Creative Writing

Fall 2021 WRITING WORKSHOPS

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Registration closes 24 hours before start time or when workshop fills. No walk-ins, please.
Please read our workshop policies before registering.
Can't attend without a scholarship? Apply here.

September Workshops & Events

Rise of the Re-Moir: Where Research and Memoir Intersect

INSTRUCTOR: Pat Baldwin
TIME: Sunday, September 19th, 3:00–6:00 p.m. CDT
PRICE: Early bird until Tuesday, September 14: $45 for members, $60 for nonmembers. After Tuesday, September 14: $55 for members, $70 for nonmembers. Become a member here. Scholarships available here.
LOCATION: Online via Zoom
LEVEL: All Levels
CAP: 15

Peruse any bookstore or library and you will discover that the publishing world is recognizing and supporting an increasingly popular hybrid form of memoir that combines memory-driven and research-driven narratives. While these books are listed as memoirs, they use personal journeys to answer bigger questions, such as the ethics of science and medicine, drug policy, illegal enterprise, religion, marriage, race, gender, and more. With this approach, your memoir becomes not only a treasured legacy for family, friends, and generations to come, but also an exploration of a larger issue.

This workshop will review the basics of memoir writing and help you decide if the “re-moir” approach is right for you. We will explore story elements such as structure and narrative flow and practice the writing process to hone our abilities. We will also study, observe, and discuss the unique challenges and advantages of using a charismatic first-person narrator to propel investigative nonfiction.

Writing Short: Poetry in the Palm of Your Hand

INSTRUCTOR: Kendra Preston Leonard
TIME: Saturday, September 25, 9:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. CDT
PRICE: Early bird until Monday, September 20: $45 for members, $60 for nonmembers. After Monday, September 20: $55 for members, $70 for nonmembers. Become a member here. Apply for a scholarship here.
LOCATION: Online via Zoom
CAP: 15

Poetry doesn’t need to be long to be profound or funny or beautiful. Discover the joys of writing short poems in this one-day workshop. We’ll talk about using limited forms like haiku to help us be more creative, and how to create an entire scene or mood in just one short stanza. We’ll find inspiration in everyday objects, tell stories in short works, and explore rhyme, meter, and free verse. Writers of all levels are welcome.

Photo by Jamie Portwood

Latinx Authors: An Interactive Workshop

INSTRUCTOR: Lorenzo Martinez
TIME: Saturday, September 25, 1:00–4:00 PM CDT
PRICE: Early bird until Monday, September 20: $45 for members, $60 for nonmembers. After Monday, September 20: $55 for members, $70 for nonmembers. Become a member here. Apply for a scholarship here.
LOCATION: Online via Zoom
CAP: 15

Sooner or later writers struggle with sensitivity issues concerning the correct pronoun or name that includes both genders. Is it his, her, or their? Have you found yourself in a similar situation? How have you gotten around it? Latinx is a gender-neutral alternative to Latino, Latina. The term, used by scholars, activists, and a growing number of journalists, is gaining popularity among the general public. This workshop will offer a safe place for participants to discuss their reaction to a word that has become part of mainstream literature. We will examine old classics and new voices alike, including Gabriel García Márquez’ One Hundred Years of Solitude, Sandra Cisneros’ House on Mango Street, Silvia Moreno-García’s Mexican Gothic, and Tomás Rivera’s ...y no se lo tragó la tierra (...And the Earth Did Not Devour Him), and discuss these works in relation to the term Latinx and how the popularity of the word has revolutionized the publishing industry.

According to the Pew Research Center, there has been a significant growth in the number of Latinx voters in the last few years, making the United States more racially and ethnically diverse than ever. How this will translate into more readers of Latinx literature is still up for debate; the future, however, seems brighter for what once were marginalized voices.

