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Writing Workshops

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, creating novel characters.

When writing a novel, we must know our primary characters inside and out. We need to understand their desires, motivations, and frustrations, their histories and their futures. This workshop will focus on the development of authentic characters. Participants will examine character as both autonomous and residing within the context of the other novelistic elements, and we will examine the challenge of creating and integrating these various elements into a cohesive and credible whole. Participants will explore the main character(s) in their novels-in-progress.

Story Plus Style

This participation and feedback heavy workshop will tackle all elements of your storytelling from top to bottom. Participants will develop two original pieces of writing. Each piece will be workshopped twice: once with a focus on story structure, and then a second time with a focus on prose mechanics. Participants will learn the fundamentals of story structure and prose mechanics, and will also gain a better sense for how story and prose interact to create compelling writing.

From Idea to Script: A Beginner’s Guide to Screenwriting

Discover how to translate your passion for screenwriting into actionable skills. Every week students will build on the foundations of story, structure, character arcs, the do’s and don’ts, industry standards, and the technical side of writing a script until they have a completed short screenplay that will be workshopped during the last weeks of class. We’ll start with one page scripts, build to a three-page script, and finally five to ten page scripts for the final workshop. Please come to class with a few ideas you’d like to use to create a final script.

Foundations of Poetry

Over the course of six weeks, we’ll discuss four key elements of poems: image, sound, form and realization. Students will produce a variety of poems and learn tips for maintaining the practice of writing. Students will have the opportunity to workshop four poems and will receive personalized feedback on their work.

How to Write a Stand-Up Comedy Act

How do comedians come up with ideas? It all starts with finding the funny in your life and turning it into material. Learn how to recognize a premise, extract the humor and hone it into a stand-up act or funny story. We study comedians and styles and work on your unique voice in a fun and supportive class. This is for people who want to go out and try performing or just want to learn how to polish up their writing with wit and humor. No preparation or experience necessary.

Tips for Revision from the Pros!

In this hands-on, active learning workshop, you will learn some of the various ways writers reshape, rethink, and “re-vision” their pieces. We’ll learn about and try out deep cutting, shifting style or point of view, switching up or mixing genres, and more! By the end of class, you’ll have a variety of revision techniques to try out so that you can choose the approach (or approaches) that will inspire you to take your writing forward.

The Muddle in the Middle

This quick-take session focuses on ways to get yourself unstuck when a story’s middle gets thorny, or you lose your way. A relaxed, informative 90 minutes chockful of information from a multi-published author who often has to fight her way out of the middle of a manuscript…and onward to a completed novel. Loads of tips and tricks for you to take away!

Crafting Fiction: Element by Element

By working through basic craft elements of fiction, participants will build a strong foundation for their writing–be it stories or novels. This 7-week workshop will explore craft elements one at a time and ask participants to practice them through in-class exercises. Reading published fiction will also help us understand how writers regularly employ these elements. You’ll also begin to put the elements together as you start a story. You’ll leave the workshop with the tools you need to write wonderful, authentic fiction.

How Create a Compelling Voice

Agents say it all the time. What sells a manuscript? A standout voice. Acquire the tools you need for developing a compelling voice of your own through the study of entertaining published examples, a clear explanation and writing exercises designed to ignite your unique way of expressing yourself. You will enjoy a sense of excitement in this inspiring and instructive workshop as you successfully translate the voice in your head to the page.

Get an Agent for Your Novel

Perfect your story, novel, excerpt, novella, poem, or query letter before trying to find representation or be published

Process Your Process

Do you feel frantic when you write and guilty when you don’t? Then this workshop is for you! In this supportive space, we’ll reflect on our creative insecurities, develop self-care plans, and design realistic writing routines for who we are and where we are in life.

Writing About Mental Illness

Whether you have experienced mental illness personally or have a loved one with mental illness, writing about it can help you process the challenges and inner conflicts while creating powerful narratives that reduce stigma and stereotypes. In the spirit of healing through storytelling, participants will write about how mental illness has directly or indirectly affected their lives. You will learn creative ways to practice self-discovery through writing and turn personal experience into art, and you will come away with two rough drafts in whatever genre you choose. For inspiration, we will read pieces by Elyn Saks, Bassey Ikpi, Mariah Hornbacher, and more. Please note, this is not a replacement for therapy. It’s an opportunity to explore a difficult topic through a creative lens.

The Power of Structure: Fixing your Table of Contents

Join us for an immersive workshop where we’ll guide you through the art of creating a compelling table of contents. In this hands-on session, you’ll learn how to organize your ideas effectively, create a roadmap for your readers, and ensure your manuscript flows seamlessly from start to finish. Whether you’re working on a novel, a thesis, or any other project, mastering the table of contents is key to captivating your audience. Don’t miss this opportunity to refine your craft and take your writing to new heights.

How to Write a Key Scene

A key scene is an essential building block in any work of fiction. In this session, you’ll learn tips and strategies for making the scene you see in your head come alive on the page so that your reader is compelled to keep turning the pages, rather than turn out the light. Writing exercises will give class members a hands-on feel for how to add texture, dynamism, and drama to a story. The session also provides practical, hands-on guidance about the rewriting process. An added benefit: giving and receiving critical feedback. You’ll come away from the class with the creative muscle memory to write and revise with confidence.

Writers Listening

One of life’s great joys is finding time to listen — whether to the scattered wonders of conversation or to the many voices of the non-human world: birdsongs, wild wind, river’s sweep. In this two-hour workshop we will identify sources for the listener’s delight, and share ways to grow them into poems, songs, and stories. No experience necessary.

Your First (or Next) Novel

Writing a novel takes commitment, but it doesn’t need to be daunting. Learn how to generate a handful of plots to choose from, methods for effectively planning your story, and simple hacks for fine tuning your basic fiction skills. Participants will initiate a flexible writing plan that will keep their writing flowing. This is a great half-day session for the beginning long-form fiction writer, or for the more experienced author in need of a quick strategy brush-up.

Crafting Short Stories

In this workshop, participants will examine the qualities of good writing and good storytelling. After a recap on the constituent elements of short fiction, we will take a fresh look at contemporary and classic stories alike. Each week, writers will craft a new piece and offer feedback to fellow participants. By the course’s end, writers will have workshopped several stories each and revised them with an eye toward publication.

Plotting Your Novel

Whether you are an organized planner or a writer who flies by the seat of their pants, a novel still needs structure. In this workshop, participants will study the architecture of a novel and devise plans for plotting their novels. Using the three-act structure as a map, we will explore the basic components of a novel’s plot.

Facing Your Writing Fears

Not only is writing a lonely process, it can be downright scary. And, when it comes to mustering the courage to share our work with others, fear can turn to terror. In this session we’ll look at understanding what frightens us — and how to get beyond those fears.

Book Marketing on a Budget

You’ve written – or are writing your book – now fight for it! In this workshop we’ll focus on over two dozen book marketing tips, with a close eye on budgets. From book launches, social media, blogging and podcasting, to writing press releases, creating Amazon Author’s pages, and connecting with publicists, we’ll fill your head, and notebook with ideas; over 30 of them! If you think writing a book is exciting, wait until you feel the thrill of professionally promoting it!

Ekphrastic Poetry

Find new ways to enter your drafts and deepen your revisions by writing poems about the visual arts (ekphrastic poems). We’ll read and discuss a variety of ekphrastic poems to inspire your own writing and enhance your craft skills (line, image, repetition, point of view, etc.). You’ll find new ways to access common themes, explore new terrain, and braid two narratives to enrich your poems. Each week, with provided prompts, you’ll be encouraged to visit a local gallery/museum and write about an artwork that moves you. Students will read aloud drafts for feedback of general appreciation and using a writer-focused workshop process, we’ll replace opinions and invasive “fix-its” with specific feedback to best serve the poet and support them in revisions. This class is perfect for poets looking to deepen their own creative process, write about art, and enhance their skills with feedback and revision.

Evoking Reader Empathy

Even when a story is skillfully written, it may not be enough to make the reader care. The key lies in the emotional impact your story has on readers — inviting them to not only invest in your characters, but to embark on an emotional journey of their own. We’ll discuss how to avoid cliché and heavy-handed moralizing; determine the most effective balance of internal thought, scene, and underlying tension; and discover how to let an object or image (your father’s watch, a specific place, work of art, etc.) carry the emotional weight of your story. Reading examples and short exercises will give participants the opportunity to experiment with creating empathy on the page.

Creating Backstory & Flashbacks

Every character has a hidden history from before your story starts. Learn how to masterfully weave in details and experiences that enrich your characters and create believable motivation. Novelists, short story authors, and creative nonfiction writers will all benefit from these twin skills. You’ll see your writing grow in sophistication and depth.

Writing Compelling Historical Fiction

Setting your fictional characters in the real time and place your story occurs makes it a vivid read that will draw readers in and keep them turning pages. The first three workshops will teach participants how to access the broad spectrum of information available in person and online in the unique research institutions that exist in the DC area, including the National Archives; the Library of Congress; Federal Records Centers; Federal agencies’ Public Information Offices; Federal and state courts; libraries specializing in Washingtoniana; foreign embassies; and more. During the last two workshops, every student will present their proposed research plan and critique the plans of their classmates, to ensure that their research will focus on the most helpful institutions and the most valuable topics.

Poetry of the Erotic

For many poets, writing poems about sex can feel intimidating and difficult. Yet for as long as there’s been poetry, there have been poems that celebrate the joys, mysteries, and chaos of erotic connection. This workshop offers an opportunity for poets to write their own poems with Eros at the center, as well as read and study poems featuring a wide range of poets of color, and queer and trans poets. In this workshop we’ll ask ourselves questions like: How can poems about sex gesture toward even larger considerations than sex itself? What might we learn from poetic traditions that blend erotic poetry and spiritual poetry? How does Eros locate the body both within itself, while transcending the self? By the end of this workshop, students can expect to leave with new poems and new insights into their own poetic process. Students should plan to come to the first workshop with a favorite poem by another poet, to share with the group.

How to Write a Novel

A practical plan that takes you from the mere germ of an idea all the way through the creative process, with an eye on getting a finished book into the hands of potential fans. We’ll discuss how to transform the nub of an idea into a book-length project, populated with interesting characters, a twisty-turny plot, snappy dialogue, and an interesting setting. We’ll also look at strategies for finding an agent and marketing the finished product. You’ll come away from the class with the encouragement to begin and perfect your writing project.

