what is creative writing in class

I was lucky enough to take my first creative writing class in high school, and I was instantly hooked. I went on to take classes in college, and then even after I graduated. So, if you're about to start your first creative writing class, I am so excited for you.

But, what is creative writing class, anyway? How does that even work? When I took my first class, I had absolutely no idea what to expect. Creative writing is not taught like your typical school subject, but it's not a complete blow-off elective either. And of course, every teacher does things in their own way.

I also didn't realize until I took one how amazingly valuable a creative writing class can be. I used to think that writing was purely a solo activity. You sat at your desk and put some words down on paper, and that was that. But the truth is that writing classes are great ways to build a community, learn some tricks of the trade, and produce new work. No matter how you're embarking on your creative writing journey, there are some things that you can expect to find in any creative writing class you take:

Other people are going to be reading your work.

Most creative writing classes are based on the roundtable system, in which your fellow students will read your work and provide commentary. Wait, don't freak out! It can be really daunting to share your work with others, especially for the first time, but you may come to love the roundtable. Most people will be super respectful of your efforts, and it's helpful to be able to test ideas out on different readers. Plus, sometimes the hardest part of being a writer is recognizing what is working, and you'll be amazed to learn which parts of your writing your peers love. Trust me, I always leave a round table feeling inspired and empowered.

You will have deadlines.

Deadlines can be both a blessing and a curse. For me, having a deadline helps me get the work done. But, I acknowledge, they can be stressful.

You will have to write new material.

I think some people expect that they can just coast through on writing they've already done, or that they can just work on one short story and submit revisions of it again and again. There may be some classes where that's okay, but even so, one of the most fulfilling parts of creative writing classes is challenging yourself to write something new, and to keep writing.

You will probably have reading assignments.

This was a huge surprise to me when I first started taking creative writing classes. One of the best ways to get better at writing is to read, and many creative writing teachers will give you reading assignments.

Creative writing class is a great place to step out of your comfort zone.

Try writing in a new genre! Try writing a screenplay or a poem or a novel! I like to think of creative writing class as the writer's version of a science lab, where you can experiment on anything you want and see how it turns out. You're going to be delightfully surprised by what you're able to do.

You might get prompts, and you might not.

Most of my creative writing teachers have been super lenient with writing assignments. In my experience, teachers have left the decision up to me, which can be both freeing and intimidating. So before you start class, it might be a good idea to the think about what you want to write. (But also remember, it's always okay to ask your teacher for help if you're stumped!)

On the flip side, sometimes teachers do throw in a prompt or two, and it's easy to feel boxed in. In that case, think of the prompt as a challenge, and try to stretch the box in whatever way you can. Don't put too much pressure on yourself to stick to the prompt exactly. Just try to have fun!

You don't need any previous writing experience.

There are going to be some people in your class who have been writing since they emerged from the womb, and some people who haven't written anything in their life. Wherever you're at is where you're supposed to be. (Though, of course, more advanced classes will have prerequisites.)

You will make some of your best friends in creative writing class.

Creative writing classes are amazing communities. The work of writing is usually a solitary an difficult one, so it feels amazing to connect with other people who are going through the same process. Plus, sharing your work will give you a super tight bond.

You're going to read some stuff you don't like, and that's okay.

You'll find a huge variety in the writers taking class with you. Every writer has different tastes, different styles, and different skill-levels. Not everything you read is going to be right for you as a reader, but that doesn't mean it's bad. Remember, even if it's not your usual cup of tea, have an open mind and be respectful. Concentrate on the craft of the piece and giving constructive criticism. And always find something positive to say.

Not everything you submit has to be perfect.

Of course, put your best foot forward and work hard on the pieces you submit to class. But you'll save yourself a lot of heartache if you keep in mind that each piece you submit is just a draft , not the final version. The point is to find things about it to improve! There's really no such thing as a "mistake."

You don't have to be a professional writer to get a lot out of creative writing class.

My high school creative writing teacher used to have us start and end each semester by filling out a self-evaluation. One of the questions was what our commitment-level was, ranging from "Hobby" to "Passion." You don't have to be at the passion level to enjoy a creative writing class. In my opinion, creative writing classes are great no matter your level of experience.

But you'll only get as much out of it as you put into it.

The point of creative writing class is not to get a good grade. Your own sense of fulfillment is contingent upon the time and care you put into your assignments, class discussion, and review of your peers' work.

