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
Muslim American Writers
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INSTRUCTOR: Amal Kassir
TIME: Four Tuesdays, September 7, September 14, September 21, and September 28, 6:00–9:00 p.m. CDT PRICE: Early bird until Thursday, September 2: for $150 for members, $180 for nonmembers. After Thursday, September 2: $180 for members, $210 for nonmembers. Become a member here. Apply for a scholarship here. LOCATION: Online via Zoom CAP: 15 In this multi-genre, four-week workshop, we will explore the Muslim voice in America with the goal to foster a community in which our identity as Muslims in America and our identity as writers can intersect. We will study published authors to analyze techniques and elements of great writing. Then we will generate new writing of our own and/or revitalize current works in progress, workshopping our writing in a space that allows for vulnerability and transparency. Through meeting, interacting, and sharing ideas, we will reconnect with ourselves and our writing. This workshop is open to writers of all experience levels who identify as Muslim in America, regardless of the subject matter they intend to address or the genre of writing in which they work. |
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Writers of Color
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INSTRUCTOR: Julia Brown TIME: Six Wednesdays, September 8, September 15, September 22, September 29, October 6, and October 13, 6:00–9:00 p.m. CDT with a reading on October 16 PRICE: Early bird until Friday, September 3: $210 for members, $240 for nonmembers. After Friday, September 3: $240 for members, $270 for nonmembers. Become a member here. Apply for a scholarship here. LOCATION: Online via Zoom CAP: 15 Where does our inspiration come from? How do we dive into our own uniqueness to write the stories and poems that are uniquely our own? In this multi-genre, six-week course we will consider these questions and others to help us better understand ourselves as narrative engines. We will focus on writing, close reading, and workshopping, immersing ourselves in our craft, whether literary fiction or slam or sci-fi. We will familiarize ourselves with the fundamentals of prose and poetry in order to apply those elements to our work, reading work by published writers in order to expand our sense of narrative possibility. We will support each other in taking risks and being vulnerable, and use workshop to offer and receive feedback, gather ideas for revision, and refine our responses to works in progress. Over the last few decades, organizations designed to support and promote the work of writers of color have emerged across the country. Cave Canem, Kundiman, Canto Mundo, VONA, Kimbilio, and others recognize the need to provide writers of color with the kind of community and workshop space that encourages taking risks, resisting stereotypes (in ourselves, others, and in our writing), and creating poems, stories, novels, and essays that speak to the range of our experience as human beings. This workshop shares these intentions and seeks to provide Houston writers of color with the freedom and support offered by these organizations. This workshop is open to writers of all backgrounds typically underrepresented in American literature, including but not limited to writers who identify themselves as African American or Caribbean, Asian American, Middle Eastern, Chicanx, Hispanic, and Latinx. Expect to come away with fierce new work, as well as a renewed sense of the power found through community. This workshop is funded, in part, by a grant from Poets & Writers Magazine. |
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Writing about Surviving: Giving Voice to Sexual Trauma
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This workshop is offered in collaboration with Our Silent Voice.