Plant Writing

This workshop is a mix of botanical science and literary explorations of non-fiction forms of writing that focus on ecology and plants. Together, we’ll discuss and practice writing traditions such as garden writing, science communication, and personal essays with a focus on our relationships to plants and land around us.

The Extreme Novelist

Can’t find the time/energy/inspiration to get your novel written? This popular course, developed by the author of the book by the same name, will help you complete a rough draft in just 8 weeks. Students receive the encouraging guidance of professional writing coach Kathryn Johnson. Each author will commit to an aggressive writing schedule and learn the tricks pros use to create a productive working environment and meet their deadlines, despite life’s distractions. Classes will include accountability and progress reports from each student, troubleshooting discussions, a brief lecture on some aspect of the fiction craft, and the opportunity to submit portions of the work-in-progress to the instructor for individual feedback and guidance. (Note: This is not a work-shopping course. Further information will be sent to registered students, in advance of the first class.)

Finding Subjects that Move and Entertain

Do you have sensibility of a writer, but your subject eludes you? Have you written many pieces but not the story you were born to tell? Does your subject feel too big, too vague, or perhaps too difficult to confront? Uncertain what genre suits your story? Using published examples, writing exercises, lively discussion, and inspiring instruction, this workshop will distill from memory and imagination the story you are meant to write. Perfect for new writers wishing to explore and for more advanced writers seeking fresh inspiration or a new direction to energize their work.

Experimenting with Form

What do immigration forms, censored letters, and dictionary definitions have in common? They’re all ways to tell a story! In this class, we’ll free our imaginations by writing stories, poems, and essays in expected ways. Come take a risk and see what you discover about your craft, your inspiration, and yourself.

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.

Creating Conflict & Tension

It’s often said that without conflict there is no story. Strengthening the conflict in any type of fiction will bump up the tension and turn limp, ordinary fiction into an extraordinary tale that will keep readers turning pages. Whether you choose to write literary fiction, mysteries, family sagas, thrillers, historical fiction, sci-fi, fantasy or even creative nonfiction—you can learn techniques for drawing readers into your tales through action, dialogue, setting details, and plot twists that make your work stand out from the crowd. Join us and leave with ideas to apply to your stories.

Write Through It: A Generative Workshop on Grief and Loss

Grief and loss are topics often written about in poetry. In this workshop we’ll read poems about loss and use them as prompts to write our own poems about the people/things/places/ideas we’ve lost or are grieving. Expect to write 2-4 new drafts of poems.

UnClogging Your Brain

Prompts will spark memories, characters, and places, turning them into poems, scenes, dialogues, and stories. During ‘UnClogging’ you will likely come up with an ‘idea’ that you feel compelled to expand on, or perhaps be re-inspired to continue an unfinished work later. Find new perspective and confidence!

5 Women Poets

One outstanding poet will be featured in each class, and as we examine their work we will write 3 or 4 of our own poems, for a total of 15-20 poems during the course. We will share our work as we write it, and in the last class will workshop a few of the most promising pieces by each student. The poets we will learn from are Ada Limón, Linda Pastan, Natasha Trethewey, Denise Levertov, and Elizabeth Bishop—they will guide us with new and old forms, metaphor, voice, subject matter, and more. Note: No meeting July 4.

Freedom With Forms

Here’s an opportunity to shed any misconception that received forms are constricting. Inspired by Richard Moore’s “The Rule That Liberates,” we will do brief writing exercises that use the enchantment of meter and rhyme to liberate your deeper imagination. After exploring several traditional forms, we will experiment with creating improvised (nonce) forms. Participants may leave with at least one new draft poem and ideas for creating more.

Vulnerability in Personal Storytelling

Each of us has the power to look at our lived experiences to find meaning and wisdom that we can transform however we want: into art, into lifestyle, into legacy. In this workshop, you will learn how to view creative vulnerability as generosity, and how to offer up your humanity through story as a gift to yourself and others. You will come away from this workshop with perspective on your unique storyteller type and how grasping it can build courage, as well as best practices for taking care of yourself as you do this introspective work. Writers will produce a rough draft of a personal story.

Inspiration Station — A Multi-Genre Workshop

Helpful exercises and prompts can free your imagination and lead you to surprises in your writing. If you’ve already chosen a genre to pursue, this workshop can help you broaden your approach by using techniques from other genres. If you write poems, perhaps you could write poetic fiction. This will be a positive space in a can’t-fail atmosphere. Your writing is greeted with support and (often) applause from your workshop colleagues. Receive generative tips to take with you. You will leave with a finished poem and flash fiction or memoir excerpts—and the fun you had writing them. Bring your favorite writing instruments. If you have a poem or paragraph you love that makes you want to write, bring that too.

Flash: Beyond the Genre Binary

Poetry or prose? Fiction or fact? Narrative or lyric? Flash doesn’t care about your boundaries. Flash crosses borders at will and steals what works. Flash is fixed on the image, stuck in the moment. Flash is a magnifying glass on a sunny day, aimed at a predictably industrious and utterly unsuspecting ant. Flash speaks in multitudinous vernaculars. Flash is literary, queered. During our time together, we’ll read some pieces resplendent in their brevity, talk about what makes them great flash – or not, and spend some time crafting mad flashes of our own.

Natural Meter Crash Course

Have you ever wondered how scanning the lines of your first draft can make for a better poem? Here’s an opportunity to improve your ear for meter—a major element of poetic prosody—and to fine-tune your understanding of how it works. Guided by an internationally published author of sonnets, villanelles, and other metrical poems, this one-day workshop includes scansion of well-known poems, writing exercises, and, if you like, close examination of a poem you’ve drafted prior to class. You’ll leave with new insights about improving the auditory qualities of all your poems and prose.

Plot Like a Pro

You have a great idea for a story. Do you dive in and just begin writing, or start by drafting an outline? Are you a born planner or a writer who loves to discover stories organically (i.e., a pantser)? Understanding how to structure a well-conceived story around a main character and central conflict, while paying attention to pacing, can make the difference between a finished, publishable manuscript and an abandoned work-in-progress. Plotting provides a safety net that never robs the author of the joy of writing, and always reduces revision time. Think you can’t plot? Join us for this course, and we’ll show you how!

Picture Book Revision Workshop

Bring your completed picture book manuscript to work on as we complete real-time revision that addresses the big picture, plot and character beats, and line by line strengths and weaknesses of your manuscript.

Poetry Writing and Revision

For some poets, the most difficult part of writing is getting to the page. For others, it is the act of revisiting that first draft. This course will help students not only write new work with ease, but also return to those poems with a keen eye towards revision. To start, participants will respond to weekly prompts with a craft focus, based on readings from poets like Ada Limón, Chen Chen, Jericho Brown, and Natalie Diaz. Mid-way through the course, we will shift our focus to revision, reapproaching the poems from earlier weeks. Readings will outline various revision strategies and techniques aimed at giving students new entry points into their work. By the end of the course, students can expect to have written at least 3-6 new poems, with 3 substantial revisions. There will be 1 opportunity to receive feedback from other students and multiple opportunities for feedback from the instructor, but this is not an entirely workshop-style course. Students should have at least one poem in its early draft stages to begin the course.

How To Write, Pitch, and Place Op Eds

Learn from an expert how to format, write, and pitch your opinion. Second only to the Front Page, the OP ED page is read by more readers than any other. In this class you’ll learn how to write an opening paragraph that pulls readers in, what factual sources editors trust (or don’t), the three questions an OP ED editor needs you to answer, how to take down opposing arguments politely, and end your piece to get results. Each session presents important information, from what words constitute an editor’s red flags to what’s in the contract you’ll sign. Each session presents a lecture with specific examples and offers a workshop to let you practice and receive feedback—if you wish it.

My Favorite Things: Writing About Ordinary Objects and Places

Contrary to what you’ve been told, poetry can be accessible and profound by paying attention to the mundane. In this workshop we will write a new poem each meeting based on odes, praise songs, and, yes, our favorite things to arrive at the pleasures and wisdom of poetry.

How to Write Dialogue That Advances Plot, Scene, and Motive

In each session of this workshop, you’ll hear a brief lecture with examples, and be able to practice a particular technique to understand the why and how it’seffective. Participants who wish to read their practice work aloud for quick feedback may do so.

The Complete Playwright

Dig into the full spectrum of playwriting — with workshops on process, form and technique, and group critique sessions that develop your individual approach to writing for performance. Over eight weeks, we’ll explore playwriting in a wide range of forms: from realism and adaptations to immersive theatre, musicals and verbatim plays. In-depth sessions on writing dialogue, crafting character and dramatic world-building will be paired with weekly critique sessions, giving each writer dedicated time to interrogate your ideas and find your unique style. You’ll come away with a full understanding of the playwright’s tools and techniques and new connections with fellow scriptwriters.

Point of View and Narrative Voice

Do the multitude of Point of View options elude you? We will look at everything from the first person point of view to the editorial omniscient, as well as some of the less traditional points of view, to help you choose the best voice to tell your story.

Intro to the Novel

This workshop will help you understand the process of writing a novel so you can get started putting pen to paper. The workshop will focus on everything from generating ideas to developing characters to establishing point of view. Participants will discuss many elements of fiction (dialogue, scene, etc.) but the emphasis will be on discovering the writing process that works best for each writer.

Creative Spirit: Infusing Your Writing with Energy and Inspiration

Are you struggling to find your voice as a writer? Do you have a story to tell but feel stuck in the creative process? No matter your beliefs, spirituality and open-mindedness can play a critical role in the creative process if we allow it and nurture it. In a safe and supportive space, reintroduce your childlike wonder around creativity so you can write freely, authentically reclaim your power, and uncover your true gifts. In this workshop you will learn to facilitate a concentrated focus and tap into a higher source of inspiration, whether viewed as the highest self, inner wisdom, or any other entity. You will walk away with efficient ways to set intentions for different writing projects, stay in the present, trust your process, set healthy boundaries, and follow signs and intuition. You will have the information necessary to create a sacred space and ritual for your writing practice, motivating you to enrich your content and deepen your message.

How to Start a Compelling Story

This workshop will teach writers how to capture readers’ and agents’ attention from the very first sentence and keep them turning pages. We will examine the way successful authors of both fiction and nonfiction draw us in, make us care, and create stakes in which we are immediately invested. By the end of this workshop participants will have created their own compelling story start upon which to build.

