wine: writing with the south asian sufis.

Through the traditions of Sufi poetry, learn how to write poems that access the divine and stand the test of time.

You Yourself Are the Beloved: Writing with South Asian Ghazals

The ghazal poem has a rich history with a tricky form to master. Learn the ropes in this inspiring and electrifying workshop.

About Our Online Writing Courses

We've been offering writing classes online since 1995 to all kinds of students. Whether you're completely new to the Internet (back then, everyone was) or more experienced learning online, our writing courses will be a great fit for you.

Online Course Platform

We offer our classes through an online course platform called Wet Ink. It's designed to be simple and usable for people without a technical background. You'll be sent instructions for joining your class in Wet Ink on the day it begins.

Weekly Assignments

Most classes are structured around weekly assignments: once each week, the teacher emails or posts a lecture to the list that includes a writing assignment, and the students complete the assignment and send it to the list. This means that the teacher and all students in the class see all completed assignments.

The instructor writes his or her feedback on the assignment and sends it back to the list, and students are encouraged to offer feedback on each others' work.

Additionally, some classes are set up as workshops, and are organized around feedback on student manuscripts.

There are no specific times that you must be online. This allows you to work on the class material at your convenience: it's the ideal way to take a class.

Class Discussion and Connection

The list also hosts class discussions about lessons, assignments, and writing in general. The more interaction among students, the more valuable and enjoyable the class. We offer guidelines to keep dialogue supportive and beneficial, and no negative or abusive behavior is allowed.

Writing can be a lonely pursuit, and it's often difficult for writers to make contact with each other. Part of our reason for being here is to change that. We encourage class members to develop ongoing correspondence in which they can share their work. Often a sense of community forms, and some groups have continued to work together long after the class is over.

With the odd "anonymous intimacy" of the Internet, it's easier to take chances in your writing, and to be honest and thoughtful in your criticism of others' writing. First-time students in our online writing courses are often surprised how much they learn, and how much they enjoy the experience.

If you have further questions, browse the Writers.com FAQ .

Our Online Writing Class Format in Detail

Most of our courses take place on an online learning platform called Wet Ink. We also offer some workshop-style courses through Zoom, which will be clearly marked in the course description. The details below are for our Wet Ink-based courses.

When you enroll in one of our online writing classes, we'll send an email confirming your participation. On the start date of the workshop, your instructor will send a welcome letter explaining how to access the Wet Ink classroom.

You'll access the entire course within Wet Ink, including:

• Reading lectures
• Starting or joining discussions
• Submitting assignments each week
• Commenting on other students’ work
• Receiving direct weekly feedback on your work from the instructor

When the course wraps up, we’ll send you a questionnaire about your experience in the course.

You won't need to be online at a particular time or day. In general, you should plan to check in with the course at least a few times each week.

Thousands of our alumni have returned to study with us again, and some have been with us since the beginning in 1995. We hope you’ll become part of the Writers.com community, too.

Questions about our online writing courses, our community, or anything else? Email us at [email protected] , please!

What Sets Our Online Writing Courses Apart

At Writers.com, we have 25 years of experience offering the best writing classes online. Many elements set our courses apart:

• Our instructors are gifted, experienced teachers who are writers themselves. They also care about their students and the progress they make. Any good "school" or workshop can teach you the craft of writing; we offer personal attention and inspiration as well.
• Each instructor develops his or her own courses. Unlike other online writing schools, we have no prepared, prepackaged classes randomly taught by just anyone who has the time to teach it. You know exactly who your teacher will be before you ever register, and you'll receive feedback from that teacher on your writing.
• We accept a maximum of 12 students per class in most classes. You will never be a face in the crowd in a Writers.com class.
• We take your work seriously, but we also have fun. Some of our classes are rigorous and intense. If you want to be a professional writer, you need a tough, but supportive, environment. We have that. But we also offer other classes that are a chance to experiment, learn for the sheer joy of learning, explore new ideas, and discover new pathways.
• Our classes fit into your daily life – no matter what time zone you are in.
• If you are able to visit websites, you can participate fully in our classes. The course software is simple to learn and designed for learners of all kinds across the globe.
• Writers.com is operated by a small, dedicated staff of human beings who genuinely want to help you meet your writing goals. Having a technical problem, or finding that a course isn't the right fit for you? Contact us and we'll work it out, person-to-person.