INSTRUCTOR: Cindy Childress TIME: Two Saturdays, September 11 and September 18, 9:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. CDT PRICE: Early bird until Monday, September 6: $95 for members, $110 for nonmembers. After Monday, September 6: $110 for members, $125 for nonmembers. Become a member here. Apply for a scholarship here. LOCATION: Online via Zoom LEVEL: All Levels CAP: 15 Many complex emotions can stop us from writing about sexual trauma and harassment, whether about ourselves or our characters: shame, regret, shock, fear, even foggy memory. These concerns inspired the Our Silent Voice anthology, whose mission is to give voice to those experiences and inspire healing in the retelling. While trauma and harassment aren't the same, the difficulties of writing and speaking about them often overlap due to the complicated power dynamics running throughout both types of experiences. But writing about these experiences—even in fiction—can be the first step in finding healing. In this class, you'll practice deciding what details are comfortable or necessary to share and how to channel anger and hurt into finely put turns of phrase. We'll examine examples of strong writing around difficult scenes to understand the elements of craft that shaped them and practice writing our own. Sharing your work is entirely optional. Please note: The extra $10 cost is to cover the cost of feedback on your writing from the instructor and the editors of Our Silent Voice, as well as the opportunity to publish your pieces in an Our Silent Voice anthology. |
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Overcoming Imposter Syndrome: How to Squash Self-Doubt
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INSTRUCTOR: Jan Saenz
TIME: Saturday, September 11, 1:00–4:00 p.m. CDT PRICE: Early bird until Monday, September 6: $45 for members, $60 for nonmembers. After Monday, September 6: $55 for members, $70 for nonmembers. Become a member here. Apply for a scholarship here. LOCATION: Online via Zoom LEVEL: All Levels CAP: 15 Whether you are a published author, an MFA candidate in a creative writing program, or just another person trying to figure out where you fit in this complex publishing industry, being able to combat imposter syndrome in an industry full of talented writers is essential to reach your full potential. In this intensive workshop, we will dive into the definition and characteristics of imposter syndrome to build a better understanding of how it inhibits us and where it stems from. Participants will be asked to examine their doubts and self-diagnosed shortcomings through a wider lens, to realize that your efforts are not fraudulent and that many writers—from Pulitzer Prize winners to fresh-faced beginners—struggle with some sense of inadequacy. Through a series of discussions and exercises, we will aim to renew ourselves as strong, fearless, and confident professionals. We will identify that little voice inside of us that seeks to minimize our self-worth, engage with it, and learn how to manage it. |
Photo by Kristopher Roller on Unsplash
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Writing Short & Sharp: Crafting Flash Fiction
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INSTRUCTOR: Patricia Flaherty Pagan
TIME: Sunday, September 12, 3:00–6:00 p.m. CDT PRICE: Early bird until Tuesday, September 7: $45 for members, $60 for nonmembers. After Tuesday, September 7: $55 for members, $70 for nonmembers. Become a member here. Apply for a scholarship here. LOCATION: Online via Zoom LEVEL: All Levels CAP: 15 Move your reader in 1,000 words or fewer! Take the challenge of conveying action and emotion with precision. This generative, 3-hour Zoom workshop will explore the joys and challenges of crafting flash fiction (and its sibling microfiction). Students will learn (or review) the elements of a strong flash piece, read previously e-mailed examples together, and then create their own flash from in-class prompts. During the second half, there will be an opportunity to discuss the changing markets for flash fiction. Roll up your sleeves and come ready to write. Materials needed: Pencil and paper for hand-written free write. Hand-outs that will be emailed by the instructor to participants. Laptops optional. |
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Reading Your Way to Writing Well: Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
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INSTRUCTOR: Matthew Hefti
TIME: Two Mondays, September 13 and September 20 6:00–9:00 p.m. CDT PRICE: Early bird until Wednesday, September 8: for $85 for members, $100 for nonmembers. After Wednesday, September 8: $100 for members, $115 for nonmembers. Become a member here. Apply for a scholarship here. LOCATION: Online via Zoom 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. Through analysis of Slaughterhouse-Five, workshop participants will discuss a broad range of techniques used by Vonnegut to speak the unspeakable, that which sometimes seems far too big for words: trauma, violence, memory, philosophy, politics, history, sex, and—of course—aliens. From syntax and sentence-level analysis to larger overall structure, participants will discuss how to take the lessons from a master craftsman and apply them to their own craft and voice in a way that works for them. |
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Writing the Unreal: A Speculative Fiction Workshop
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INSTRUCTOR: Tanya Aydelott
TIME: Saturday, September 18, 1:00–4:00 p.m. CDT PRICE: Early bird until Monday, September 13: $45 for members, $60 for nonmembers. After Monday, September 13: $55 for members, $70 for nonmembers. Become a member here. Apply for a scholarship here. LOCATION: Online via Zoom CAP: 15 In this generative workshop, we will play in the realms of wonder and discovery. Speculative fiction is a broad category, encompassing genres that deal with things that do not exist in our reality, nature, or recorded history. Wonder tales, fantasy, sci fi, supernatural fiction—writers of all speculative fiction genres are welcome here as we imagine worlds that do not (yet?) exist and the characters who inhabit them. Through short readings and generative exercises, we will explore how speculative fiction offers different ways to examine the world we already know, the freedom it offers to writers, and the exciting potential inherent in the genre. We will write into the unreal, stretching our creative tentacles in a variety of subgenres and themes. This workshop is suitable for all writing levels. |
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Rise of the Re-Moir: Where Research and Memoir Intersect
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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. |
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Writing Short: Poetry in the Palm of Your Hand
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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. |
Haiku by Aeryk Pierson and Photo by Jamie Portwood.