Don't forget to have fun!

One of the classic traps is to take writing too seriously. Don't lose sight of how freakin' fun it is to be creative.

Are you looking for the best online creative writing courses? You may have found some promising classes online, but you may also be unsure if the course is actually good. How can you know you’ll benefit from the course without spending your money first?

The good news is, there are creative writing courses out there for everyone, and they’re sure to improve your writing. Even better news, the best online creative writing courses share many of the same qualities.

If you want to learn how to write creatively, or if you simply want to improve your everyday writing, the best online creative writing courses can transform your writing abilities. Let’s explore what you might learn in creative writing classes, and how they help writers of all skill levels.

The Best Online Creative Writing Courses: Contents

What do you do in a creative writing class?

• Reputable Instructor
• Clear Course Description
• Promise of a Great Experience
• Constructive Feedback
• Focus on Craft
• Respect Your Creative Autonomy
• A Writing Community
• Motivate You to Write
• Jumpstart a Writing Habit
• Broaden Your Literary Horizons
• Offer a Healthy Creative Outlet
• Give You Next Steps

How to Make the Most of Online Creative Writing Courses

Every online creative writing class is unique, and different courses emphasize different things. We have classes that are entirely generative, meaning the focus is on writing new poems, essays, stories, or making headway into a novel or memoir project. Other courses might have more of a workshop component, in which you share your work with the class and receive feedback on how to improve your writing.

Some online writing courses also focus on specific skills or types of writing. You might take a class focused entirely on learning the tools for revision, or on learning the elements of fiction writing so you can later employ them in a story or novel.

In short, the best online writing courses typically include the following:

• Lectures and discussions on a topic of creative writing craft.
• Assignments that help you generate new work or revise old work.
• Opportunities to give and receive feedback with your fellow classmates.
• Feedback on your work from the instructor, who themselves is a successfully published author of the type of writing you’re producing.
• A weekly video call. Some courses, including ours, are entirely text-based and asynchronous, but many classes meet at least once a week on Zoom.

In addition to all of this, you will make new friends and connections in the best online creative writing classes. Writing is often a lonely experience for writers, and the bonds you make in creative writing workshops can last a lifetime.

12 Things to Look For In the Best Online Creative Writing Courses

The best online creative writing courses will sharpen your writing skills, help you find your confidence, and introduce you to new communities of writers. How do they do it? Here’s 12 things to look for to make sure you’re spending your money on the right online writing class. 

1. The Best Online Creative Writing Courses Have a Reputable Instructor

Your course is only as good as the instructor who teaches it. For online writing classes to teach you the craft, they need to have reputable, trustworthy instructors. A great instructor will also be empathetic, community-oriented, adaptive to your writing needs, and a great writer themselves.

A great instructor will also be empathetic, community-oriented, adaptive to your writing needs, and a great writer themselves.

Do some research on the course instructor: they should have a terminal degree in their field (M.A., M.F.A., Ph.D., etc.), as well as a significant publication history. A reputable instructor will make all the difference in your course: as part of their education, the instructor should have undergone dozens of writing workshops, submitted to countless literary journals, and had their work scrutinized by critics and book lovers alike.

In order for an instructor to help you develop your creative writing skills, they need to be successful on their own. The best instructors are what make the best online creative writing courses.

2. The Best Online Creative Writing Classes Have a Clear Course Description

What does the course teach you, and what will you learn week by week? In addition to listing a reputable instructor, the course description should tell you exactly what you’ll gain from taking the course.

In addition to listing a reputable instructor, the course description should tell you exactly what you’ll gain from taking the course.

Be sure you know exactly what you’re getting out of your online creative writing course, including what you might learn and write in the process. Consider what will help you the most as you embark on your writing journey: entering a course with certain goals or learning objectives will help you make the most of the course’s lectures and writing assignments.

There should be no ambiguity: if you’re paying for the course, you deserve to know exactly what you’re paying for. And, if you have questions, ask the program administrator before you enroll. They should be happy to hear from you!

3. The Best Online Creative Writing Classes Promise a Great Experience

The best online creative writing courses prioritize one thing: YOU! Your learning, your goals, and your writing should be at the center of your experience. And, your course should guarantee that experience.

The best online creative writing courses prioritize your learning, your goals, and your writing.

Creative writing classes can be a risk, since they probably won’t confer university credit and you probably haven’t interacted with that instructor before. You want to be confident that your learning is guaranteed, otherwise you’ll only waste your time, money, and creativity.