How to Write a Lot

You may think you don’t have the time, energy, or inspiration to write because of your hectic lifestyle. Wrong! Learn what Kathryn Johnson’s Extreme Novelists know about organizing their time, establishing a productive writing routine, and getting their stories written. We’ll share methods EN Grads (and many professional writers) use to complete their books in months instead of years, their short stories in mere weeks. Become the dedicated author you’ve always dreamed of being.

Find the Right Agent for You: Submission Package Workshop Class

To get a book published by a traditional publisher, you need an agent. In this class you will learn how to research agents to find the right one for you. After studying sample query letters, you’ll write your own query to be critiqued by your classmates. We will also workshop everyone’s opening pages and discuss topics such as conference pitch sessions, common query mistakes, and agent red-flags. By the end of the workshop, you will be ready to send query submissions to the agents of your choice. (Although you do not need to bring it to class, you should have a completed manuscript you are hoping to publish through traditional publishing.)

Marketing Your Poetry

This workshop will show you easy hacks for promoting your book. With small presses a popular choice for publishing, more writers are looking for ways to market their books when their publishers don’t have the resources. Courtney LeBlanc has published with small presses and have experience with grassroots marketing. She has successfully gotten her books included in festivals, author events, and into bookstores. The tips she will offer are low/no-cost, which is beneficial for writers on a budget.

Fiction II: Revise, Perfect and Submit!

This course aims to help you experience your work objectively, help you polish your work, and give you tools to submit to either literary journals, competitions, or agents. We will workshop, give and receive constructive, concrete feedback, discuss peer submissions, do writing exercises, critique query letters and talk about all things publishing.

Elements of Writing: Sound & Vision

As Rumi once wrote, “I can’t stop pointing to the beauty. Every moment and place says, ‘Put this design in your carpet!” In this exploratory four-week generative workshop, we will engage multidisciplinary modes of creativity to guide inspiration for writing. Using sound and vision as the aperture to ignite the inner dialogue, each week will integrate these mediums to engage a sensory interplay and weave a tapestry for the written word. Within this collaborative expression, we will utilize visual objects and music as the streaming catalysts for our subconscious intellect.

What a Character!

An introduction to the key elements and craft strategies of fiction, with a focus on creating and refining character-based stories (whether short stories or novels).

Persona Poem Crash Course

In the Persona Poem, or Dramatic Monologue, the poet writes in the voice of another real or imagined person—or even an inanimate object. Guided by a widely published author of persona and other poems, you will read and discuss several time-honored examples, then start new ones of your own. You may find unexpected insights, expanding your poetic range in the process.

Troubleshooting Your Fiction

Revision is a dirty word to some writers. But you needn’t fear the challenges of polishing a manuscript before submission and publication. This fast-paced, half-day class focuses on the ten most common mistakes and concerns, often overlooked by authors before they send their story out into the world. Everything you do to your manuscript after the first draft is what makes the difference between a ho-hum story and a powerful tale that lingers in readers’ minds. Join us for a painless look at the major revision issues for fiction.

Poetry Vs. Trauma

Trauma can shut us down; writing poems can help free us to open up again. This workshop will present some of the many ways poetry has helped writers both heal trauma and prevent post-traumatic stress syndrome. Guided by an internationally published poet, you will explore the science behind this and learn a range of techniques, immediately putting several of them to use in drafting new work. The workshop includes reading and discussion of time-honored poems, close attention to emotional and sensory aspects of poetry, several class writing exercises, and feedback on poems for those who wish to share them. (Note: All sharing is optional. This workshop is not a substitute for therapy.)

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.

August 2024

Diy novel revision.

Do you have a finished draft of a novel but don’t know what to do next? This workshop will take you through the revision and editing process step-by-step. From large-picture issues like plot and structure, characterization, etc… to line editing, we will look at what it takes to revise your own novel without the assistance of a professional editor.

How to Write A Grant Proposal

Learn how to write proposals to request grants from funders. This workshop will cover how to research prospective funders, the elements of a good proposal, and how to approach funders. Proposal writing is a practical skill that, applied to those who work or volunteer for non-profit organizations, can be a good source of freelance writing income. Please come to class with a non-profit or project in mind to use as the focus of your research and proposal. By the end of class, you will have a draft of a proposal to use for fundraising. Note: The workshop will meet August 3, 10, and 17. There will be a fourth meeting on September 14 to review your finished proposal.

Ready, Set, Write! A Generative Fiction Workshop

Join this two-hour generative writing session that will help you shake off your inner editor and put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard). If you’ve been uninspired in your creativity lately, feel like your work could use a jolt, or just want to give yourself dedicated writing time, this session is structured to encourage creativity and playfulness. A range of prompts, short reading selections, and class discussion—along with in-class writing time—will introduce different craft techniques, styles, and approaches that will pump up your inspiration and get the words flowing. By the end of the session, you’ll have the start for 4-5 new story drafts.

Poetic Memoir

Do you want to approach personal memoir in short, manageable high points rather than attempting a long running narrative? Poems can capture the most meaningful moments of your life and evoke their essence in a reader. In this course you’ll begin to learn how to focus on such moments and present them so they illustrate you in your life and imply its arc. You’ll draft one poem after the first session and have a clear sense of how to revise it by the end of the second.

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!

Micro Memoirs

Join us to explore the elements of memoir in small manageable bites. We’ll read and discuss Micro Memoirs, also called Flash Memoir, (50-250 words) to inspire your own writing and enhance your storytelling skills. Each week, with provided prompts, you’ll write about a variety of incidents, stories, or memories while building specific craft skills (image, metaphor, point of view, rhetorical strategies to address memory “gaps,” and more). In each class there will also be time for students to read their work out loud, to receive specific appreciations. Using a writer-focused workshop process, we’ll replace opinions and invasive “fix-its” with specific answers to their questions to best serve the writer and support them in revision. This class is perfect for poets and prose writers who want to write about their lives or family histories, get out of their writing ruts, and enhance their skills with feedback and revision.

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.

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.

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Upcoming events, writers coffee break, queer writers meet-up @ eleanor’s nfk, show & grow your prose, writers zoom meet-up.

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The Muse Writers Center is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and your tax-deductible donation will help us continue to grow and serve the Hampton Roads literary community, including offering scholarships and tuition help as well as through our outreach programs to youth, seniors, and the military community.

The Muse Writers Center celebrates creative writing and the literary arts throughout Hampton Roads, Virginia, the nation, and beyond. We offer in-person, online, and hybrid creative writing classes, workshops, and seminars in every genre (fiction, poetry, nonfiction, screenwriting, songwriting, and comic book writing, as well as craft and professional development) for beginning and experienced writers--whether they be adults, children, or teens. In our Norfolk literary center, we house a library and space for writers to work and meet. We host diverse and culturally relevant literary events, readings, open mics, and special events at The Muse, around the region, and online for every audience. We never turn anyone away from a class because of their financial situation and have provided tuition help and scholarships to more than 4,000 people. Our engaging and creative outreach to youth and schools, senior living communities, and the military community is always expanding.  More about us →

Our Students Say

I think the Muse is brilliant and that Norfolk/Hampton Roads is unbelievably fortunate to have this resource. And that I am beyond fortunate to have the opportunity to be part of it, for which I am incredibly grateful for the Muse’s generosity in allowing me to participate in spite of my current state of very limited income.

Coming around the Muse is the most ‘at home’ I’ve felt in a long time. So glad you all are around.

The Muse keeps me afloat, and is the best community I’ve ever found. Thank you.

The Muse is the place where I can open my mind and let my thoughts out, since I can’t do that anywhere else, like in school. It’s more of a creative place where there are other people like me, and I can share my opinions and views and get feedback as well. I have definitely improved my poetry, and also I have started getting into screenwriting, and the classes give me short story ideas. I want a career as a writer; I aspire to be a professional author and poet.

Thanks for creating an outlet and community for something I’ve always wanted to do. I especially appreciate the rigor that The Muse provides. I’m always impressed by the caliber of the instructors and my fellow students. Keep up the good work!

The Muse is an amazing place and the fact that it is available even when I can’t afford to pay speaks to the true support of writing and all creativity. It is a quality place, and I am learning so much.

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About Our Writing Workshops

• Upcoming Writing Workshops
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The Center for Fiction’s Writing Workshops explore a wide range of forms and subjects: fiction and nonfiction, memoir and translation, prose and poetry, history and social justice, and more.

Whether online or in person, we strive to make our classes the most inviting and rewarding available, offering an intimate environment to study with award-winning, world-class writers. Each class is specially designed by the instructor, so whether you’re a fledgling writer or an MFA graduate polishing your novel, you’ll find a perfect fit here.

Gain skill and confidence in your work, as well as key professional insights, under the guidance of award-winning authors and industry insiders.

Members of The Center for Fiction receive early access to writing workshops, as well as 10% off enrollment.

Recent Instructors

Jami Attenberg

Jami Attenberg has written about food, travel, books, relationships, and urban life for the New York Times magazine , the New Yorker, the Wall Street Journal, the Sunday Times (London), the Guardian , and others. She is a New York Times bestselling author of seven books of fiction, including The Middlesteins and All Grown Up , and, most recently, a memoir, I Came All This Way to Meet You . Her work has been published in sixteen languages. She is also the founder of the annual #1000WordsofSummer project, and maintains the popular Craft Talk newsletter year-round. She lives in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Lily Andrews

Lily Andrews is a writer from Minnesota, but she lives in New York. She is studying to be a high school teacher and enjoys reading children’s literature. While she doesn’t know yet whether she will ever be a memoirist, her work has been published or is forthcoming in Ghost City Review , Sonora Review , Ignatian magazine, and Rio Grande Review . She holds an MFA in Writing from Sarah Lawrence College and runs a post-abortion healing workshop called Hear Me Roar.

Stefan Merrill Block

Stefan Merrill Block grew up in Plano, Texas. His first book, The Story of Forgetting , was an international bestseller and the winner of Best First Fiction at the Rome International Festival of Literature, The Ovid Prize from the Romanian Writer’s Union, the 2008 Merck Serono Literature Prize and the 2009 Fiction Award from The Writers’ League of Texas. The Story of Forgetting was also a finalist for the debut fiction awards from IndieBound, Salon du Livre, and The Center for Fiction. Stefan’s stories and essays have appeared in the New York Times , the New Yorker Page-Turner, the Guardian , NPR ’s Radiolab , GRANTA , the Los Angeles Times , and many other publications. Stefan’s most recent novel, Oliver Loving , was released in 2018 by Macmillan/Flatiron Books, and is being developed for television by Participant Media. He lives in Brooklyn.

