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• Generative Fiction: 5-Week Motivation and Support Package

  • Start
    April 14, 2025
  • End
    May 16, 2025
  • Location
    Online via Zoom

  Registration is closed

  This support package is only available to previous students of Generative Fiction I, II, III, and IV. The support package will start April 14 and run through May 16. Once you register, you will receive more details from the instructor.

  Please note: You can register for the support package whether or not you are also going to register for Generative Fiction V, and you can register for Generative Fiction V without signing up for the support package. If you have specific questions about either, please contact the instructor.

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

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• The Writer's Promise: Gaining Readers' Trust (Kristie Smeltzer)

  • When
    May 03, 2025
  •  
    1:00 PM - 4:00 PM
  • Location
    Online via Zoom -- instructor will provide link
  • Spaces left
    10

  Register

  This seminar will meet online for 1 session on Saturday, May 3rd from 1:00-4:00 PM. 
  
  Description:

  Sometimes what makes or breaks the success of a story is how well a writer sets and manages readers expectations. The first few paragraphs, pages, or chapters of a piece, depending on its length, establish its voice, tone, characters, and structure. Carefully building that foundation helps readers to trust you as the writer.

  In this seminar, we'll discuss essential elements that writers need to set up early in their work to gain that reader trust and buy-in, in addition to grabbing their interest. Then we'll read some examples of published work to analyze how the writers' choices affect the readers' experience. Finally, we'll have time for participants to do activities with their own writing to identify existing strengths in terms of their promises to readers as well as identifying opportunities for additions and changes. 

  Both fiction and creative nonfiction writers will benefit from participating in this seminar. Those of any skill level are welcome to participate but having at least a basic understanding of story structure and essential story components will help participants get the most out of the seminar. 
  
  About the Instructor:

  Kristie Smeltzer's fiction has been published by Scribes*MICRO*Fiction, MonkeyBicycle, Atticus Review, pioneertown, and others. She is currently working on several novels. She earned her MFA in creative writing at the University of Central Florida. Kristie has taught at WriterHouse since 2016, and her students have gone on to publish their work in literary magazines, with small presses, and through large publishing houses. She also helps others tell their stories as a developmental editor and writing coach. WriterHouse members get a 5% discount on Kristie’s services. Learn more at www.kristiesmeltzer.com.

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• Generative Fiction V

  • Start
    May 07, 2025
  •  
    6:30 PM
  • End
    June 25, 2025
  •  
    8:30 PM
  • Location
    Online
  • Spaces left
    3

  Register

  This class session is open to previous participants of Generative Fiction I, II, III, and IV. Previous participants will receive a registration code to complete registration and payment.

  Generative Fiction V will take place online via Zoom. You will receive your link and other information directly from the instructor.

  Class will start 5/7/25 and run through 6/25/25, from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM.

  A minimum of 4 people is required.

  
  

  
  

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• Writing Diverse Characters Responsibly (Andi Cumbo-Floyd)

  • Start
    May 10, 2025
  •  
  • End
    May 17, 2025
  •  
  • Schedule
    2 sessions
  • Location
    WriterHouse
  • Spaces left
    7

  Register

  This seminar will meet in person for 2 sessions on Saturdays, May 10 and May 17th from 10:00 AM-12:00 PM. 
  

  Description:

  The writing adage is to write what you know, but if we, as writers, only write about our own experience, are we limiting ourselves and our readers to a world that is too monochromatic?  In this seminar, we’ll discuss the challenges of writing “the other” as well as our ethical and social responsibilities when doing so. We’ll talk about strategies and processes to help us be responsible and compassionate writers as well as what the limits might be for writing in the experience of a person who differs from us in ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or economic class. Participants will walk away from the course with a clear and personalized sense of what is available to them and what territories of experience they feel uncomfortable exploring.  

