Nisi Shawl Archives - Writing the Other

Dialogue and Dialect Workshop 2026

September 29, 2026WtO Admin

An essential part of creating a character is understanding how that individual speaks or communicates. In this craft-focused class we’ll help you sharpen your dialogue skills through lectures, hands-on exercises, and feedback. [...]

Character Deep Dive Workshop 2026

September 22, 2026September 22, 2026WtO Admin

Join us for a weekend of writing exercises and feedback that will help you dig into your characters’ background, giving you a solid foundation for their motivations and actions in your story. [...]

Worldbuilding Deep Dive Workshop 2026

September 15, 2026September 15, 2026WtO Admin

In this workshop, authors Nisi Shawl and K. Tempest Bradford will guide you through short writing exercises that will help you dive into aspects of your world that writers often overlook, but that impact your story and characters in major ways. [...]

Healing History’s Wounds with Speculative Fiction 2026

March 10, 2026March 2, 2026WtO Admin

Stories can wound or heal. In this class, 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 class will review common stories with harmful effects and discuss ways to subvert or pass them by. The class also includes exercises to provide practice in these valuable techniques. [...]

Are You My Ally? A Webinar for Writers and Creators

February 4, 2025February 7, 2025WtO Admin

Join authors Nisi Shawl and K. Tempest Bradford for a webinar that will empower would-be allies to support BIPOC and other marginalized creatives. [...]

Worldbuilding Bootcamp – Online Writing Workshop

October 1, 2024October 7, 2024WtO Admin

Character Bootcamp – Online Writing Workshop

October 1, 2024October 7, 2024WtO Admin

Join us for a day of writing exercises and feedback that will help you dig into your characters’ background, giving you a solid foundation for their motivations and actions in your story. [...]

What To Do If You F%#! Up – Avoiding Career-Ending Missteps

January 30, 2024January 28, 2024Writing the Other

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a writer of fiction will, in the course of their career, screw up. A truth not universally acknowledged is that authors can recover from a screw up, even a highly public one, by avoiding specific behaviors that do nothing but escalate and make the situation worse. Nisi Shawl and K. Tempest Bradford will break down what authors should not do and advise on what they should do, instead. [...]

Writing Characters Who Practice Non-Standard Religions

September 18, 2023October 27, 2023WtO Admin

How can you create convincing characters who see the world in really different ways? Nisi Shawl’s talks and exercises explore the roots of religions and other models for understanding the universe, helping you to depict practitioners of non-dominant group faiths OR believers in your invented religions and cosmologies. [...]

NaNo Prep 2023: Character Workshop

August 31, 2023October 25, 2023WtO Admin

Gearing up for NaNoWriMo 2023? Before you put words to page, get to know your main character/s better in this Preptober workshop with authors Nisi Shawl and K. Tempest Bradford. [...]