Refine your accomplished stories in a supportive atmosphere.
Deep reading and insightful questions are the hallmarks of this course. If you have previous workshop experience and are well along on your fiction-writing journey, this 6-week workshop might be for you. Participants of the class should come in with a well-honed understanding of point of view, character, and narrative tension. We’ll explore such questions as: Does your story hook readers in? Do your characters live and breathe? If the course sounds like a good fit, please apply by submitting a one-page summary outlining your previous fiction experience, plus the first fifteen pages (double-spaced, 12 pt. font, pages numbered) of a piece of fiction you’ve written. Send these by June 22, 2026 to laura.spencer@writer.org. Participants will be notified within five days of the submission deadline and should register for the course upon notification.
Live video conference: This workshop will be held via our online video conferencing platform, Zoom. You can view brief tutorials on using the platform here. On the start date or the day before, participants will receive an email with login info (please check your spam if you don’t see it).
In this workshop you’ll learn:
- How to be sure your characters are realistic and complex.
- How to make your dialogue reveal character and sound natural.
- How to structure a story to increase narrative tension.
Time requirements
- You’ll need to set aside approximately 2-4 hours outside of class each week to develop your own stories and to give thorough feedback to your fellow authors.
Materials
- All reading materials will be provided.
Who should take this workshop?
- This course is designed for advanced fiction writers with previous workshop experience and a well-honed understanding of point of view, character, and narrative tension. Participants will have the opportunity to bounce their stories-in-progress off other writers in preparation for polishing and sending the work out for publication.
If you need an accommodation for this workshop, please contact us at access@writer.org. We will attempt to fulfill all requests, but advance notice is necessary to arrange for some accessibility services.