  About the Instructor:

  Andi Cumbo-Floyd is a former creative writing professor, a professional editor, and a publisher who is the author of over 30 books that each incorporate real-life places, people, and events in their pages.  She writes cozy mysteries, romantic comedies, YA fantasy, and creative nonfiction and holds and MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Antioch University. She has taught at Santa Clara University, Stevenson University, and George Mason University. When she’s not writing, she and her young son name his toys odd things like “Blech-agh-bah” and try to figure out Lego Fortnite together.  She lives in Crozet.

  
  

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• New Ways to Tell Old Stories: Poems About Families (Margaret Mackinnon)

  • When
    May 10, 2025
  •  
    1:30 PM - 5:30 PM
  • Location
    WriterHouse
  • Spaces left
    5

  Register

  This seminar will meet in person for 1 session on Saturday, May 10 from 1:30 -5:30 PM. 
  

  Description:

  Families are the focus of countless poems by American writers, from Robert Hayden’s “Those Winter Sundays” to Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy.” In this one-day seminar, we will look at poems by contemporary writers who take new and interesting approaches to this familiar subject. In reflecting on what makes a successful poem, Robert Frost observed, “No surprise for the writer, no surprise for the reader.” The poets whose work we’ll explore all look at family stories in surprising ways. Members of the class will be encouraged to use some of these poems as inspiration for their own work. Our time together will be spent reading and discussing these model poems, along with pieces contributed by those in the seminar.   

  About the Instructor:

  Margaret Mackinnon is the author of two collections of poetry, The Invented Child (Silverfish Review Press 2013), winner of the 2014 Literary Award in Poetry from the Library of Virginia, and Afternoon in Cartago (Ashland Poetry Press 2022), winner of the Richard Snyder Memorial Publication Prize. Her work has appeared in The Hampden-Sydney Poetry Review, Image, Poetry, Blackbird, and other journals. She attended Vassar College and the University of North Carolina, and she received her MFA in poetry from the University of Florida. She lives with her family in Richmond.

  
  

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• Write On! Summer Camps for Young Writers

  • Start
    July 14, 2025
  •  
    11:00 AM
  • End
    July 25, 2025
  •  
    3:00 PM
  • Location
    WriterHouse

  Register

  Description:

  Session 1: Rising 6th to Rising 8th Grade Students
  

  •  July 14 — July 18
    
  • 11 AM to 3 PM
    

  Session 2: Rising 9th to Rising 12th Grade Students
  

  •  July 21 — July 25
    
  • 11 AM to 3 PM
    

  Unleash your creativity in this week-long writing workshop! You will have the freedom to write what you want (fiction, non-fiction, poetry, songs!) while also learning specific tools and techniques that are crucial to all types of writing. We will explore and discuss a variety of writing across genres, and use prompts and exercises to help you dive into your writing. We will also engage in activities around town to spark inspiration and creativity. Throughout the week you will have the opportunity to share ideas, work on something new or a work-in-progress, get feedback, and refine your work. Join us on this writing adventure!

  Register online or send a check to WriterHouse, PO Box 222, Charlottesville, VA. Please complete and return the permission slip as campers will not be able to participate without it.
  

  About the Instructor:

  Erin has taught English and Creative Writing for over a decade and received her MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University in 2024. 

  In addition to working with students at WriterHouse for the past ten years, she has been a judge for the Writer‘s Eye Creative Writing Contest hosted by the University of Virginia’s Fralin Museum of Art. She has also been a student and teacher-counselor at UVA’s Young Writers Workshop. She has attended two week-long workshops for Teachers as Writers at Bard College’s Institute for Writing and Thinking in 2014 and 2016 and received an author fellowship to attend the Martha’s Vineyard Institute for Creative Writing in 2021. Before she began teaching, she studied Journalism and English at New York University and received her undergraduate degree in English from the University of Virginia. In addition to writing, Erin loves reading, hiking, practicing and teaching yoga, cooking, being outside, traveling, and spending time with her sons Noah and Jacob, and friends.

  
  

  
  

  
  

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