Unbound: Teen Creative Writing
Unbound: Teen Creative Writing happens in either a span of 4 weeks (NYC, Zoom), or 6 weeks (NYC, Zoom, Online). The course includes a mixture of lectures and exercises. It’s open to students age 13-17. Farther down, you can view a syllabus for this course.
Unleash your creativity as a writer, while learning the tricks of the trade. You have the freedom to write what you want (prose fiction or nonfiction), but you also gain the discipline of writing craft.
There are no grades, no exams, no wrong answers—just creative writing. Each class is taught by a teacher adept at helping young writers discover and develop their unique voices. The idea is to explore—see with a writer’s eyes, spark ideas to life, gain confidence, and experiment with both fiction and nonfiction.
Better writers produce stronger college applications, and an extracurricular writing class is an impressive addition to any profile. When you know how to express yourself well with words, you’ve got a special power.
It made me go outside of my comfort zone with my writing and was so helpful.
Hannah Smilie
student
Notes
For NYC and Zoom, this course is offered as a 6-week class (with 3-hour sessions), and also as a 4-week class in the summer (with two 2-hour sessions per week).
This course includes both fiction and nonfiction prose.
Upcoming Classes
Zoom classes are being scheduled. Please check back soon.
-
-
Class Full. Join wait list.
Price
Registration fee $25, paid once per term
6-Week
-
Online
Anytime, week-long sessions
Tuition: $339
-
One-on-One
Tuition: $1195
Syllabus
This course lets you explore 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. Reasons to write.
Note: Content may vary among individual classes.
Teachers
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.
Read more
Betsey Odell
Betsey Odell is the author of the novel Deep Water (Sapphire Books) and the essay “Naked in Bohemia” in the anthology Travelers Tales Prague and the Czech Republic (Travelers’ Tales Guides). Her nonfiction has appeared in Preserving Your Memory magazine, of which she was editor-in-chief, and Yellow Rat Bastard. She has taught at Randolph-Macon College. She holds a BA from Randolph-Macon College.
Read morehas 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.
is the author of the novel Deep Water (Sapphire Books) and the essay “Naked in Bohemia” in the anthology Travelers Tales Prague and the Czech Republic (Travelers’ Tales Guides). Her nonfiction has appeared in Preserving Your Memory magazine, of which she was editor-in-chief, and Yellow Rat Bastard. She has taught at Randolph-Macon College. She holds a BA from Randolph-Macon College.
