Our online classes are offered throughout the year. We occasionally also offer retreats and in-person workshops. See a class you’d like to take but registration isn’t open? Subscribe to our announcement mailing list to get notifications of new classes.
Writing great fiction often requires research. Whether you’re a writer who creates whole new worlds or futures, a writer who uses historical settings or events, or a writer crafting characters whose identities or cultures are very different from your own, you need to learn this skill.
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Join bestselling and award-winning author Piper J. Drake for an exploration into the various relationships between principal characters and how the progression of those relationship arcs through the course of the story can drive plot forward.
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Want to include neopronouns in your fiction and poetry but have questions about which to use, how to use them, or others? In this webinar Takács will examine how other writers have used neopronouns historically and in the present day, and consider distinctions between problematizing and normalizing neopronouns (and how to confidently use each approach in your own work).
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In this webinar we’ll examine techniques for finding and accurately interpreting historical sources, go over ways to interrogate the dominant paradigm’s versions of the past, and learn how to focus our narratives on the lives of the formerly marginalized. Exercises, lectures, discussion, and examples work together to make this a powerful and energizing class for everyone ready to explore the exciting field of inclusive historical fiction.
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Stories can wound or heal. In this webinar, award-winning author and editor Nisi Shawl will talk about the ways stories can hurt, the ways they can help, and how you can use their power–particularly when writing speculative fiction and alternate history. The webinar will review common stories with harmful effects and discuss ways to subvert or pass them by. The webinar also includes live exercises to provide practice in these valuable techniques.
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Stories about rebelling against an unjust system or a tyrannical ruler have always been popular, often becoming lucrative franchises (A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…). However, they also frequently portray a simplified narrative about how resistance works or avoid the nuances of what it means to fight an oppressive force.
This one-day workshop will establish an understanding of the building blocks that can be put in place for a realistic foundation for a dystopian society, oppression, and rebellion. Instructor Helen Gould will cover real-world examples of political resistance from around the world, discuss the morality of important issues like the use of violence, and explore what kind of characters you might need in a story about revolution.
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Relationships between characters are key to character development and plot progression in every genre, not just romance. Family bonds, friendships, and lifelong partnerships create support networks around characters in every narrative. Writers often struggle to represent the connections and bonds between people that are outside their experience.
In this class, authors Piper J. Drake, Lauren Jankowski, and Jacqueline Koyanagi will discuss family and found family, platonic relationships and friendships, poly and interracial relationships, and how to recognize and challenge the Love Hierarchy.
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Riveting, evocative storytelling hinges on the choices your characters make. These pivotal choices are not necessarily the high action moments in your plot, but they are the moments that define who your character is and becomes. By charting a handful of critical moments of choice in your story, by examining the pressures and risks at each moment, by taking into account how your character’s identities inform their actions, and by understanding deeply how your character pushes against their history and environment at each step, you can create a powerful mini-outline.
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We’ve all heard about the Hero’s Journey, but how often do we hear about the Heroine’s Journey, Western culture’s other prominent story structure?
In this webinar, New York Times bestselling author Gail Carriger provides a full break down of what aspects of the heroine’s journey make for compelling narratives and voracious readers, where these elements originate, why they’re successful, and how to write them.
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This Master Class looks at creating and representing characters who are not attracted exclusively to people of a single gender. Termed pansexual by some, bisexual by others (the “B” in LGBTQ), these sexual identities are among the most stigmatized and misunderstood, and are often represented by cliches and inaccurate stereotypes.
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