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Latinx Authors: An Interactive Workshop
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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
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How to Outline Your Novel
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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. |
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October Workshops & Events
Writing the Humorous Essay
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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. |
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Gothic Story Elements
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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
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Reading Your Way to Writing Well: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
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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. |
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Maniac Juxtapositions: Fiction Techniques in the Horror Genre
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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
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LGBTQIA+ Writers
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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. |
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Our Silent Voice Collaboration
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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
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Performance Poetry
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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. |
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Speed Up Your Process
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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. |
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Approaching Revision as a Creative Endeavor
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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. |
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Writing Speculative Fiction from Real History
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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. |
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Engaging the Uncanny: Spooky Stories and our Haunted World
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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. |
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Nature Writing
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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
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November Workshops & Events
Spiritual Writing on Trauma
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INSTRUCTOR: Phuc Luu
TIME: Two Wednesdays, November 3, SKIP November 10, November 17, 6:00–9:00 p.m. CDT/CST PRICE: Early bird until Friday, October 29: $85 for members, $100 for nonmembers. After Friday, October 29: $100 for members, $115 for nonmembers. Become a member here. Apply for a scholarship here. LOCATION: Online via Zoom LEVEL: All Levels CAP: 15 A global pandemic, Texas’s 2021 snow storm, political divisions, racial injustice and violence, global disasters and warming have ravaged individuals, families, and communities. How can writing bring healing and wholeness to what we have collectively experienced, to what we are currently experiencing each day? These workshops explore ways in which our spiritual center can give word and voice to the pain and sorrow around us so that we might bring some semblance of connection back to relationships, communities, and world. In this seminar attendees will share, reflect, and write from their own spiritual backgrounds. There will be a reading (and listening) list, reflection, and times of sharing. This class is open to all, but the instructor encourages people of color to join. Since this class may deal with painful experiences and memories, ground rules will be explicitly made for this class. All sharing is optional, but attendees will be encouraged to share about their writing projects. |
Photo by Ehimetalor Akhere Unuabona on Unspalsh
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Let’s Start with Sentences
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INSTRUCTOR: Matthew Hefti
TIME: Saturday, November 6, 1:00–4:00 p.m. CDT PRICE: Early bird until Monday, November 1: for $45 for members, $60 for nonmembers. After Monday, November 1: $55 for members, $70 for nonmembers. Become a member here. Apply for a scholarship here. LOCATION: Online via Zoom CAP: 15 Let’s Start With Sentences This is a sentence. This workshop will be about sentences. Only sentences. And fragments. That’s all. Come learn. Come read. Come write. One sentence at a time. |
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Promoting Your Work to Bookstores
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INSTRUCTOR: Ülrika Moats
TIME: Saturday, Sunday, November 7, 3:00–6:00 p.m. CST PRICE: Early bird until Tuesday, November 2: $45 for members, $60 for nonmembers. After Tuesday, November 2: $55 for members, $70 for nonmembers. Become a member here. Apply for a scholarship here. LOCATION: Online via Zoom LEVEL: All Levels CAP: 15 The goal of this workshop is to instruct authors on the best approaches to bookstores for carrying your book as well as for hosting and promoting events for your book, both in person and virtual. Join Ülrika Moats, general manager and gift buyer for Brazos Bookstore in Houston, in examining the publishing and bookselling landscape, seeing your work in the context of it, and figuring out which bookstores are the best fit for your work and what platforms are best suited to you and your audience. |