Conor Bracken

Conor Bracken is the author of The Enemy of My Enemy is Me (Diode Editions, 2021), as well as the translator of Mohammed Khaïr-Eddine’s Scorpionic Sun (CSU Poetry Center, 2019) and Jean D’Amérique’s No Way in the Skin Without This Bloody Embrace (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2022), a finalist for the 2023 PEN Award for Poetry in Translation. His work has received support from the Community of Writers, Bread Loaf, the Frost Place, Inprint, Cornell’s Institute for Comparative Modernities, and the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, and has appeared (or will soon) in places like BOMB, Image, jubilat, New England Review, the New Yorker, Ploughshares, Sixth Finch , and West Branch . He teaches writing at the Cleveland Institute of Art.

Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond

Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond is the author of the children’s picture book Blue: A History of the Color as Deep as the Sea and as Wide as the Sky , illustrated by Caldecott Honor Artist Daniel Minter. Named among the best books of 2022 by NPR, New York Public Library, Chicago Public Library, Kirkus Reviews , and The Center for the Study of Multicultural Literature, Blue  was honored with the 2023 NCTE Orbis Pictus Award® recognizing excellence in the writing of non-fiction for children, and it was nominated for an NAACP Image Award.

Brew-Hammond also wrote the young adult novel Powder Necklace , which Publishers Weekly called “a winning debut”, and she edited Relations: An Anthology of African and Diaspora Voices , of which Kirkus Reviews said in a starred review: “This smart, generous collection is a true gift.” Every month, Brew-Hammond co-leads a writing fellowship whose mission is to write light into darkness. You can keep up with Nana on Instagram at @nanaekuawriter , Twitter at @nanaekua , and Facebook at @nanaekuawriter .

Joanna Cantor

Joanna Cantor holds an MFA from Brooklyn College and a BA from Colorado College. Her debut novel, Alternative Remedies for Loss , was an Amazon Best Book of the Month for May 2018 and received coverage in Vanity Fair, Real Simple, Nylon , and elsewhere. Her writing has appeared in Literary Hub, Electric Literature, Departures, Fodor’s Travel, Greatist , and Willamette Week . Joanna was a recipient of a Vermont Studio Center Fellowship. She previously taught fiction writing at Catapult and is also a yoga teacher. She lives in Brooklyn. You can keep up with Joanna on Instagram at @joannacantor and on Twitter at @jojannna.

Elysha Chang

Elysha Chang is a writer and educator based in Brooklyn. Before moving to New York, she taught Asian American Literature and Creative Writing at Villanova University, University of Pennsylvania and Blue Stoop Philadelphia. Her debut novel, A Quitter’s Paradise , is about American immigrant inheritance and was published in 2023. She holds a master of fine arts from Columbia University and has received fellowships from The Center for Fiction and Kundiman.

Caroline Christopoulos

Caroline Christopoulos is a publicist with Gold Leaf Literary Services, a publicity firm that works exclusively with writers/authors. She also works part-time at Malaprop’s Bookstore/Cafe in Asheville, NC, where she has been a bookseller for twenty-two years and buyer for eighteen. She worked on the steering committee of the Asheville Grown Business Alliance and continues to be on the programming committee for the Carolina Mountains Literary Festival. In addition to bringing authors and their works the attention they deserve, her focus includes strengthening community and promoting local business. She and her husband live in Asheville and New York City with their daughter and their dog, Tiny Cakes.

Sarah Cypher

Sarah Cypher is a freelance book editor and author of The Skin and Its Girl (Ballantine, April 2023). She holds an MFA from the Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College, where she was a Rona Jaffe Graduate Creative Writing Fellow in Fiction, and a BA from Carnegie Mellon University. Her writing has appeared in the Washington Post, Lit Hub , Electric Literature , New Ohio Review, North American Review, Crab Orchard Review , and others, and she has been a resident at the Headlands Center for the Arts and Vermont Studio Center. She grew up in a Lebanese Christian family near Pittsburgh and lives in Washington, D.C., with her wife. You can keep up with Sarah on Instagram at @sarahcypher and on Twitter at @threepenny .

Kavita Das came to writing ten years ago after working for social change and social justice for fifteen years. She writes about culture, race, gender, and their intersections. Nominated for a Pushcart Prize, Kavita’s work has been published in WIRED, CNN, Teen Vogue, Catapult, Fast Company, Tin House, Longreads, the Atlantic, the Washington Post , Los Angeles Review of Books, Kenyon Review, NBC News Asian America, Guernica, Electric Literature , Colorlines, the Rumpus , and elsewhere. Kavita’s second book Craft and Conscience: How to Write About Social Issues (Beacon Press, October 2022) is inspired by the Writing with Conscience class she created and teaches. Her first book, Poignant Song: The Life and Music of Lakshmi Shankar , was published by Harper Collins India in 2019. In the real world, she lives in New York with her husband, toddler, and hound. And in the virtual world, she can be found on Twitter: @kavitamix and Instagram: @kavitadas and at kavitadas.com .

Omer Friedlander

Omer Friedlander was born in Jerusalem in 1994 and grew up in Tel-Aviv. He is the author of the short story collection The Man Who Sold Air in the Holy Land , winner of the Association of Jewish Libraries Fiction Award and a finalist for the Wingate Prize. The book was chosen as a Sophie Brody Medal Honor Book and longlisted for the Story Prize. Omer has a BA in English Literature from the University of Cambridge and an MFA from Boston University, where he was supported by the Saul Bellow Fellowship. He was a Starworks Fellow in Fiction at New York University. His collection has been translated into several languages, including Turkish, Dutch, and Italian. His writing has been supported by the Bread Loaf Fellowship and Vermont Studio Center Fellowship. He is currently teaching Creative Writing at the MFA program at Columbia University.

Miciah Bay Gault

Miciah Bay Gault is the author of the novel Goodnight Stranger (Park Row, 2019), which was nominated for a Shirley Jackson award, longlisted for The Center for Fiction First Novel Prize , and selected for Poets & Writers’ First Fiction roundup.

Miciah is a Breadloaf fellow and a Vermont Arts Council creation grant recipient. Her short fiction and essays have appeared in Tin House, the Sun, Agni, the Southern Review, the Harvard Review, the New York Times ‘ Modern Love’ column, and other places. She teaches in the MFA in Writing program at Vermont College of Fine Arts and is coordinator of the Vermont Book Award.

David Gordon

David Gordon was born in New York City. He attended Sarah Lawrence College, holds an MA in English and Comparative Literature and an MFA in Writing, both from Columbia University. He is the author of seven published novels and a book of stories.His first novel, The Serialist , won the VCU/Cabell First Novel Award and was a finalist for an Edgar Award. It also won three major literary awards in Japan—Kono Mystery ga Sugoi, Mystery ga Yomitai and Mystery Best 10—becoming the first novel ever to do so—and was made into a feature film. In addition to Japanese, his novels has been translated into Chinese, Korean, French, German, Turkish, Russian and Polish. His most recent book, The Pigeon , is number five in the Joe the Bouncer series. A new novel, a neo-noir called, Behind Sunset , is forthcoming from Mysterious Press, as well as a video game co-written with Hampton Fancher, ( Bladerunner ). His work has appeared in Harpers , Paris Review , the New York Times magazine, the  New York Times Book Review , Fence , Brazenhead Review , Maggot Brain , LitHub , Electric Literature , and others.

Jakob Guanzon

Jakob Guanzon is the author of Abundance , which was longlisted for both the National Book Award and the Aspen Words Literary Prize in 2021, and has been translated into multiple languages. His shorter works have appeared in BOMB , the New York Times , and elsewhere. He holds an MFA from Columbia University, and has since taught as part of the Zell Visiting Writers Series at the University of Michigan. He lives in Harlem.

Lucinda Halpern

Lucinda Halpern is a literary agent with nearly 20 years’ experience in both the publicity and agency sides of publishing. Before founding Lucinda Literary, she worked in the Publicity division of HarperCollins, where she assisted on the media campaign for Freakonomics among other New York Times bestsellers. She later took a management role in Sales and Marketing at Scholastic before becoming a marketing consultant for Gretchen Rubin ( The Happiness Project ) and others, and then launching her career as an agent. She has worked with such publishers as HarperCollins, Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan, and Hachette, and currently represents authors writing in the categories of business, health, lifestyle, popular science, narrative nonfiction, memoir, and upmarket fiction.

Lauren Harr

Lauren Harr is a publicist with Gold Leaf Literary Services and has worked in the book world for twenty years—as a bookseller in Asheville, NC and Albuquerque, NM, an assistant at literary nonprofits in Santa Fe, an intern at Graywolf Press, and a marketing assistant and publicist at Coffee House Press. She spent eight years at Malaprop’s Bookstore/Cafe where her passions were connecting readers and books and assisting the events program. She lives in Asheville with her husband and daughter and holds an MFA from Spalding University’s School of Creative and Professional Writing.

Debra Jo Immergut

Debra Jo Immergut is the author of the novels You Again , named a New York Times Best of the Year and shortlisted for the 2021 Gotham Book Prize, and The Captives , a 2019 Edgar Award finalist and published in over a dozen countries. She has also published a collection of short fiction, Private Property . Her essays and stories have appeared in American Short Fiction, Narrative, the New York Times, PANK, Hobart , and elsewhere. A recipient of Michener and MacDowell fellowships, she has an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and lives in western Massachusetts.

Yahdon Israel

Yahdon Israel, a Senior Editor at Simon & Schuster and founder of Literaryswag, a cultural movement that intersects literature and fashion to make books accessible. He has written for the New Inquiry , LitHub , Poets & Writers , Vanity Fair , and the Atlantic . He teaches Creative Writing at the MFA Program at City College, previously served on the Board of the National Book Critics Circle, and founded the Literaryswag Book Club, a Brooklyn-based subscription service and book club that meets every last Wednesday of the month.

