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April 2021
Middle Grade, Young Adult, Adult: What’s the best fit for your SciFi/Fantasy novel idea?
Instructor: Emily Thiede $40 Members | $45 Nonmembers Saturday, April 24, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm Can you curse in YA? How long are MG novels? Are dragons "in" or "out?" If my main character is 17 years old, can my book still be for adults? What does "crossover" mean? In recent years, the publishing world has drawn some clear lines (and some less clear lines) between age-categories, so how can writers decide where their book idea might belong? In…
Find out more »June 2021
The Facts of Fiction 1: Creating Compelling Characters
Instructor: Kristie Smeltzer $30 Members | $35 Nonmembers Saturday, June 5, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm Seminar Series: The Facts of Fiction This June seminar series covers four of the core concepts for writing effective fiction. Writers may take the entire series or only specific sessions. Writers who sign up for all four seminars will receive a $5 credit for each seminar completed. The total credit will be applied after the last seminar. The credit may be used to offset registration fees…
Find out more »The Facts of Fiction 2: Nailing the Narrative Arc
Instructor: Kristie Smeltzer $30 Members | $35 Nonmembers Saturday, June 12, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm Seminar Series: The Facts of Fiction This June seminar series covers four of the core concepts for writing effective fiction. Writers may take the entire series or only specific sessions. Writers who sign up for all four seminars will receive a $5 credit for each seminar completed. The total credit will be applied after the last seminar. The credit may be used to offset registration fees…
Find out more »The Facts of Fiction 3: Balancing Backstory and Action
Instructor: Kristie Smeltzer $30 Members | $35 Nonmembers Saturday, June 19, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm Seminar Series: The Facts of Fiction This June seminar series covers four of the core concepts for writing effective fiction. Writers may take the entire series or only specific sessions. Writers who sign up for all four seminars will receive a $5 credit for each seminar completed. The total credit will be applied after the last seminar. The credit may be used to offset registration fees…
Find out more »The Facts of Fiction 4: Drafting Authentic Dialogue
Instructor: Kristie Smeltzer $30 Members | $35 Nonmembers Saturday, June 26, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm Seminar Series: The Facts of Fiction This June seminar series covers four of the core concepts for writing effective fiction. Writers may take the entire series or only specific sessions. Writers who sign up for all four seminars will receive a $5 credit for each seminar completed. The total credit will be applied after the last seminar. The credit may be used to offset registration fees…
Find out more »July 2021
Advanced Fiction: First Novels, First Pages (class is full!)
Instructor: Bruce Holsinger $100 Members | $108 Nonmembers Tuesdays, 6/1/21 - 7/6/21 | 1:00 pm – 2:15 pm Class Requirement: Students are required to submit a one-paragraph description and the first ten pages of their novels to the instructor for approval to enroll in the class. Please email samples to programs@writerhouse.org. As any agent or editor will tell you, a fiction submission can stand or fall on the strength of the first page. Does the page resonate with a voice…
Find out more »August 2021
Character Development Campout (Online class) – Class Canceled!
Instructor: Kristie Smeltzer $95 Members | $105 Nonmembers Monday, 8/2/21 – Thursday, 8/5/21 | 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm Saturday & Sunday, 8/7/21 and 8/8/21, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm (Six class meetings in one week) Grab your writing gear and get ready for an immersive character development experience. Writers will spend six sessions over a week encamped with colleagues as we focus on refining characters until they feel so real that we’ll know how they like their s’mores. Heck,…
Find out more »Putting the Pen to the Page: Drafting Your Novel in One Year (Ongoing class)
Instructor: Kristen-Paige Madonia $1,399* Members | $1,399* Nonmembers Select Tuesdays, 1/5/21 - 8/31/21** | 6:00 PM - 8:30 PM *Payment plans will be available to students accepted into this program. Overview: Putting the Pen to the Page is an opportunity for writers to study the craft of creative writing, share and workshop portions of their novel manuscript, provide and receive constructive criticism, and work with a published author at an MFA-level of instruction as they write their way through the…
Find out more »November 2021
Elements of Fiction – Online class
Instructor: Sharon Harrigan $189 Members | $210 Nonmembers Tuesdays, 10/5/21 – 11/23/21 | 6:30 pm – 9:00 pm NOTE: CLASS WILL NOT MEET ON NOV. 9. A MAKEUP SESSION HAS BEEN SCHEDULED FOR NOV. 30. For the first part of each class, we will analyze a short story that is emblematic of a particular writing technique. The stories will be an eclectic assortment of literary fiction, with a focus on contemporary writers. For the second part of class, we will…
Find out more »December 2021
Developing Compelling Characters and Choosing the Right Point of View – Online class
Instructor: Kristie Smeltzer $189 Members | $210 Nonmembers Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10/5/21 – 12/2/21 | 6:00 pm - 7:15 pm NOTE: This class will not meet the week of Thanksgiving, the week of November 22. The last week of classes will be held the following week, the week of November 29. When we're doing our job well as writers, fiction readers get attached to the characters we create. Whether they love our characters, love to hate them, or just find…
Find out more »January 2022
Writing, Revising, Pitching: Getting Your Novel Out of the Drawer and Off to Market (Ongoing class)