Before you enroll in an online writing course, look to see if the program administrators have a student promise . Your experience in the course should be the number one priority of the instructor and administrators; otherwise, you’re better off looking elsewhere for the best online creative writing courses.

4. The Best Online Creative Writing Courses Offer Constructive Feedback

In addition to useful lectures and assignments, creative writing courses give you access to helpful, instructional feedback. Most instructors hold Masters or Doctoral degrees in English or creative writing and, as a result, they have ample knowledge of what works in literature, as well as tons of experience in giving feedback.

Creative writing courses give you access to helpful, instructional feedback.

In the best online creative writing classes, an instructor will both inspire you to write and guide you towards being a better writer. Their feedback will cover the many aspects of great writing. For example, your instructor might comment on:

• Unclear language
• Ideas that need to be expanded
• Sentences that are too wordy or passive
• Opportunities to use more engaging vocabulary
• Places to improve writing structure
• Grammar and spelling corrections

Finally, an instructor will tell you what you are already doing well in your writing. When you write a really great metaphor , use interesting word choice, or find a moment of great insight, your instructor will tell you—highlighting the creative writing skills you have already mastered.

5. The Best Online Creative Writing Courses Focus on Craft

You might be wondering how creative writing classes are different from high school English. The big difference is that, where a typical English class focuses on basic grammar and literacy skills, creative writing classes focus specifically on craft.

Creative writing classes focus specifically on craft: the elements of language and storytelling that make a work of prose or poetry successful.

What is creative writing craft? Craft involves the elements of language and storytelling that make a work of prose or poetry successful. Focusing on craft is how creative writing classes primarily improve your writing.

Your writing class might focus on the structure of a short story, the different types of literary devices , the importance of effective word choice , or the elements of storytelling . A writing class should break down successful works of literature into the components that make it work, giving you the tools to practice your own creative writing skills.

Additionally, craft-focused writing helps you with everyday writing. From improving your vocabulary to structuring an email, the creative writing practice translates to improved writing in every aspect of your life.

6. The Best Online Creative Writing Classes Respect Your Creative Autonomy

One of the benefits of creative writing classes is the perspective you get from different writers. No two writers are working on the same projects, and in your course, you’re likely to work with students of different genres and writing styles.

your creative authority should be respected no matter how new you are to creative writing.

With so many different writing philosophies in one class, the new ideas you encounter can help strengthen your own writing. But in the worst-case scenario, a student or instructor might try to force their writing philosophy onto you. This is always unfair, as there is no one-size-fits-all writing advice, your creative authority should be respected no matter how new you are to creative writing .

For example, let’s say you’re writing a poem about your childhood cat, and the instructor thinks it should be a poem about your experiences growing up. No matter how many times you explain you want this poem to be about your cat, the instructor keeps telling you to write more about your childhood. By ignoring your goals for the poem, the instructor is not respecting your creative autonomy, because they think they know your writing needs better than you do.

No matter where you are in your writing journey, you are a writer, and you deserve respect and compassion as such. Every writer is on a constant journey of growth and discovery; your instructor and course should acknowledge and respect that. In your course, you will encounter many different ideas, but you should also encounter the freedom to accept or reject those ideas. It’s your writing: you get the final say!

7. The Best Online Creative Writing Courses Foster a Writing Community

A creative writing course fosters a creative writing community . This community gives you the motivation to create, as it creates a safe environment to experiment, take risks, and grow in your writing practice.

A writing community gives you the motivation to create, as it creates a safe environment to experiment, take risks, and grow in your writing practice.

For even the most solitary of writers, writing doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Participating in a community of word enthusiasts can jog your creativity and give you useful feedback on your work. Additionally, the feedback you provide other writers in the community also helps you learn. It’s a self-fulfilling, self-sustaining process, where members of a writing group can continuously grow, improve, and fine-tune their love of the craft.

In fact, well-known authors throughout history have been a part of valuable writing communities, such as The Beat Poets, Stratford-on-Odeon, and other famous writing groups .

When you enroll in creative writing classes, you also take part in a writing community. Foster relationships, make new writing friends, and forge your own writing group—it may one day be famous, too!

8. The Best Online Creative Writing Classes Motivate You to Write

Writing is a skill that you can only develop through practice. For anyone just starting on our writing journeys, the best online creative writing classes keep you motivated and accountable.