Seth Kaufman

Seth Kaufman is a ghostwriter and novelist. He is the author or co-author of five book proposals purchased by publishers, including autobiographies of basketball legend Rick Pitino, video game designer John Romero, and his own collection of music essays. He has collaborated on bestselling memoirs, biographies, current affairs, political and sports books. His work, under his byline or a clients’ byline, has been published by the Wall Street Journal , the New Yorker online, LitHub , Publishers Weekly , and many other national publications. His satirical work, The King of Pain , was called “one of 2012’s most enjoyable novels” by the New York Times . And Bleacher Report scribe Mike Freeman called Eat My Schwartz , the autobiography Kaufman co-authored (and also wrote the proposal for), “easily, one of the most unique and well-done books about NFL life I’ve ever read.”

Josh Krigman

Josh Krigman (he/him) is a writer, teacher, and facilitator in New York City. He has taught creative writing at Hunter College, the United Nations International School, 826NYC, The Writer’s Rock, and for National Geographic Expeditions. He has been awarded residencies from Vermont Studio Center, and his work has appeared in The Summerset Review, Akashic Books, Necessary Fiction , and elsewhere. He received his MFA in fiction from Hunter College. Through Little Nights , he hosts interdisciplinary events designed to make art-making more accessible to new audiences. He is also the co-founder and New York host of Club Motte , an international storytelling series that hosts live events in New York, Oakland, and Berlin.

Danielle Lazarin

Danielle Lazarin is the author of the short story collection Back Talk . Her fiction and essays can be found in the Southern Review , Colorado Review , Literary Hub , Glimmer Train , the Cut , Electric Literature’s Recommended Reading, and elsewhere. Her work has been honored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Glimmer Train Family Matters Award, the Millay Colony for the Arts, The Freya Project, and the Stella Kupferberg Memorial Short Story Prize. She lives and teaches in her native New York, where she is at work on a novel and a story collection.

Alcy Leyva is a Bronx-born multi-genre writer whose first two books in the Shades of Hell series, And Then There Were Crows and And Then There Were Dragons . His newest book, the silent, subtle, ever-present perils of life , was released October 10th, 2023 by Green Writers Press. He is currently working on his Ph.D. in Creative Writing for the University of Birmingham and currently lives (and works) in New York.

Theresa Lin

Theresa Lin received her MFA in Fiction from Columbia University, where she was awarded the De Alba Fellowship by Writing Program faculty for an excerpt of her novel manuscript. She is represented by Janklow and Nesbit and lectures at The Cooper Union. She has previously taught at Fordham, Rutgers, and Columbia and her writing has been featured in the LA Review of Books , Off Assignment , Racquet , Oh Reader , Storm Cellar , Truthout , Smart Set , and Random Sample Review , among others.

Bruna Dantas Lobato

Bruna Dantas Lobato is a Brazilian writer and literary translator based in St. Louis. Her fiction has appeared in the New Yorker , A Public Space, the Common , and other publications, and has been recognized with fellowships from Yaddo, A Public Space, NYU, and Disquiet International. Her literary translations include Caio Fernando Abreu’s Moldy Strawberries (Archipelago Books), Stênio Gardel’s The Words that Remain (New Vessel Press), and Giovana Madalosso’s Tokyo Suite (Europa Editions). Other translations from Lobato have appeared in Vogue, Bookforum, BOMB, the Kenyon Review, Harvard Review, the Brooklyn Rail , and the American Scholar , among others. You can keep up with Bruna on Twitter at @bdantaslobato and Instagram @bdantaslobato .

Melissa Lozada-Oliva

Melissa Lozada-Oliva is the author of peluda , Dreaming of You and Candelaria . Her work has been featured in the Poetry Project, Harper’s Bazaar, NPR , Vogue, Vulture , and BBC Mundo. She received her MFA from New York University in 2020.

Jessie McCarty

Jessie McCarty (they/them) is an interdisciplinary writer and cataloger specializing in Irish, Southern, and LBGTQ+ folklore through new media and poetry. They are the author of The Bovine Huff , a research chapbook on The Shreveport Yellow Fever Mound in Shreveport, Louisiana and Ireland/Eire’s Tain Bo Cuailnge. The Bovine Huff was awarded the 3rd Best Poetry Book of 2022 in the Chicago Reader . In August 2023, McCarty co-authored the poetry collection Our Fairy Diary with multi-media artist Sarah Haines. This artbook of letters, written between Chicago and Shreveport, functioned as a study in fairy rings as a limited edition of 50. As of September 2023, Our Fairy Diary is sold out.

David McLoghlin

David McLoghlin is a prize-winning poet and writer of memoir and personal essay. His books are Waiting For Saint Brendan and Other Poems and Santiago Sketches . His third book, Crash Centre , will be published in May 2024 by Salmon Poetry. Apart from a major bursary (grant) for memoir from Ireland’s Arts Council, and a personal essay published in the anthology Others Will Enter the Gates: Immigrant Poets on Poetry, Influences, and Writing in America (Black Lawrence Press), he has published personal essays, short stories and memoir extracts in The Stinging Fly , Poetry Ireland Review and other journals. An essay on being mentored by poet Sharon Olds is forthcoming in This Glistening Verb (University of Michigan Press) as part of their “Under Discussion” series. He is currently at work on a book about his grandfather, the golf architect, Eddie Hackett, widely considered “the Father of Irish Golf Design.” In October 2023 he played one of his grandfather’s designs, Connemara Golf Links, and is writing an immersion piece for Golfer’s Journal in the USA. He has previously taught memoir for The Center for Fiction, and teaches creative writing in Ireland with The American College, Dublin, Poetry as Commemoration and Writers in Schools. While living in New York between 2010 and 2020 he was Resident Writer at Hunts Point Alliance for Children in the South Bronx, and an NYU Teaching Fellow at Coler Specialty Hospital; and a Patrick and Katherine Kavanagh Fellowship Recipient (2023).

Leia Menlove

Leia Menlove’s writings have been published in Guernica , Fiction Magazine (CUNY), Narratively , the Harvard Review , the Evergreen Review , Catapult , Joyland , and others. She was a featured artist of The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Series, “Conversations with Contemporary Artists,” discussing her fabulist erotic work, How to Train Your Virgin . HTYV was released by Badlands and ArtBook in 2015, and was covered in BOMB , T magazine, Vogue , MSNBC’s Chrystal Ball Show , Hyperallergic , Sluttist , and many other forums. She is editing her first novel and beginning work on her second.

Kate Milliken

Kate Milliken is the author of If I’d Known You Were Coming , winner of the 2013 John Simmons Award for Short Fiction, and the novel, Kept Animals , which was long listed for the 2020 First Novel Award. Her work has been supported by the Tin House Writers Workshop, the Ragdale Foundation, and the Vermont Studio Center among others. When not at work on her next book, Kate is a freelance editor and writing coach.

Ruth Mukwana

Ruth Mukwana is a fiction writer. Her work has appeared in several magazines including Bomb , Solstice , and Consequence . Her short story, “ Taboo ” was a runner-up in the Black Warriors Review 2017 fiction contest. She’s the Co-Fiction Editor of Solstice Magazine . She is the Creator and Host of SAHA, Stories and Humanitarian Action, a Podcast that investigates whether fiction can raise awareness on the causes and consequences of humanitarian crises. Her works in progress are a collection of short stories and a novel that follows Queen, a middle-aged woman working for the UN, as she’s forced to confront a past, she wants to forget, and her quest for justice. Told through multiple points of view, the novel interrogates trauma and memory, and resilience and forgiveness. She’s a graduate of the Bennington Writing Seminars (MFA), a 2022 Bennington Alumni Fellow and a 2020 Center for Fiction/Susan Kamil NYC Emerging Fellow, and a former humanitarian worker with the United Nations. She lives in New York with her daughter.

As a fiction writer with an MFA from Bennington College and a humanitarian worker whose work and writing deals with social justice issues, she is passionate about writing for social justice and has a deep familiarity with both the research and questions of craft. Therefore, she offers a wide perspective and comparative approach.

Alison Mills Newman

Alison Mills Newman is a former child star from the ’60s, a singer/songwriter and recording artist with Taj Mahal, and has opened for Ornette Coleman, Don Cherry, Weather Report with Joe Zavinul and Wayne Shorter, screenwriter, poet and award winning independent filmmaker and author of Maggie Three and the highly acclaimed Francisco .

Zeynep Özakat

Zeynep Özakat was born and raised in Istanbul, Turkey. Her writing has appeared in Glimmer Train Stories , where she won the Fiction Open Contest, in Black Warrior Review, Michigan Quarterly Review , and Gulf Coast Online . She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Syracuse University, where she received The Shirley Jackson Prize in Fiction, The Leonard Brown Prize in Poetry, and a Graduate Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research and Creative Work. She has received scholarships and support from The Disquiet Conference in Lisbon, The Bread Loaf Environmental Writing Conference, The Juniper Summer Writing Institute, and The Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, where she was a 2021-2022 Writing Fellow.

Soraya Palmer

Soraya Palmer is the author of The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter and Other Essential Ghosts . She is a Flatbush-born-and-raised writer and licensed social worker. Her novel was named one of Today’s “38 Best New Books to Read in 2023,” one of the “Buzziest Debut Novels of the New Year” by Goodreads , one of the “Best and Most Anticipated Books of 2023” by Elle magazine, and one of “The Most Anticipated Feminist Books of 2023” by Ms. magazine. Her writing has appeared in Electric Literature , Hazlitt , Ploughshares, and elsewhere. She has been awarded a residency at Blue Mountain Center and graduated from the Virginia Tech MFA program. She lives in Brooklyn with her cat, Nicholas.

Daniel Saldaña París

Daniel Saldaña París is the author of three novels— Among Strange Victims , Ramifications , and The Dance and the Wildfire —and a collection of personal essays, Planes Flying Over a Monster . His work has been translated into several languages, and he has been included in Bogota39, a list of the Best Latin American Writers Under 40.

The recipient of fellowships and residencies from the Banff Center for the Arts, the Latin American Art Museum of Buenos Aires, Art Omi, and MacDowell, he has been awarded the Eccles Center & Hay Festival Writers Award in the U.K., and his latest novel was a finalist for the Herralde Prize in Spain. He was a 2022-2023 fellow at the NYPL’s Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers, and has contributed to publications such as the Guardian , BOMB, Guernica, Aperture, Music & Literature, LitHub, Publisher’s Weekly , and KCRW’s UnFictional , among many others. You can keep up with Daniel on Instagram at @dsparis .

