Current Class List

Test the waters of writing funny! You’ll practice common forms of comedy writing through writing prompts. At the end of the class, you’ll have written four types of humor, have a deeper understanding how comedy and tips to move forward.

A one-two gut punch from a Random House author and her agent that will cover writing impactful scenes. We will get messy dissecting stand-out opening, middle, and end novel scenes. You'll walk away from this class with a better understanding of how to emotionally connect with your audience and then pull the rug out from under them.

Led by a former Penguin acquisitions editor and author, "Book Proposal Boot Camp" is a high-intensity basic training for writers with a nonfiction book idea, the readiness to write sample chapters, and the desire to get their proposal in the hands of agents and editors. By the end of this class, you will have a completed book proposal, a sample chapter, a query letter, and insider knowledge of the publishing industry, including how to successfully query agents.

We'll cover 10 steps that will help you learn social media tools, craft your book's marketing message and promote your book through social media.

Learn to write better dialogue for your fiction or memoir. Authentic dialogue makes writing more publishable. We'll analyze dialogue by famous writers, then use assignments and weekly feedback to translate spoken dialogue to the page, bringing in enough subtext to create tension, and finding our unique dialogue voice and rhythm.

No matter what you’re writing, it pays to be memorable.Our mental sounding boards need certain cues to catch attention and encourage retention. Brandish those energizing cues and your writing will snap, crackle and pop for your readers.

This class covers key tools genre writers use to hook their readers and keep them engaged. The "craft" readings are structured so students can develop a novel or short story from characters through outline to synopsis; the genre novels will serve as models for the effective use of these tools.