The best online creative writing classes keep you motivated and accountable.

Every instructor works differently, but you can expect the following in a creative writing class:

• Creative writing prompts
• Daily journaling assignments
• Helpful revisions
• Inspirational readings
• Ideas to combat writer’s block
• Different opinions on how to write creatively

Some courses are even designed to motivate you, such as our course Write Your Novel! The Workshop With Jack . Sometimes, the biggest struggle is simply to begin, and creative writing courses help you do that.

9. The Best Online Creative Writing Classes Jumpstart a Writing Habit

The best online creative writing courses will get you into a writing habit. By combining lectures with thought-provoking assignments, one of the primary goals of a writing course is simply to get you writing.

You’ll gain the most from your creative writing courses if you block out the time to write every day.

To make the most of your creative writing classes, try to find time to write every day. It’s best to write at the same time every day, but if your schedule doesn’t allow this, sneak time where you can.

Here are some ways you can steal time as a writer:

• Journal for 15 minutes before you go to bed.
• Write while you wake up with your morning breakfast or coffee.
• Keep a journal on your phone during work and lunch breaks.
• Write on your commute to and from work. If you’re driving, consider keeping an audio journal, where you write by speaking into your phone’s recording device.
• Write on your phone while running on the treadmill.
• Put pen to paper while taking a bath.

These ideas won’t work for everyone, and it all depends on your schedule and lifestyle. Nonetheless, you’ll gain the most from your creative writing courses if you block out the time to write every day, no matter how brief that time is. And, your course should help you find the time to write!

10. The Best Online Creative Writing Courses Broaden Your Literary Horizons

You need to read great writing to produce great writing. The best online creative writing courses will introduce you to great literature, giving you additional opportunities to explore the writing craft.

The best online creative writing courses will introduce you to great literature, giving you additional opportunities to explore the writing craft.

In creative writing classes, you might read both classic and contemporary literature. As writers, it’s good to have knowledge of both worlds. Classic literature introduces you to the bedrock of modern writing, including the devices and rhetorical strategies that make for effective poetry and prose.

Contemporary literature, on the other hand, gives you a glimpse into today’s literary zeitgeist. It’s important to understand today’s publishing landscape and the type of work that’s being published, even if you don’t intend to write like contemporary authors.

In fact, it’s better if you don’t try to write like anyone else! Reading other writers shows you what works in literature and what doesn’t, giving you opportunities to experiment with form and style. But, at the end of the day, your writing is for you, not for publishers or particular writing schools.

Use your creative writing classes as opportunities to explore literature, experiment with words, and discover what you’d like to write yourself.

11. The Best Online Creative Writing Classes Offer a Healthy Creative Outlet

Creative writing classes offer a healthy outlet for your creativity and emotions.

A healthy writing space can supplement your emotional health and wellbeing.

How is that so? With a space to put thoughts to paper, many writers inevitably reach breakthroughs about their own feelings and experiences. This is true regardless of whether you write poetry, fiction, plays, articles, or creative nonfiction.

Now, even the best online creative writing courses can’t replace the benefits of therapy. But, a healthy writing space can certainly supplement your emotional health and wellbeing. Between the prompts, community, and writing habits that a creative writing class fosters, you’re sure to come away from your course with renewed emotional health.

12. The Best Online Creative Writing Courses Give You Next Steps

Your education doesn’t end at the end of your course. If anything, the best online creative writing courses are only the beginning of your writing journey!

The best online creative writing courses are only the beginning of your writing journey!

The best online creative writing courses give you opportunities for continuous growth. Those opportunities can take many forms, such as: a list of literary journals to submit to, further readings on a topic of interest, future creative writing classes, or even simply the instructor’s email.

If you’re ready to move on to the next level of your career, your instructor should provide you with next steps. And if you crave more learning, ask the instructor!

A creative writing course is much like life: the more you put into it, the more you get out of it. Being an active participant will teach you as much about creative writing as the instructor will, because engaging with language is how you grow as a writer. Actively working with suggestions and ideas, keeping a daily writing practice, and offering other students constructive feedback will all boost your creative writing skills.

A creative writing course is much like life: the more you put into it, the more you get out of it.

Additionally, do your research before you enroll in the course, or you might end up taking a class that isn’t suited to your needs. Look up the instructor for the course, their teaching style and previous publications, and how much experience they have as a writing coach. If they don’t seem well suited towards your learning style, they might develop your creative writing skills, and they won’t be worth the cost.