Dawn Raffel

Dawn Raffel is the author of six books, most recently Boundless as the Sky , a hybrid collection incorporating fiction, image, and early 20th Century history, amid the rise of both fascism and technology. The title novella, set at the 1933 Chicago World’s fair, is told through multiple perspectives, including “ordinary” people and sideshow performers whose voices have been lost to history books. Her previous book, The Strange Case of Dr. Couney , is historical narrative nonfiction based on deep archival research. Other books include a nationally bestselling memoir, The Secret Life of Objects , two story collections and a novel. She has taught creative writing at International Literary Seminars (previously Summer Literary Seminars) in Kenya, Russia, Lithuania, and Canada. You can keep up with Dawn by following her on Instagram at @dawnraffel , or on Twitter at @dawnraffel .

Juliana Roth

Juliana Roth was selected as a VIDA Fellow with the Sundress Academy for the Arts for her fiction and is currently seeking a home for her novel and collection of short stories. Her writing appears in the Breakwater Review, Los Angeles Review of Books, Irish Pages , and Entropy as well as being produced as independent films that she directs. Her web series, The University , was nominated by the International Academy of Web Television for Best Drama Writing. Currently, she teaches writing at NYU and writes the newsletter Drawing Animals featuring essays, interviews, doodles, and podcast episodes celebrating our interconnection with nonhuman animal life. She also holds a 200-hour yoga teacher certification and is a current Emerging Writer Fellow at The Center for Fiction. She formerly lived out of a backpack in the La Sal Mountains and as a volunteer on an organic farm in Maine.

Buku Sarkar

Buku Sarkar is a fiction writer and photographer based in New York. Her first book has just been published in 2023, a collection of short stories titled Not Quite A Disaster After All . She has written for various magazines including NYRB , ZYZZYVA , NYTimes , Sewanee Review , Threepenny Review , and received the best short story of the year award from Sewannee Review . Her photography, has been shown at ICP, Art Basel Miami to name a few.

Alanna Schubach

Alanna Schubach is the author of The Nobodies (Blackstone, 2022). Her short fiction has appeared in Shenandoah , the Sewanee Review , the Massachusetts Review , Electric Literature , and more. She was an Emerging Writer Fellow with The Center for Fiction and a Fellow in Fiction with the New York Foundation for the Arts. She earned an M.F.A. in fiction from Sarah Lawrence College.

Amy Silverberg

Amy Silverberg is a writer and comedian based in Los Angeles. Her short fiction has appeared in Best American Short Stories , the Paris Review , Granta , TriQuarterly , the Los Angeles Review of Books , and elsewhere. Her debut novel First Time, Long Time is forthcoming from Grand Central Publishing/Hachette. She also writes television, most recently The Movie Show on the SYFY Channel. She holds a Ph.D. in Literature & Creative Writing from The University of Southern California, where she currently teaches.

Javier Sinay

Javier Sinay is a writer and journalist. His books include Camino al Este , Cuba Stone (in collaboration), Los crimes de Moisés Ville (published by Restless Books as The Murders of Moises Ville in 2022), and Sangre joven , which won the Premio Rodolfo Walsh de la Semana Negra de Gijón, España. In 2015 he won the Premio de la Fundación Gabo/FNPI for his chronicle “Fast. Furious. Dead.,” published in Rolling Stone . His work has appeared in the newspapers La Nación and Clarín , in Buenos Aires, and on the website RED/ACCIÓN. He was also a South America correspondent for El Universal (Mexico) and the editor of Rolling Stone (Argentina). He has collaborated with Gatopardo (Mexico), Label Negra (Peru), Letras Libres (Mexico) and Reportagen (Switzerland). He lives in Buenos Aires.

Eraldo Souza dos Santos

A 2022 LARB Publishing Fellow, Eraldo Souza dos Santos is a Brazilian writer currently based between Paris and São Paulo. His first novel, to be published in 2024, is an autobiography of his illiterate mother and a meditation on the lived experience of Blackness and enslavement in modern Brazil. At the age of seven, his mother was sold into slavery by her white foster sister. It was 1968—eighty years after the abolition of slavery in Brazil and four years into the anti-communist coup d’état, during the month in which the military overruled the Constitution by decree. By weaving in extensive archival research and interviews, the novel narrates their journey to Minas Gerais—where she was born—and Bahia—the Blackest state in Brazil, where she was enslaved on a farm for three years—to investigate why the family that enslaved her has never been brought to justice. It also narrates his grandmother’s journey to search for her missing daughter. In March 2023, he offered a masterclass based on his novel at the prestigious UEA Creative Writing Course. You can keep up with Eraldo on Twitter at @esdsantos .

Mathangi Subramanian

Mathangi Subramanian is a neurodiverse South Asian American novelist and essayist. Her middle grade book Dear Mrs. Naidu won the South Asia Book award, and her novel A People’s History of Heaven was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award and was longlisted for the PEN/Faulkner prize and The Center for Fiction First Novel Prize. Her picture book A Butterfly Smile was inducted into the Nobel Museum by economics laureate Dr. Esther Duflo. She is a guest artist at Denver School of the arts and affiliate faculty at the Regis Mile High MFA program. She holds a doctorate in education from Columbia University Teachers College.

Jenna Tang is a Taiwanese writer and translator who translates between Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, French, and English. She is a board member and chair of the Equity Advocates Committee at the American Literary Translators Association (ALTA). Her translations and essays are published in McSweeney’s , Latin American Literature Today , World Literature Today , Catapult , AAWW , Words Without Borders , the Paris Review , and elsewhere. Her book in translation, Lin Yi-Han’s novel, Fang Si-Chi’s First Love Paradise (HarperVia), will be out in May 2024.

Hannah Tinti

Hannah Tinti is the author of the bestselling novel The Good Thief , which won The Center for Fiction First Novel Prize , and the story collection Animal Crackers , a runner-up for the PEN/Hemingway Award. Her latest novel, The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley , is a national bestseller and is in development for television. She teaches creative writing at New York University’s MFA program and co-founded the Sirenland Writers Conference. Tinti is also the co-founder and executive editor of One Story magazine, which won the AWP Small Press Publisher Award, CLMP’s Firecracker Award, a 2020 Whiting Prize, and the PEN/Magid Award for Excellence in Editing.

María Alejandra Barrios Vélez

María Alejandra Barrios Vélez is a writer born in Barranquilla, Colombia. She was the 2020 SmokeLong Flash Fiction Fellow, and her stories have been published in Shenandoah Literary , Vol. 1 Brooklyn , El Malpensante , Fractured Lit , SmokeLong Quarterly , The Offing , and more. Her work has been supported by organizations such as Vermont Studio Center, Kweli, Caldera Arts, and the New Orleans Writers’ Residency.

Her debut novel, The Waves Take You Home , will be published March 19, 2024.

Sofia Warren

Sofia Warren is a cartoonist and writer based in Brooklyn. Her first book, Radical: My Year with a Socialist Senator , was named one of the top graphic novels of 2022 by Forbes , and was a 2023 Finalist for the Pop Culture Classroom Excellence in Graphic Literature award. Sofia has been a contributing cartoonist at the New Yorker since 2017, and her work has also been published in MoMA Magazine, Catapult, Narrative Magazine , and the books Send Help! and Notes from the Bathroom Line . She is a visiting professor at Wesleyan University. You can keep up with Sofia on Instagram at @sofiawarrenart .

Eleanor Whitney

Eleanor Whitney is a writer, editor, and content marketer. She is the author of Riot Woman , a collection of feminist essays examining the impact of the Riot Grrrl movement, and Quit Your Day Job , a business guide and an accompanying workbook for creative people. Microcosm will publish her fourth book, Spread the Word: Promote Your Book, Find Your Readers, and Build a Literary Community in the fall of 2023.

Throughout her career, Eleanor has worked to build communities, education programs, and marketing content strategies at museums, art organizations, and tech startups, including the Brooklyn Museum and the New York Foundation for the Arts. She holds an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Queens College, a Master’s in Public Administration from Baruch College, and BA in cultural studies from Eugene Lang College. She has taught writing at both Queens College and Eugene Lang College and in community workshops around the country. Hailing from Maine, she divides her time between Brooklyn and the Mojave desert. You can keep up with Eleanor on Instagram at @killerfemme and on Twitter at @killerfemme.

Joe Wilkins

Joe Wilkins was born and raised on the Big Dry of eastern Montana and now lives with his family in the foothills of the Coast Range of Oregon. He is the author of a novel, Fall Back Down When I Die , praised as “remarkable and unforgettable” in a starred review at Booklist . A finalist for the The Center for Fiction First Novel Prize and the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award, Fall Back Down When I Die won the High Plains Book Award. Wilkins is also the author of a memoir, The Mountain and the Fathers , and four collections of poetry, including Thieve and When We Were Birds , winner of the Oregon Book Award. His second novel, The Entire Sky , is slated for publication in July 2024 with Little, Brown. Wilkins directs the creative writing program at Linfield University and is a member of the low-residency MFA faculty at Eastern Oregon University.

Diane Zinna

Diane Zinna is the author of the novel The All-Night Sun (Random House, 2020) and Letting Grief Speak: Writing Portals for Life After Loss , a craft book on the art of telling our hardest stories, forthcoming from Columbia University Press in 2024. She has led a free grief writing class called Grief Writing Sundays since the start of the pandemic.

Courtney Zoffness

Courtney Zoffness is the author of the critically acclaimed memoir-in-essays Spilt Milk , named a best debut of 2021 by BookPage and Refinery29 and a “must-read” by Publishers Weekly . She won the Sunday Times Short Story Award and received fellowships from The Center for Fiction and MacDowell. Her writing has appeared in the Paris Review Daily , the New York Times , Guernica , the Believer , and other venues. She’s an Associate Professor of English at Drew University, where she directs the creative writing program. You can keep up with Courtney on Instagram at @czoffness, and Twitter at @czoffrun .

We kindly ask those attending in-person workshops to review our Health & Safety Protocols before visiting The Center for Fiction. For refunds, please refer to our Refund Policy .

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31 Best Adult Creative Writing Classes in 2024

Showing 31 courses that match your search.

Writing a Resume For Success

Kansas City Public Library

Applying for college or a new job is a daunting task, but having a good resume can alleviate some of the stress. In this class, gather tips and guidelines on how best to showcase your skills.

Website: https://kclibrary.org/blog/library-launches-online-writin...