Photo by Nina PhotoLab on Unsplash

How to Outline Your Novel

INSTRUCTOR: D.L. Young
TIME: Sunday, September 26, 3:00–6:00 p.m. CDT
PRICE: Early bird until Tuesday, September 21: $45 for members, $60 for nonmembers. After Tuesday, September 21: $55 for members, $70 for nonmembers. Become a member here. Apply for a scholarship here.
LOCATION: Online via Zoom
CAP: 15
Outlining your novel isn't an option, it's a necessity. A well-prepared outline is a powerful tool that helps you create memorable characters, an engaging plot, and unforgettable settings. It takes your ideas and shapes them into a manuscript. An outline lays out the path for your narrative, ensuring coherence and saving you tons of time in edits and rewrites.

But how do you create an outline? Where do you start? What are the different methods that authors can use?

Join award-winning author D.L. Young and get the answers to all your questions about novel outlining. He’ll guide you through the process step by step, from start to finish. He will also demonstrate a variety of outlining techniques, so that you can choose the strategy that works best for you. By the end of this workshop, you will be ready to start your novel, armed with the outlining tools and techniques you need to transform your ideas into a strong manuscript.

October Workshops & Events

Writing the Humorous Essay

INSTRUCTOR: Justin Jannise
TIME: Saturday, October 2, 9:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. CDT
PRICE: Early bird until Monday, September 27: $45 for members, $60 for nonmembers. After Monday, September 27: $55 for members, $70 for nonmembers. Become a member here. Apply for a scholarship here.
LOCATION: Online via Zoom
LEVEL: All Levels
CAP: 15

Writing funny stuff can feel more like a talent handed out at birth and less like a skill learned in class, but the truth is that humor emerges from many of the same techniques that create a variety of literary effects. Pattern. Repetition. Sandwiches.

Sandwiches? They're useful.

Whether you're confident about your standup routine or looking to expand your tonal range, this workshop is for you. It will help low-carb and well-bread writers alike improve their Kraft mayo skills and roast beef up their prose. Exemplary essays you mustard read and study will be shared. Lettuce try to learn from their example while meating other funny writers in the process.

Gothic Story Elements

INSTRUCTOR: Angélique Jamail
TIME: Saturday, October 2, 1:00–4:00 p.m. CDT
PRICE: Early bird until Monday, September 27: $45 for members, $60 for nonmembers. After Monday, September 27: $55 for members, $70 for nonmembers. Become a member here. Apply for a scholarship here.
LOCATION: Online via Zoom
LEVEL: All Levels
CAP: 15

What do a darkly beautiful aesthetic, #WitchyGirlAutumn, and a tantalizing sense of foreboding
all have in common? They can be part of the rich pageant of Gothic story elements that make
so many “classic”—or “forbidden”—literary pleasures so deep. In this three-hour generative
workshop, we will dip our feet into the chilling waters of Gothic literature to find out what that
genre entails. Expect a multi-faceted exploration as we discuss a range of examples in visual art, film, music, and mentor texts. Our writing time will include the opportunity to use these Gothic elements to begin a story or enhance one you’ve already started. Students will have the option of sharing what they’ve written during the workshop. Come with your favorite writing utensils (a laptop, a legal pad and sharpened pencils, a leather-bound journal and a fancy feather quill—whatever works for you). Let’s kick off the Gothic season in writing style!

All levels of writing experience welcome.

Photo by Bee Felten-Leidel on Unsplash

Reading Your Way to Writing Well: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

INSTRUCTOR: Angélique Jamail
TIME: Two Sundays, October 3 and 10, 3:00–5:30 p.m. CDT
PRICE: Early bird until Tuesday, September 28: $85 for members, $100 for nonmembers. After Tuesday, September 28: $100 for members, $115 for nonmembers. Become a member here. Apply for a scholarship here.
LOCATION: Online via Zoom
LEVEL: All Levels
CAP: 15

In this series of workshops, Writespace instructors select a work of literature and guide participants in a deep dive into craft, style, technique, and device. These six-hour workshops will be divided into two sections: in the first, the instructor will lead an analysis of the work; in the second, participants will practice using the techniques and devices discussed in the first session, leading to generating ideas and techniques for their own writing. Participants will need to read the selection in advance and come prepared to discuss it.