Join one of our writing courses, and experience the Writers.com difference for yourself!

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“The Hudson Valley Writers Center presides over a great river of language, heart, and imagination.”

— fred marchant, authors: to schedule a reading with hvwc, please contact [email protected] 6 months-1 year in advance of your publication date. please note: we are fully booked through the rest of 2024. thank you, the hudson valley writers center brings writers and readers together to celebrate the essential art of the written and spoken word. the center fosters a vibrant literary arts community that supports and empowers writers and readers of diverse ages, talents and backgrounds at every stage of their creative development., we are committed to ensuring our programming is accessible to as many people as possible through our pay-what-you-can reading series, scholarship initiatives, and ongoing engagement with the members of our growing local and virtual communities..

The Art of Dramatic Writing for Stage, Screen, and Television with Bill Bigelow (via Zoom)

Teen Workshop: Speculative Fiction Writing (via Zoom)

The Art of Syntax: Poetry with Kim Addonizio (via Zoom)

Creating Fiction with Felice Neals (via Zoom)

Writing the Saturation Poem: a Generative Workshop with Jennifer Jean (via Zoom)

The Image is the Bridge with Jared Harél (via Zoom)

Youth Creativity Camp (Grades 3-5) In Person at HVWC

Teen Murder Mystery Madness (in person at HVWC)

Youth Magic and Mystery Creative Writing Camp (Grades 5-8) In Person at HVWC

See More Workshops >>

Alice & Dorothy (Later in Life) performance in person at HVWC

Open Write (in person & via Zoom)

Strange Maimed Oranges: Writing Rhyme in Contemporary Poetry with Jane Huffman (Via Zoom)

Open mic (in person & via zoom).

See More Events >>

BECOME A MEMBER

300 riverside drive, sleepy hollow, ny 10591 | gps: philipse manor station | 914.332.5953 | [email protected].

©1988-2019 Hudson Valley Writers Center | All rights reserved.

SUMMER CAMP REGISTRATION IS HAPPENING NOW!

Collection: Adult Programs ~ In-person or Online

Our Adult Workshops and Events are an opportunity for writers to explore, learn, and develop their writing skills through specialized lessons and activities. 

Review the description details for the workshop or event you are interested in. Specialty Workshops are for ages 13 to adult. In-person or online * Introduction Workshops * Bi-Weekly Writing Course Session (In-person OR Online options)  * Package Options * Specialty Workshops * Just Write! Drop-in Sessions * Write On-line Sessions * One-on-One Sessions

Write On! Creative Writing Center's Workshops are a time to unleash the imagination and discover the writer within, while developing literacy skills, building confidence, and encouraging creativity.

CALL US TODAY TO REGISTER   ​~  214-915-2155  or  REGISTER ONLINE BY SELECTING OPTIONS BELOW

Adult Writing Course 10 Session Package - In-person Only

Adult writing course individual sessions - in-person only, adult writing course 10 session package - online only, adult writing course individual sessions - online only, intro to write on creative writing workshop for adults, meeting with vicky - one-on-one sessions for novel coaching, meeting with raul - one-on-one sessions for college entrance, scholarship essay, creative writing, prose and poetry, and finding your writing voice, write on-line weekly writing sessions - for adult and teen (13+) writers, just write sessions - for adult and teen (13+) writers, children's book writing for adults intensive workshop, screenwriting specialty workshop, plotting a novel specialty workshop, write on creative writing center gift card, subscribe to our emails.

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NEW VIDEO COURSE

Learn How to Write a Novel, Join Tom Bromley for a writing master class.