Categories: Adult

Start date:

Open all year round

Prerequisites: No prerequisites

Story Writing: How to Build Background With Imagery and Setting

This class is all about writing sensory descriptions and creating a sense of place in writing fiction. Discover how descriptive language can help ground your reader and create thought-provoking imagery that adds to the tone and intrigue of your story.

Website: https://kclibrary.org/calendar/story-writing-how-build-ba...

April, 2024

(Re)writing as Therapy

One of the most potent powers of writing is its ability to remold the past. In this class, we’ll use writing to explore past events, discovering how imagination can reframe good or bad times. You’ll even have the opportunity to literally rewrite a past event if you’d like.

Website: https://kclibrary.org/calendar/rewriting-therapy-0

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 →

Reedsy's course, led by Tom Bromley, is a 101-day program aimed at helping writers finish their first novel draft. It includes daily video masterclasses, a structured approach for drafting, and access to a forum and live webinars for interaction and feedback. The course covers various aspects of novel writing, including preparation, character development, plot skills, and writing techniques.

Website: https://reedsy.com/learning

Andrea Beginners Creative Writing Course March 2024

In this practical class, you'll learn techniques to unlock your creativity even when inspiration seems scarce. By the end of the course, you'll be equipped with a toolkit full of writing hints and tips. Additionally, you'll join a supportive global community of Black Women & Women of Colour writers, fostering connections and support.

Website: https://www.rewritelondon.com/product/andrea/

March, 2024

Adult Writers Circle

The Writers Circle

Led by Judith Lindbergh, this virtual 11-week workshop caters to adults 19 years and older. It focuses on various writing forms and genres, offering a supportive environment for developing writing skills. Key aspects like structure, character development, and style are emphasized, along with guidance on the publishing market.

Website: https://writerscircleworkshops.jumbula.com/2023WinterWork...

Creating Complex Characters

Dive into character development in this class, where students learn to add real human depth to their characters. By creating detailed backstories and understanding life-altering scenes, students will move beyond standard roles to develop characters whose personal traits make their story roles not only feasible but essential.

Website: https://litreactor.com/classes/creating-complex-character...

The Creative Writing Project

Contemporary Arts Center

The Creative Writing Project is a series of workshops tailored for adult writers at all levels. It provides a platform to delve into creative writing, supported by a community of writers and educators. Each month-long series features guidance and instruction from a diverse group of local and published writers.

Website: https://www.contemporaryartscenter.org/discover/programs/...

Bring Your Book to Life

This 10-week live webinar series is designed to help participants write, publish, and monetize their non-fiction books. It provides guidance on taking a book idea to the first draft in just 10 weeks, offers strategies for efficient writing, and helps in structuring and titling the book to resonate with the target audience. The program also includes a private book writing consultation session with Lisa Tener, personalized feedback on outlines, and advice on finding the right tone and structure for the book.

Website: https://www.lisatener.com/book/

Prerequisites: Before the first weekly class, you should have a book concept, content and structure.

How To Write A Book Online

Writers Write

This course provides a personalized learning experience for aspiring authors, focusing on turning ideas into plots, creating memorable characters, and the art of show-not-tell in writing. It includes eight 45-minute Skype sessions with a writing coach, immediate access to 60 modules, a printable workbook and PDF course, and practical exercises with feedback. The course is designed to be engaging and interactive, ensuring students receive personalized guidance and support in their writing journey.

Website: https://www.writerswrite.co.za/product/how-to-write-a-book/

The Write Your Memoir Course

UK Writers College

Ideal for anyone with a life story to tell, this course guides you through crafting a compelling memoir. With the support of a published writer, you'll learn traditional editing techniques, find your voice, structure your story, and start your manuscript with a 10,000-word target. The course includes seven modules with personalized feedback, fitting around your schedule over a 12-month period​​.

Website: https://www.ukwriterscollege.co.uk/write-your-memoir-cour...

The Classic Storytelling Course

The Novelry

This self-paced, year-long course consists of 55 lessons and includes a 45-minute coaching session. It focuses on developing storytelling skills, creating compelling characters, and constructing engaging storylines. With access to over 40 live classes and workshops a month, it's ideal for writers at all stages, including beginners, and is designed by a Booker Prize-listed author​​.

Website: https://www.thenovelry.com/courses/the-classic-course

How to choose an adult creative writing class

Looking to build your writing skillset, learn more about your genre, or finally finish that book you’ve been working on? You’re in the right place. That’s why we built this directory of the best creative writing courses.

However, creative writing classes aren’t one size fit all. If you’re planning to join an adult creative writing class in particular, you’ll want to make sure that it matches what you’re seeking to learn about the genre.

So make sure to consider the following questions when you’re researching adult writing courses:

• Who is the instructor? How many years of experience do they have in writing books?
• Is there something in particular you’d like to learn in a writing class for adults? Does this course include it?
• How long is the course, and where is it taught?
• How much does the adult writing course cost? Does it fit into your budget?

More creative writing resources

Whether you’re a new or established author, there are always evergreen resources out there to how to get a headstart on writing books. 

Free online materials

• Creative Writing Prompts (resource)
• Book Title Generator (resource)
• Character Name Generator (resource)
• Plot Generator (resource)
• Reedsy's blog guide to novel writing basics
• How to Edit a Book (blog post)

Recommended books

• For writers in the UK:  Writers' & Artists' Yearbook  
• For writers in the US:  Writer’s Market 2020

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Reedsy is more than just a blog. Become a member today to discover how we can help you publish a beautiful book.

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The Writers Studio

The Original School of Creative Writing and Thinking, est. 1987

Students of all levels welcome

Our original method sets us apart.

Our students have won Pushcarts, a Pulitzer, Emmys, admission to top MFA programs, and too many book and magazine publications to list. Become one of our students!

The Writers Studio was founded by Philip Schultz, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, in 1987

Ways to learn, online and local communities, san francisco, hudson river towns, craft class, view all available classes, hear it from the writers, about the writers studio.

For over three decades The Writers Studio has been helping students become stronger, more resourceful writers — with more craft at their disposal, more knowledge of what makes a piece of creative writing satisfying to a reader, and more access to the full range of their emotions and imagination.

We have developed our own teaching method, which gives students the opportunity to “try on” many different narrative approaches. In the process of studying and trying out the techniques found in a wide array of published work, students end up discovering their own material and voice. They also find a supportive community of like-minded classmates. The school is flexible enough to meet the needs of students at all levels of experience and commitment. Students can take a single six-or eight-week workshop, or proceed through a series of increasingly challenging classes.

Learn more about us

“The most personal of the programs…”

– The New York Times

News and updates.

Eleanor Kedney Publishes New Poetry Collection with 3: A Tao Press

The Writers Studio Celebrates Pushcart 2024 [Watch the Video]

The Isabelle Deconinck Scholarship Results Are In

Andrea Marcusa’s “U.S. Threat Forecast” to Appear in Best Microfiction 2024

Literary Philly

Writing Workshops

• Alison Hicks’ Greater Philadelphia Wordshop Studio (Delaware County/Center City)
• Blue Stoop (8 week classes, 6-12 students, fiction, poetry, essays, memoir, novel, YA, food writing)
• Brooklyn School Social Practice in Philadelphia (literature/philosophy classes)
• Cooper Street Writing Workshops (4 week classes & one day intensives in fiction & poetry taught by Rutgers-Camden MFA grads & local instructors)
• Drexel Writers Room (interactive writing workshops no preparation necessary, free & open to all)
• Drexel Storylab (8 week fiction & nonfiction classes for adults)
• Green Street Poetry (monthly poetry workshop group in Fairmount)
• Helen Mallon’s True Courage Workshops (Chestnut Hill)
• Janet Benton’s The Word Studio (offers small workshops and private manuscript consultations)
• Leonard Gontarek (poetry, email [email protected] )
• Lisa Grunberger’s Writing & Yoga Classes (generative courses combining yoga & creativity)
• Liz Moore’s Palumbo Park Writing Workshops (5 week courses in fiction & nonfiction at area bookstores)
• Mount Airy Learning Tree (short classes for beginners)
• The Open Book Writing Classes (4 week memoir classes at the Elkins Park bookstore)
• Philadelphia Stories Master Classes (3 week online classes)
• Philadelphia Writers Workshop (Flourtown, PA)
• Rittenhouse Writers Workshop (8 week fiction workshops, contact James Rahn, [email protected])
• River Heron Review Classes (online & on-site Lahaska, PA)
• River Valley Writers (Stockton, NJ; email Maria Casale at  [email protected] )
• Rosemont Writers Studio (6 week classes, Rosemont, PA)
• Susan Weidener’s Women’s Writing Circle (workshops, retreats, editing services, professional critique)
• University of the Arts Continuing Education : (5 or 10 week skill development classes)
• University of Pennsylvania noncredit classes (3 free sessions on topic open to public)
• Woodland Writers (Cherry Hill, NJ)
• Write Nites @ The Art Department (group writing exercises & write sessions sponsored by The Head & The Hand)

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Turn Your Words into Art

For 25 years, we have helped writers bring their voices to the page..

The classes I took at the Salon were my first exposure to workshop critique and participating in the creative process with other students. I felt as the sessions progressed, I read work (mine and others’) more critically, saw areas for growth and clarity, and identified how to better help my peers by asking questions. Sam Jacobs

Upcoming Classes

Sparks of light: flash fiction, flash memoir & prose poems.

6:30pm - 9:00pm

Mining for Gold: Looking to the Everyday for Creative Inspiration

Intro to creative nonfiction: let your story unfold.

10:30am - 1:00pm

Story Mapping

2:00pm - 4:30pm

Writing Your Personal Symbols

Writing salon news.

Congratulations to our 2023 Jane Underwood Poetry Prize winner, Angel Bista! Check out her winning poem, “ Notes on the War, from My Mother .” The contest finalists are Fay Dillof, Julia B. Levine, and Melissa McKinstry.

Join us for the the May 4 Salon Reading Series featuring Writing Salon instructors, Kathy Garlick and Nina Schuyler, and their students, Geetanshi Sharma and Michael French. Learn more and RSVP here .

Let’s find you a class.

Generative Writing

Publishing & Professional Development

Children’s & Young Adult Audience

Screenwriting & Playwriting

Featured events.