Erin Morgenstern’s highly acclaimed debut The Night Circus rocked the literary world with its lush writing, clever structure, magnetic characters, and gripping story. In this two-day course, we will explore some of the reasons why Morgenstern’s novel is so well written and use it as a mentor text to generate some innovative writing of our own. Expect to discuss various elements of the text and to write original creative work, using Morgenstern’s techniques for inspiration. Attendees will have the opportunity to share their writing in class both days. Homework involves reading The Night Circus in its entirety before the first class begins and one or two writing exercises between class sessions.

This course is open to all levels of writing and literary analysis. Reading the text before the class begins is necessary.

Maniac Juxtapositions: Fiction Techniques in the Horror Genre

INSTRUCTOR: Charlotte Wyatt
TIME: Four Mondays, October 4, 11, 18, 25, 6:00–9:00 p.m. CDT
PRICE: Early bird until Wednesday, September 29: $150 for members, $180 for nonmembers. After Wednesday, September 29: $180 for members, $210 for nonmembers. Become a member here. Apply for a scholarship here.
LOCATION: Online via Zoom
LEVEL: All Levels
CAP: 15

“… yet somehow a maniac juxtaposition, a badly turned angle, some chance meeting of roof and sky, turned Hill House into a place of despair …”

Some fans of horror are all-in junkies for monsters and jump scares. Some prefer the slow burn of a haunted house story, or the rabbit hole of surrealism and the uncanny. Others like staring into the cosmic void to see what might stare back.

In any case, subgenres of horror offer different modes of access to the visceral curiosity we sometimes feel for the dark unknown. In this workshop, we’ll examine different types of horror writing—folk, eco, body, cosmic, weird, and more—to identify techniques that can be used in all kinds of fiction writing. Then we’ll try those techniques in our own work. For the first four sessions, we’ll focus on craft discussions and generative writing, and in the final two, we’ll focus on honing new work toward a completed draft.

Photo by MontyLov on Unspalsh

LGBTQIA+ Writers

INSTRUCTOR: Justin Jannise
TIME: Six Thursdays, October 7, 14, 21, 28, November 4, 11, 6:00–9:00 p.m. CDT
PRICE: Early bird until Saturday, October 2: $210 for members, $240 for nonmembers. After Saturday, October 2: $240 for members, $270 for nonmembers. Become a member here. Apply for a scholarship here.
LOCATION: Online via Zoom
LEVEL: All Levels
CAP: 15

Queer literature has grown wildly in recent years, right alongside a public awakening to the increasingly various possibilities of gender identity and sexual preference. And yet communal creative spaces where LGBTQIA+ people can safely meet, interact, and share ideas seem more vulnerable than ever. With this workshop, we aim to foster a safe and welcoming rapport among LGBTQIA+ writers where they can discuss ideas critical to queer identity.

We’ll not only read the work of writers who identify as LGBTQIA+ (including our own), but we’ll also consider how queerness interacts with the wider literary community. In addition, we’ll set aside time for discussion and group feedback on our different projects—both new and ongoing! All literary genres are welcome. Expect to come away with new work, new understanding, and new friends.

This workshop is open to any writer who identifies as LGBTQIA+ regardless of the subject matter they intend to address.

This workshop is funded in part by a grant from Poets & Writers Magazine.

Our Silent Voice Collaboration

INSTRUCTOR: Justin Jannise
TIME: Two Sundays, October 10 and 17, 11:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m. CDT
PRICE: Early bird until Tuesday, October 5: $95 for members, $110 for nonmembers. After Tuesday, October 5: $110 for members, $125 for nonmembers. Become a member here. Apply for a scholarship here.
LOCATION: Online via Zoom
LEVEL: All Levels
CAP: 15

For this workshop, we welcome our collaborators at Our Silent Voice. Our Silent Voice has formed a community and a movement toward healing through the creative act of writing. Together, we will explore poetry and micro-essays as we create stories that are fierce, loud, and relevant. Our Silent Voice will provide editing feedback and the opportunity to submit your work for publication in Our Silent Voice: Fierce, Brave and Loud.

This anthology consists of stories submitted by survivors of sexual assault, harassment, and domestic violence and serves as a means to speak out about what many endure in silence.