Learn How to Write a Novel

Finish your draft in our 3-month master class. Enroll now for daily lessons, weekly critique, and live events. Your first lesson is free!

530 Best Creative Writing Classes in 2024

Showing 530 courses that match your search.

Write Your Book: Start Strong and Get It Done

Class Central

If you aspire to write a book but struggle to begin or reach the finish line, you are in good company. Many budding authors face challenges in starting or developing their stories. In this course, Jennie Nash, an experienced author, teacher, and book coach, will guide you through understanding your characters, the structure of your story, and the narrative arc, helping you overcome these common hurdles.

Website: https://www.classcentral.com/course/

Categories: Book and Fiction

Start date:

Open all year round

Prerequisites: No prerequisites

Discovering Science: Science Writing

Future Learn

Without science writing, science could not really exist. By recording experiments and publishing the results of studies and discoveries, scientists can share their important work, and find an engaged audience. Science writing takes many forms: from press releases to video scripts. You’ll learn about different types of science writing, and look at the factors which you need to consider to write a story.

Website: https://www.futurelearn.com/

Categories: Scientific

Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy

In this lively and fun course, author and mentor Steve Alcorn and screenwriter Dani Alcorn, show you how to achieve success. During the past decades they've helped more than 30,000 aspiring writers structure their stories, and many are now in print. You can be next!

Website: https://www.udemy.com/

Categories: Science Fiction and Fantasy

How to Write a Novel

Your story matters. Unlock your potential with daily video lessons from bestselling ghostwriter Tom Bromley, and finish your first draft in just 3 months. Learn more →

Essay Writing

Improve your essay writing skills with this course that covers everything from initial strategies to proofreading. Learn to craft solid theses, supportive sentences, and compelling conclusions for effective essays.

Categories: Essay

Writing Your Fantasy Novel

For fantasy writers aiming to create rich worlds, memorable characters, and captivating plots, this course offers guidance to craft stories that resonate with readers and leave a lasting impact.

Categories: Fantasy

WordPress for Beginners: Create a Website Step by Step

Whether you're interested in creating code-free websites or need to learn WordPress for updating existing sites at work, this comprehensive course covers it all. You'll build a website step-by-step, mastering WordPress in a practical, hands-on way.

Categories: Blog, Content, and Freelance

The Complete Course on Sports Journalism

With the field of sports journalism growing more competitive than ever, it’s becoming increasingly important for those who aspire to become sports journalists to develop their skills and knowledge. This course aims to provide you with all of the information you need to get the best possible start to your career as a sports journalist.

Categories: Sports

Screenwriting 101: Writing for Film & Television

This course covers the entire screenwriting process from concept to selling. Ideal for both aspiring and established screenwriters, it guides you through creating a script and offers insights into the business side of screenwriting.

Categories: Screenplay

Learn WordPress & Using WordPress to Make Money Online

Welcome to the comprehensive guide on mastering WordPress and SEO, where you'll embark on a transformative journey to elevate your online presence. In this course of wordpress, we merge the power of WordPress, the leading content management system, with the strategic prowess of SEO to help you craft stunning websites with hope to rank high and thrive in the digital realm.

Travel Writing: Explore the World & Publish Your Stories!

Lots of people try to break into travel writing. Those who don’t succeed usually blame it on not being talented enough – but that’s often not their real problem. Their real problem is they have adopted a set of habits that are weakening their writing. This course is different from other travel writing courses. It doesn’t just offer tips on how you should write; it also explains how you shouldn’t write.

Categories: Travel

Start A New Career By Being A Part-Time Sports Writer

So, you want to be a sports writer? In this lecture, you'll learn how you can take some basic writing skills (and your love for sports) and combine them into a new career. You can even pick up some extra money by being a freelance or part-time sports writer for a local newspaper, radio or television station.

Categories: Sports and Freelance

Prerequisites: A good understanding of popular sports and basic writing experience is recommended.