Photo by Danielle MacInnes on Unspalsh
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Mags II Riches
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INSTRUCTOR: Jody T. Morse
TIME: Saturday, November 13, 1:00–4:00 p.m. CST PRICE: Early bird until Monday, November 8: $45 for members, $60 for nonmembers. After Monday, November 8: $55 for members, $70 for nonmembers. Become a member here. Apply for a scholarship here. LOCATION: Online via Zoom LEVEL: All Levels CAP: 15 In this follow-up course to “Mags to Riches: Writing for Magazines 101,” instructor Jody T. Morse will lead participants through a brief recap of the basic how-tos of launching a career in magazine writing and then dive into the actual skill and craft of penning brilliant nonfiction articles. In this generative session, attendees will cultivate three leads (or “nutgrafs,” to use publishing slang) that can be turned into pitches or fleshed out into full-length articles. As well, students will learn the art of crafting catchy titles and examine some of the instructor’s favorite articles of all time, gleaning their best attributes. The atmosphere will be a balance of fun and professionalism, friendliness and productivity. |
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The Poetry of Relationship: Writing Our Loves and Losses
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INSTRUCTOR: Catherine Vance
TIME: Sunday, November 14, 3:00–6:00 p.m. CST PRICE: Early bird until Tuesday, November 9: $45 for members, $60 for nonmembers. After Tuesday, November 9: $55 for members, $70 for nonmembers. Become a member here. Apply for a scholarship here. LOCATION: Online via Zoom LEVEL: All Levels CAP: 15 Most of us have written at least a couple of poems celebrating a romance or expressing angst over a bad breakup or a family conflict. If we’re not careful though, such verses can suffer from the cringe of emotional over-exposure—perfect for our journals but not measured and crafted enough to resonate with others. In this 3-hour generative workshop we’ll look at some masterful pieces by Rumi, Pablo Neruda, Ocean Vuong, Marge Piercy, and others to see how relationship poems can be both personal and universal, heavy with feeling but grounded in form and well-chosen language and imagery. We’ll do two prompts designed to help us manifest our own love and loss experiences and philosophy. We’ll share and comment on our poems as participants are comfortable doing so. If you have some poems you’ve been wanting to say but would like to shape them beyond that high-school outburst or greeting card love confession, this might be the workshop for you. If you wish, bring a poem in progress and we can examine what’s working and what might be tweaked to bring the full force of your passion and your ideas to fruition. Catherine Vance is a published poet and a fiction and memoir writer whose academic work has focused on the poet Walt Whitman. She has previously taught social justice memoir, the use of dreams in writing, and the lyric essay for Writespace. |
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Ekphrastic Writing
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INSTRUCTOR: Kendra Preston Leonard
TIME: Saturday, November 20, 1:00–4:00 p.m. CST PRICE: Early bird until Monday, November 15: $45 for members, $60 for nonmembers. After Monday, November 15: $55 for members, $70 for nonmembers. Become a member here. Apply for a scholarship here. LOCATION: Online via Zoom LEVEL: All Levels CAP: 15 Ekphrasis (eck-FRAY-ses) is writing about a piece of art as a literary device, or a piece of writing inspired by a work of art. Writers from Homer to Toni Morrison have used detailed descriptions of art to provide structure, add to character or scene development, and give context to their writing. Ekphrasis most often involves a piece of visual art, but in this workshop we’re going to explore writing about music to create a poem or prose piece. We’ll start off with talking about what ekphrasis means and how we can use it in various writing genres. We’ll go over musical terminology and resources for finding just the right words when writing about a piece of music, and discuss the idea that when we write about music, we are part of a long tradition of interpreting the music in continually-developing contexts. After reading a few ekphrastic poems about music, we’ll spend time listening to several different works and writing as we listen. All levels of writers are welcome. |
Photo by Soundtrap on Unspalsh
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Phoenix Fire
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INSTRUCTOR: Debbie Burns
TIME: Sunday, November 21, 3:00–6:00 p.m. CST PRICE: Early bird until Tuesday, November 16: $45 for members, $60 for nonmembers. After Tuesday, November 16: $55 for members, $70 for nonmembers. Become a member here. Apply for a scholarship here. LOCATION: Online via Zoom LEVEL: All Levels CAP: 15 Phoenix Fire is a get-stuff-done courage accelerator for writers willing to ACTUALLY TAKE THE STEPS to finish the work, build the dream, and claim their success. (Ya know… all that stuff you’ve been thinking about but NOT doing on your road to Happily EPIC After.) You’ll get everything you need to:
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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.
- Workshop tickets must be purchased online.
- Can't attend without a scholarship? Apply here.