About Our Guest Facilitator: Justin Jannise holds an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop. His work has appeared in the Yale Review, North American Review, and The Awl. He lives in Houston, where he is currently a PhD candidate in literature and creative writing at the University of Houston. He has just released his book How to Be Better by Being Worse.

Justin writes:
All writers have something to say about the deep wounds that literature may name, dress, heal, or conceal. Even those most skeptical of theories that place trauma at the center of human experience may find meaningful work by confronting these ideas on paper and in the discussion room; skepticism itself may be, according to some, a reaction determined by the obscure inner workings of psychological trauma itself.

This is a place where the dignity of all human beings—regardless of the severity, frequency, uniqueness, or timeline of their wounds—will be respected. The goal is to start, continue, or refine writers’ processes of putting into words the most sensitive content of their lived lives. Readings and generative assignments can be shared or kept anonymous.

Photo by Jen Theodore on Unspalsh

Performance Poetry

INSTRUCTOR: Amal Kassir
TIME: Six Tuesdays, October 12, 19, 26, SKIP November 2, November 9, 16, 23, 6:00–9:00 p.m. CDT
Participants will have the opportunity to take part in a reading of their works in the last meeting.
PRICE: Early bird until Thursday, October 7: $210 for members, $240 for nonmembers. After Thursday, October 7: $240 for members, $270 for nonmembers. Become a member here. Apply for a scholarship here.
LOCATION: Online via Zoom
LEVEL: All Levels
CAP: 15

Performance poetry is a huge part of the Houston literary scene: our previous Poet Laureate, Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton, is a performance poet, and poetry slam events happen regularly around the city. But what exactly is performance poetry? How does it differ—in form, structure, content—from traditional written poetry?

Join us for an all around spoken word workshop with accomplished performance poet Amal Kassir as well as invited guests from the local scene. We’ll learn to not only write poems, but to perform them—both individually and as a group. And at the end of the workshop, students will have the chance to participate in slam poetry competition with the greater Houston poetry community.

Speed Up Your Process

INSTRUCTOR: Cynthia Childress
TIME: Saturday, October 16, 9:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m. CDT
PRICE: Early bird until Monday, October 11: $85 for members, $100 for nonmembers. After Monday, October 11: $100 for members, $115 for nonmembers. Become a member here. Apply for a scholarship here.
LOCATION: Online via Zoom
LEVEL: All Levels
CAP: 15

When you sit down to write your book, maybe the words and ideas flow perfectly... but what if they don't? Many writers stay stuck for years trying to find the right place to start a book and thinking of all the different things they could include. I've seen people work on a book for five years and have four pages to show for it, or a mess of journal entries. The good news is that it's not your fault. You probably got some questionable advice like, "just sit down and write," or "start from the beginning."

Well, there's a better, faster way to write your book, and Cindy Childress, Ph.D. will show you how in this hands-on class. She's developed a framework she's used as a ghostwriter, editor, and book coach with over 80 authors. In this class, you will follow her guidance to brainstorm who your book is for and why you're writing it. You'll think through all the possible things you could include in the book and then decide what your central theme will be and create a detailed Table of Contents. With this clarity, you'll be all set to become your own ghostwriter and avoid writer's block. She'll also share how you can write the first draft in as little as six weeks.

Approaching Revision as a Creative Endeavor

INSTRUCTOR: Tanya Aydelott
TIME: Two Sundays, October 17 and 24, 3:00–6:00 p.m. CDT
PRICE: Early bird until Tuesday, October 12: $85 for members, $100 for nonmembers. After Tuesday, October 12: $100 for members, $115 for nonmembers. Become a member here. Apply for a scholarship here.
LOCATION: Online via Zoom
LEVEL: All Levels
CAP: 12

“I hate first drafts, and it never gets easier. People always wonder what kind of superhero power they’d like to have. I want the ability for someone to just open up my brain and take out the entire first draft and lay it down in front of me so I can just focus on the second, third, and fourth drafts.” –Judy Blume

Once your first draft is written, how and where do you start the revision process? Maybe you’re on draft three, but something isn’t working. How do you motivate yourself to continue? This workshop, which is limited to 12 students, will approach revision as both a practice and a creative endeavor.