Instructor: Randall Klein$1349* Members | $1349* NonmembersSelect Wednesdays 4/28/21 – 1/12/22 | 6:30 PM – 9:00 PM*Payment plans of $322 per quarter will be available to students accepted into this program. NOTE: This class will meet via Zoom. Overview: For most novelists, the ultimate goal is to get published. Before that, however, comes much revision, along with some frustration and confusion at a seemingly impenetrable system of submission, waiting, and hoping. "Writing, Revising, Pitching" is a class for people who…
Find out more »March 2022
Chopped (Online class)
Instructor: Jody Hobbs Hesler $150 Members | $165 Nonmembers Wednesdays, 2/9/22 – 3/30/22 | 11:00 am – 1:00 pm Inspired by the TV cooking game show Chopped, this generative writing class will present students with a new "basket" of four "ingredients" each week. "Ingredients" will be drawn from these categories: situations, objects or places, restrictions (on form or style), and people or moods. During our writing time, each writer will not only include all four items, but must "transform" them…
Find out more »April 2022
Narrative Arc in Novels (Online class)
Instructor: Kristie Smeltzer $189 Members | $210 Nonmembers Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2/15/22 – 4/7/22 | 6:30 pm – 7:45 pm Have you ever been working on your novel and found yourself wondering: what would happen next? As writers sometimes the more important question is why—why should that happen next? This class will look at narrative arc with the goal of helping participants know what should happen where in their work-in-progress (WIP). We’ll complete activities to identify key narrative elements in…
Find out more »May 2022
Flash Fiction: Short, Quick, and to the Point (in-person seminar)
Instructor: Warren Rochelle $60 Members | $65 Nonmembers Sunday, 5/1/22 | 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm Before signing up for this in-person seminar, please read the following statement about requirements to enroll: All students must be fully vaccinated, provide WriterHouse staff with proof of vaccination, be willing to wear a mask at all times during class, and be prepared to transition to a virtual platform in the event of significant Covid-19 upticks or inclement weather. No refunds will be issued if it is…
Find out more »Mind the Gap: How to Write a Novel When All You Think You Know Is How to Write Short Stories (online class)
Instructor: Noley Reid $189 Members | $210 Nonmembers Wednesdays, 3/30/22 – 5/18/22 | 6:00 pm – 8:30 pm (Eastern Time) Writers are often taught to write short stories, then left on their own to figure out the most complicated and lengthy, final fictive form: the novel. The struggle in the gap between story and novel is real, folks. But fear not. If you know how to write short stories, you have the key to writing a novel. In this class,…
Find out more »June 2022
Get Ready to Query Your Novel (in-person seminar series)
Instructor: Sara Read $60 Members | $65 Nonmembers Saturdays, 6/11/22 and 6/18/22| 2:00– 4:15 p.m. Before signing up for this in-person class, please read the following statement about requirements to enroll: All in-person students must be fully vaccinated and provide WriterHouse staff with proof of vaccination. For summer term, masks are optional, but in the event of significant Covid-19 upticks, students must be prepared for the mask policy to change and to transition to a virtual platform if necessary. No refunds will be issued if…
Find out more »Generative Fiction Workshop (online class)
Instructor: Kristie Smeltzer $150 Members | $165 Nonmembers Thursdays, 6/9/22 – 7/28/22 | 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time Are you ready to write this summer? Join this class that blends a traditional fiction workshop with themed generative writing days in which we’ll focus on a specific aspect of craft. Know what the best part is? Participants will have minimal work to do between class sessions other than focus on their own writing. Every other week we’ll workshop participants’ short…
Find out more »So You Wanna Write a Novel? 10 Things to Know Before Getting Too Deep into Writing Your Book (online seminar)
Instructor: Kristie Smeltzer $30 Members | $35 Nonmembers Saturday, 6/25/22 | 1:00 – 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time Many of us dream of writing a book, so it’s exciting when you feel like the moment has arrived to start. This seminar will help you along your way by shaping expectations for the process and giving you some key insights to set off on the right foot. If you’re thinking about writing a book or are somewhere in your first draft, this seminar…
Find out more »Elements of Fiction: Deep Dive into Point of View (in-person class)
Instructor: Sharon Harrigan $150 Members | $165 Nonmembers Tuesdays, 6/7/22 – 7/12/22 | 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Before signing up for this in-person class, please read the following statement about requirements to enroll: All in-person students must be fully vaccinated and provide WriterHouse staff with proof of vaccination. For summer term, masks are optional, but in the event of significant Covid-19 upticks, students must be prepared for the mask policy to change and to transition to a virtual platform if necessary. No refunds will…
Find out more »Dungeons & Dragons & Writing: Exploring Character Development (online class)
Instructor: Evan Fleischer $150 Members | $165 Nonmembers Wednesdays, 6/8/22 – 7/13/22 | 6:00 – 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time Looking for an out-of-the-box way to expand your characters and character-building skills? Dungeons & Dragons is a collective storytelling game played amongst friends with dice telling the players what they can and can’t do. “D & D & Writing” aims to take the structure of Dungeons & Dragons and the act of playing the game itself to enable students to conduct a living, ever-deepening…
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