See also:
Creative Writing 101 Intensive

Creative Writing 101

Creative Writing 101

Creative Writing 101 is a 6-week class, which includes a mixture of lectures and exercises. It’s for beginners or anyone who wants a refresher. Farther down, you can view a syllabus for this course.

Are you eager to test the waters of creative writing but not sure where to start, or how? Have you written previously but been away for a while and hope to dip back in?

Here you will be guided surely and safely into the writing life. There’s no pressure to work on a specific project or even settle on which type of creative writing you prefer. The idea is to explore—see with a writer’s eyes, spark ideas to life, gain confidence, and experiment with both fiction and nonfiction.

Creative writing is one of the most fulfilling ways to express yourself, and you’re never too young or too old to give it a try. Come on in. The water’s fine.

About Creative Writing 101
Creative Writing 101

It will prompt you to sit down and write whether the muse is with you or not.

Peggy Freudenthal

production editor

Notes

This course includes both fiction and nonfiction prose.

The 101 courses do not include workshopping of student projects, but students write and receive feedback on writing exercises and assignments.

Upcoming Classes NYC COVID Info

If you test positive for Covid – Don’t come to class until you test negative. But let your teacher know and we’ll work to give you access to your missed classes via Zoom.

If you show Covid symptoms OR If you have been exposed to someone with Covid – Don’t come to class for at least 5 days after showing symptoms or exposure, and then take a test to confirm that you are negative. Let your teacher know and we’ll work to give you access to your missed classes via Zoom.

If you have any questions about this, you may call (212-974-8377) or email us ([email protected]).
  • Starts Tuesday, March 4
    Online, anytime
    6-Week Class

Price

Registration fee $25, paid once per term

6-Week

Syllabus

This course explores fiction and types of creative nonfiction, and the techniques that go with them. Course components:
     Lectures
     Writing exercises

New York City/Zoom classes
The syllabus varies from teacher to teacher, term to term. Many topics will be similar to those covered in the Online classes.

Online classes 
Week 1
OIL: The importance of having fun with writing. Exploration of the cornerstones of creative writing—observation, imagination, language.

Week 2 
Show and Tell: Understanding the difference between showing and telling. Techniques for showing—sensory, specificity, scenes.

Week 3
Individuality: The power of a journal. Writing what you know. Writing what you want to know. Finding your individual voice.

Week 4 
Fiction: The types and forms of fiction. Where to find fiction ideas. The basics of creating a story—characters, plot, point of view.

Week 5 
Nonfiction: Exploration of three types of creative nonfiction writing—memoir, personal essays, narrative nonfiction. Where to find nonfiction ideas.

Week 6 
Getting Better: Good habits. Battling the blank page. Revision. Reading as a writer. Where to go next?

Note: Content may vary among individual classes.

Teachers

Adela Brito
Adela Brito

Adela Brito has published short stories in Acentos Review, the Sandy River Review, Litbreak Magazine, Hieroglyph, and Moko Magazine, and she is a former fiction editor of The Pinch literary journal. Her nonfiction and poetry have appeared or are forthcoming in Writer’s Digest, Cathexis Northwest Press, Underwood, Adelaide Literary Magazine, All About Jazz, c-nf, Counterculture UK, and Storyboard Memphis. She has taught at the University of Memphis and Nashville State Community College. She holds a BA from Florida International University and an MFA in Fiction from the University of Memphis.

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Alice Martin
Alice Martin

Alice Martin is the author of the novel Westward Women (St. Martin’s Press), and her short stories have appeared in the Los Angeles Review, Reed Magazine, the Writer’s Foundry Review, Flash Fiction Magazine, and been anthologized in North Carolina’s Emerging Writers: An Anthology of Fiction. She has worked as a junior literary agent at Writers House, and taught for Duke University, New York University, and Rutgers University. She holds a BA from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and an MA in English literature from New York University. 

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Jaime Karnes
Jaime Karnes

Jaime Karnes has published fiction and nonfiction in Granta, Adirondack Review, Opium Magazine, and PopMatters. She is an editor-at-large in fiction at The Utopian. She has taught at Rutgers and Southern New Hampshire University. She holds a BA from the University of Kansas and an MFA in Fiction from Rutgers-Newark University.

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Kody Keplinger
Kody Keplinger

Kody Keplinger is the author of the young adult Hamilton High series (Little Brown/Poppy), which includes the New York Times best-selling The DUFF, also the young adult novels That's Not What Happened, Run (both Scholastic), Secrets and Lies (Poppy)and the graphic novel Poison Ivy: Thorns (DC Comics). She is also the author of the middle grade novels Lila and Hadley and The Swift Boys & Me (both Scholastic). She has published fiction in Young Adult Review Net, and nonfiction in Seventeen, YA Highway, and Poptimal.

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Omari Chancellor
Omari Chancellor

Omari Chancellor has published short fiction in Vol. 1 Brooklyn, Brainwxsh, Still Life, and Soft Punk. He wrote and directed the short films The One, which appeared in several film festivals including the Ohio Valley Film Festival, and SwimLessons for The Believer magazine. He has taught at Spotlight Kids NY and the 52nd Street Project. He holds a BFA from Roanoke College and an MFA from New York University.

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Rachel Simon
Rachel Simon

Rachel Simon is the author of the narrative nonfiction book Pickleball for All: Everything But the "Kitchen" Sink (Harper Collins/Dey Street Books). Her essays, features, and opinion have appeared in in the New York Times, magazine, Shondaland, InStyle, Glamour, Vulture, Refinery29, and NBC News. She has constructed crossword puzzles for the New York Times and New York magazine's Vulture. Previously she's been the deputy editor of HelloGiggles, entertainment-news editor for Bustle, and wellbeing editor for Mic. She holds a BA from Emerson College.

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Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen
Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen

Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen is the author of the young adult Compound series, the young adult novels The Tomb, The Raft, The Detour, the middle grade Shipwreck Island series (all Feiwel and Friends), and the Elizabeti series of picture books (Lee & Low). She has taught at the Whidbey Island Writer’s Workshop. She holds a BS from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls and an MFA in Writing from Spalding University.

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