Over the course of two meetings, you will practice different revision strategies, develop tactics to combat stumbling blocks of the editing process, and explore various craft elements to strengthen and tighten your work. Homework will include revising your pages based on specific exercises, reflecting on your revision process, and reading through instructor comments.

Before the first meeting, you will need to submit between 15 and 20 pages of fiction (prose only) to the instructor. Be prepared to share and discuss your work in class.

Required submission of 15–20 pages of fiction (prose) before the first meeting on October 17.

Writing Speculative Fiction from Real History

INSTRUCTOR: Nyri Bakkalian
TIME: Saturday, October 23, 9:30 a.m–12:30 p.m. CDT
PRICE: Early bird until Monday, October 18: $45 for members, $60 for nonmembers. After Monday, October 18: $55 for members, $70 for nonmembers. Become a member here. Apply for a scholarship here.
LOCATION: Online via Zoom
LEVEL: All Levels
CAP: 15

Writing speculative fiction based on history can be a challenge, even if your writing tends more toward the supernatural or fantastical. How do we weave in rich technical, cultural, and other kinds of detail? How do we do so in a manner that is responsible to the history and cultures on which we're basing our work? In this workshop, academic historian turned speculative fiction author Dr. Nyri A. Bakkalian will lead you on a freewheeling exploration of these issues. You will learn about how to lay the unseen groundwork for what your readers see, how real history can sometimes be stranger than the speculative content we authors weave, where history itself has limits, and how you can use speculative fiction to teach about real events and issues in the past. Our aim is to help you, dear writer, better do due diligence in rounding out the legwork that goes into your project, and learn how to aim for the spirit of the past rather than be bound by the specifics of the past.

Engaging the Uncanny: Spooky Stories and our Haunted World

INSTRUCTOR: Kathryn Peterson
TIME: Two Saturdays, October 23 and 30, 1:00–4:00 p.m. CDT
PRICE: Early bird until Monday, October 18: $85 for members, $100 for nonmembers. After Monday, October 18: $100 for members, $115 for nonmembers. Become a member here. Apply for a scholarship here.
LOCATION: Online via Zoom
LEVEL: All Levels
CAP: 15

In this generative workshop, we will examine why stories of the uncanny have such a power to move us, and in particular their place in today's already anxious world. We'll examine the folklore behind urban legends and ghost stories and discuss how to draw from those elements to create our own uncanny stories. We'll talk about what it means to write the disturbing in a meaningful way. The goal for this two-class workshop is to learn and explore and also spend a good time generating our own work. We will have time to share the work we've created, and particularly uncanny pieces will be considered for reading at the open mic Halloween night.

Nature Writing

INSTRUCTOR: Dana De Greff
TIME: Four Saturdays, October 30, November 6, 13, 20, 9:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. CDT
PRICE: Early bird until Monday, October 25: $150 for members, $180 for nonmembers. After Monday, October 25: $180 for members, $210 for nonmembers. Become a member here. Apply for a scholarship here.
LOCATION: Online via Zoom
LEVEL: All Levels
CAP: 15

Whether you live in an urban area or in the countryside, this workshop aims to get you out of your head and into nature. We will write about the natural world, yes, but also our place in it and how we can protect our home for generations to come. We will use examples of writing across various genres, from poetry and essayettes to novel excerpts and feature articles, from authors such as Robin Wall Kimmerer, Richard Powers, Rachel Carson, Natalie Diaz, and Helen Macdonald.

In class we will discuss different ways of looking at and interacting with the outside world, techniques for writing about nature, and what constitutes nature writing. Each week there will be a new nature writing assignment that will require you to, in some way, leave your home (even if it is simply sticking your head out the window) and share your findings with the group. This class is both interactive and active and will include research, observation, and contemplation. It’s also a chance for you to have some time to come home to yourself in the great outdoors, or, if you prefer, to build community with your friends and family as you rediscover place.

This course is open to all writers of any genre who are interested in writing about nature. Prior workshop experience is not necessary, but all members of the class must come to class prepared to discuss the readings, be willing to share their own writing and nature writing, and be generous in their responses to their peers’ work.

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unspalsh