Speculative Fiction

As our reality becomes more of a dystopia, you may wonder what counts as fantasy anymore. Collapse, resurrection, and everything in between are entirely possible. The absurd has become a part of the everyday, be it a head popping out of a toilet or slugs that change their sex. This class will explore the fantastical, uncanny, scientific/technological, and fiction that otherwise tests the bounds of human reality.

Website: https://loft.org/classes/current-class-list

Categories: Book, Fiction, Fantasy, and Science Fiction

August, 2024

What is creative writing?

Creative writing is often best understood through a description of what it’s not : it is not business, journalistic, academic, or technical writing. 

Here is what creative writing is : it is the art of telling stories through written mediums. To many people, the novel is the most obvious form of creative writing, but it can also be found in essays, screenplays, poetry, memoirs, and much more. 

As you can imagine, one of the common threads that connects all forms of creative writing is, well, imagination. In fiction, this is embodied in the creation of the story itself; in nonfiction, it’s inherent in the way that the author chooses to present (and engage with) facts and real events to create a compelling narrative. 

Why is creative writing important?

We might as easily ask: why is it important to tell stories? Because that’s just what people do. It’s our way to make sense of the world and ourselves, and share it with others. History abounds with the art of the story. Look anywhere on a world timeline, and you’ll find examples of creative writing fulfilling our need for creative expression, from Homer’s epics in 800 B.C. to Dante’s inferno to modern essays shared on the Internet today. 

Nothing suggests that it will ever disappear, either! In fact, creative writing is arguably even more important in the age of AI, in which we must continue to tell powerful human stories instead of outsourcing such a fundamental task to soulless machines. 

How do creative writing courses teach creative writing?

If you’ve decided that you want to invest in your own creative writing, that’s great! Get ready to embark on a lifelong learning path. Like all art forms, creative writing is a skill that you must constantly train in order to improve. 

Learning creative writing, of course, can be as simple as you want. All you need is pen and paper — or, these days, a computer with a writing app. 

You can also take a creative writing class if you’re interested in a certain writing topic, or if you simply want an experienced instructor to point out the way for you. A course can fast-track your writing progress by teaching you something about the art of writing in one day that might otherwise take a year for you to pick up by yourself. They also often specialize in a specific area of creative writing, for instance:

• Character development, i.e. the way that characters change from beginning to end of a story.
• Genre conventions and tropes, i.e. what conventions you should write to in a certain genre — and what you can (and perhaps should) subvert.
• Story structure, i.e. the order of plot points and key events that a story should take in order to be compelling.
• Writing voice, i.e. the unique writing style that only you can bring to a story. 

Because there are thousands of aspects to creative writing, there are thousands of creative writing classes. That’s why we built this directory of the best creative writing courses. We’ve made it filterable by genre, price, and more to make it easier for you to find the perfect class for your needs. 

But what are the best creative writing classes?

The best creative writing course depends on you , and your own profile! We always recommend that you thoroughly do your research to personalize your choice for yourselves. 

With that said, below are some recommendations to kick you off. 

The best creative writing classes for beginners

If you’ve got a book idea, and you’re willing to invest some money to write it, then Reedsy’s How to Write a Novel could be a great place for you to start. Over three months, this full-fledged course will take you step-by-step from your idea to your first draft — and give you a supportive writing community to boot. 

💲 Cost: $1,000+  👨‍🏫 Type: Video

The best in-person creative writing classes 

Gotham Writers, the biggest adult-education writing school in the US, is based in New York City and offers in-person classes. With self-paced courses, write-ins, and several free events per term, it emulates the university feel wherever possible.

💲 Cost: $165 - $450  👨‍🏫 Type: In-person

The best free creative writing classes 

Reedsy Learning is composed of bite-sized modules that are emailed to you once a day for ten days. They can be read in five minutes — and best of all, they’re free! Each module is packed with practical tips, additional resources, and exercises to sharpen your skills. 

💲 Cost: Free  👨‍🏫 Type: Email

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