San Francisco Event

The Salon Reading Series with Kathy Garlick, Nina Schuyler, Geetanshi Sharma and Michael French

5:00pm - 6:00pm

The Writing Salon has a wonderful feeling for me of home and security, a place where I can bond with people while learning and perfecting my craft. I’m very grateful to you all for providing all this in one package! Maria Sanchez

Supporting Your Writing

“The Writing Salon has offered creative writing classes in the Bay Area since 1999…”

“along with empowerment, the writing salon also provides constructive guidance in the craft and art of writing.”, “whether you’re an aspiring novelist who needs the structure of fixed deadlines or just a dabbler looking to broaden your creative horizons, the writing salon has something for you…”, read our news & reviews, “everyone looked as if they were having the best time, all flickering in candlelight…”.

Announcing the 2019 Jane Underwood Poetry Prize Winner

The 2019 Jane Underwood Poetry Prize winner is John Sibley Williams for his poem “Armistice.” The finalists are Heather Campbell, Sharon Coleman, and Grace Li.

Read the Winning Poem

Announcing the 2020 jane underwood poetry prize.

The Jane Underwood Poetry Prize was established to celebrate and memorialize Jane Underwood, the founder and long-time director of The Writing Salon. Open to all poets, the prize is awarded for a single poem. This year’s final judge is David Hernandez. The submission deadline is December 1, 2020.

Learn More about the Prize

Announcing the black writers matter scholarship.

This fall we will offer three Black writers of promise a credit of $300 toward a Winter 2021 class of their choice. We welcome applications from Black writers over the age of 18 who reside in the Bay Area. The deadline to submit is November 15.

Announcing the Covid-19 Scholarship Recipients

The Scholarship recipients are Rachel Hurwitz, Joseph Kim, Lydia Kim, Victoria Turner, and Joe Vigil. Each recipient will receive a $150 credit toward a fall Writing Salon class of their choice.

The Writing Salon is a place of non-judgment, a place for mutual encouragement and dialogue, a place where ideas spark and I become inspired. Laura Koehn

I’ve finished the first draft of a novel . . . A significant accomplishment that would not have happened without the Writing Salon. Brian Byrne

I learned that I do not have to be published to find value in my own writing. That literature has an enormous value to modern society and to the individual producing it. Roger Mills

For 20 years, we have helped writers bring their voices to the page.

The Writing Salon, founded in 1999, is a creative writing school for adults. We believe that creativity empowers, heals, and transforms; that a love for language and story binds people together as a community of independent voices; that the study of the craft of writing should be open to everyone; and that critique of our own and others’ writing can be, at once, constructive and compassionate.

Visit us at our San Francisco and Berkeley classrooms.

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San Francisco Location:   2042 Balboa St., San Francisco, CA 94121 Office Hours: Monday-Friday, 9:00am-5:00pm

P:   (510) 982-6252 E:   [email protected]

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Classes & Workshops

Some say good writing can’t be taught. We disagree. While instruction alone won’t make you a great writer, it will take you a long way in that direction. At the heart of our mission is a firm commitment to quality creative writing instruction that encourages you to become more thoughtful and proficient as you explore your passion for the written word.

49 Writers offers workshops and courses for emerging and established writers outside the constraints of university tuition and academic credit. We offer no easy answers or gimmicks. Rather, we aim to deliver student-centered teaching structured around meaningful outcomes. We want you to delve deep into the mysteries of language, discovery, and expression. Good teaching, like good writing, develops through a life-long process of learning that includes evaluating our work, sharing ideas, and stretching ourselves – sometimes beyond our comfort zones.

We offer affordable creative writing classes across genres to writers at all levels—beginning, intermediate, and advanced. Whether you’re just starting out or have already published, you will find a topic on the 49 Writers schedule that meets your needs.

Course topics cover the gamut from craft, to serious revision, to special topics like spiritual writing or the literary uses of humor. We also offer practical training on the path to publication, promotion, social media, and more.

Some classes are offered as single three hour long short courses, while others meeting weekly for an extended period of time. Many of our classes are face to face, and some are taught online.

Our course offerings fit (more or less; we like to stay flexible) into one of three categories:

Elements Courses

These are generally 6 to 8 hours long. Elements courses include cross-genre topics like character, voice, narrative structure, point of view, description, beginnings, revision, and narrative time.

Genre-based Workshops

These typically run 12 to 15 hours. Workshops are by genre, alternating between fundamentals workshops for emerging writers (Fundamentals of Fiction, for example) and workshops exploring advanced techniques (such as Advanced Poetry Techniques). In workshops, students draft and revise within their genres.

Special Topics

These are normally covered in a single session of 2 or 3 hours. While we hope all of our courses are feisty and fun, our special topics courses are intended to be especially so, with an exploratory bent. We strive to balance our course offerings each term with regard to length, type, and genre

Evening and weekend scheduling is a top priority, and our students tend to prefer classes that last less than six weeks. In Anchorage, we’re likely to schedule two of each type (Elements, workshop, and special topics) per term, leaving room to add an impromptu course or two with visiting writers as opportunities arise.

Special course offerings: We supplement our regular instructional schedule with clinics by visiting writers. We regularly partner with groups bringing authors to Alaska; please contact us if you’re aware of a partnering opportunity. Courses taught by special arrangement with visiting writers do not go through our regular proposal selection process.

Upcoming Classes & Workshops

From plotting to print: the pathways to publication, worldbuilding in horror, hermit crab essays: essays housed in strange and unusual forms, the shrine of st. therese writing retreat.

For all writers.

If you love to read or write, there’s a place for you at hugo house..

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.

Registration for classes in winter quarter 2024 is now open. Register now!

Explore our class catalog

Learn with us.

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.

Artist Statements for Creative Writers

Instructor: Lyzette Wanzer. Open to writers of all genres, students in this workshop will read, craft, and revise through several drafts of their artist statements for practical application with grants, author websites, residency and funding applications, and more.

Upcoming Events

Works in progress (virtual), write with hugo house with jeanine walker, write with hugo house with alma garcía, write with hugo house with miz floes, works in progress (in-person).

News & Insights

Leadership Transition at Hugo House

Jenne Hsien Patrick, 2023-24 Hugo Fellow Mid-Year Check In

Neena Viel, 2023-24 Hugo Fellow Mid-Year Check In

Celeste Chan, 2023-24 Hugo Fellow Mid-Year Check In

Adelle Dimitui, 2023-24 Hugo Fellow Mid-Year Check In

Featured free resource, open mic events.

Works in Progress is Hugo House’s semi-monthly writing open mic series inclusive of diverse formats. Read your work—poetry, fiction, essays, memoirs, plays, music, comedy, and more—and connect with your literary community.

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House news and writerly updates

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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.

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Young Writers

Lighthouse's Young Writers Workshops are designed to foster creativity, self-expression, and excitement about writing. There are no grades here, just the stories. We offer workshops at Lighthouse including afterschool and weekend workshops, the Young Authors Collective, and summer camps, as well as youth outreach in schools, at juvenile residential treatment centers, and in collaboration with other arts organizations.

For the latest on workshops and events,  sign up for our Young Writers Program e-newsletter . 

Lighthouse connects kids and teens to words, new friends, and a writing community. We offer workshops in poetry, fiction, nonfiction, playwriting, screenwriting, and many other genres and topics. Our classes are taught by published authors and are designed to foster creativity, self-expression, and excitement about writing.

Summer Writing Camps

Lighthouse's Young Writers Camps are led by published and award-winning writers, and each workshop is designed to foster creativity, self-expression, and excitement about writing in young writers aged 8 to 18. Registration for half-day camp and applications for full-day camp will open on January 1, 2019.

School Outreach

The Young Writers Program offers creative writing workshops in public and private schools as well as juvenile residential treatment centers throughout the Denver metro area. Led by working, published writers with a passion for sharing their craft, our outreach workshops provide access to our innovative creative writing programming for young people who cannot come to Lighthouse.

The Young Authors Collective, or YAC, is a group of talented, word-obsessed high school writers dedicated to experimenting with new creative forms, collaborating with other arts organizations, and writing a ton. We meet once a week at Lighthouse to generate new pieces, give friendly feedback, and work towards publication.

Support Young Writers

Our Future Scribes Depend on Your Support. Nearly all of the workshops and projects that will engage 2,300 students this year are free to attend, and for the sessions that do have tuition, such as summer writing camp, financial aid is available for any student who needs it. We want all young people who want to write to be able to do so and for them to be nurtured by the best instructors and mentors available. This only happens with the support of generous donors like you.

IELTS Exam Preparation: Free IELTS Tips, 2024

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Take IELTS test in or nearby Elektrostal'

There is no IELTS test center listed for Elektrostal' but you may be able to take your test in an alternative test center nearby. Please choose an appropriate test center that is closer to you or is most suitable for your test depending upon location or availability of test.

Closest test centers are:

Make sure to prepare for the IELTS exam using our Free IELTS practice tests .

Moscow, Russia

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• Zheleznodorozhnyy
• Orekhovo-Zuyevo
• Sergiyev Posad
• Podol'sk
• Novo-Peredelkino
• Ryazan'

An Overview of the IELTS

The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) is designed to measure English proficiency for educational, vocational and immigration purposes. The IELTS measures an individual's ability to communicate in English across four areas of language: listening , reading , writing and speaking . The IELTS is administered jointly by the British Council, IDP: IELTS Australia and Cambridge English Language Assessment at over 1,100 test centres and 140 countries. These test centres supervise the local administration of the test and recruit, train and monitor IELTS examiners.

IELTS tests are available on 48 fixed dates each year, usually Saturdays and sometimes Thursdays, and may be offered up to four times a month at any test centre, including Elektrostal' depending on local needs. Go to IELTS test locations to find a test centre in or nearby Elektrostal' and to check for upcoming test dates at your test centre.

Test results are available online 13 days after your test date. You can either receive your Test Report Form by post or collect it from the Test Centre. You will normally only receive one copy of the Test Report Form, though you may ask for a second copy if you are applying to the UK or Canada for immigration purposes - be sure to specify this when you register for IELTS. You may ask for up to 5 copies of your Test Report Form to be sent directly to other organisations, such as universities.

There are no restrictions on re-sitting the IELTS. However, you would need to allow sufficient time to complete the registration procedures again and find a suitable test date.

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The reading, writing and listening practice tests on this website have been designed to resemble the format of the IELTS test as closely as possible. They are not, however, real IELTS tests; they are designed to practise exam technique to help students to face the IELTS test with confidence and to perform to the best of their ability.

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