Find the Best Online Creative Writing Courses at Writers.com!

Are you looking for a writing community? Are you ready to get writing? Check out some of the upcoming courses at Writers.com , the oldest creative writing school on the internet.

Sean Glatch

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How to Teach Creative Writing to High School Students

Creative Writing was forced onto my schedule; I didn’t ask for it. But it ended up becoming my favorite class period of the day. While academic English courses can feel high-stakes and always short on time, Creative Writing can be a refreshingly relaxed elective class. In many districts with loose curriculums, Creative Writing is what you make of it. In this post, I outline six steps to show you how to teach creative writing to high school students.

Why Teach Creative Writing

Before we get into the how , let’s first address the why . Why bother teaching Creative Writing in the first place? Students’ basic skills are lower than ever; is now really the time to encourage them to break the rules?

If you want to get really deep into why you should teach Creative Writing, I have a whole post about it here.

But think about why you love reading. Is it because you were made to annotate or close read a bunch of classic novels? Probably not. You probably fell in love with reading while you were reading something that was fun. And because it was fun, you read more, and your skills as a reader grew.

The same principle applies to writing. If we can make it fun for our students, perhaps we can foster a love for it. And passion is what leads, eventually, to mastery.

Giving our students the opportunity to fall in love with writing is a gift that might help them grow in their academic writing later.

Teach Creative Writing to High School Students Step #1: Decide on Your Standards or Goals

Your school or district may have a mandated syllabus or curriculum. Mine did not. 

Whether you’re given student goals or have to create them, you must have an overall vision for what your Creative Writing class will accomplish. 

Is this a laid-back, engaging course designed to help students discover the fun in writing? Or is it a supplement to rigorous academics for college-bound high school students? 

If you know your school’s student population well, I encourage you to think about their needs. Some students just need to write more–more of anything, but lots more. Some students are high achieving and ready to write their first novels! If possible, design your course around the needs and interests of the general student population in your school or district. 

Regardless of how rigorous your Creative Writing course will be, deciding on these goals first will help you in backwards planning. 

Teach Creative Writing to High School Students Step #2: Choose Your Final Assessments and Big Projects

Before we can start planning our lessons, we have to decide what skills or knowledge our students will need. And to know what they need, we have to decide on their summative assessments.

Will your final assessment be a short story? A collection of poetry? Are you required to offer a final exam?

Once you know what students will need to do, you can make a list of the skill they’ll need. This list will become a list of lessons you’ll need to teach.

Fairy Tale Retelling Project

My Fairy Tale Retelling Project is a great Creative Writing assessment. For this project, students had to first choose a fairy tale. Then, they rewrote the story from the perspective of the villain.

This project works really well because students have structure. They can pick any fairy tale they want, but they can’t write about just anything.

Secondly, students already know the story, so they don’t have to worry about a beginning, middle, and end. The open-endedness of writing a story completely from scratch has paralyzed my students before. Structure allows students lots of creative freedom without the excuse of “I don’t know what to write.”

Author Study Project

If you’d like your Creative Writing class to help beginner writers have fun and just get some practice with fiction writing, a Fairy Tale Retelling Project would probably be perfect for your class.

Another project I’ve done with my students is an Author Study . In this project, students choose one author to study in-depth. Then, they attempt to replicate that author’s style in an original work.

If you’d like your class to also include lots of exposure to other writers or classic literature, then this might be a great assessment for your class.

Learn more about doing an author study in this step-by-step post.

Test or Final Exam

I also gave my students a final exam focused on literary terms.

This Literary Terms Test allowed me to test students on the academic knowledge they gained throughout class instead of their writing ability. This test also helped me fulfill my district’s requirement of having a final exam at the end of each course.

Once you’ve decided on your class’s major projects and assessments, you can begin designing the rest of your class.

Teach Creative Writing to High School Students Step #3: Backwards Plan

Now that you know what your students will need to do at the end of this class, you can list out everything you need to teach them in order for them to be successful.

For example, if you opt for an author study as a final project, you know what you will need to cover. You will need to teach students some literary terms so that they can describe an author’s style. You’ll need to show them how to analyze a poem.

During the course of your class, you’ll also want to expose students to a variety of authors and mentor texts. Students will need to practice basic writing techniques in order to replicate those of their chosen authors.

If you need some inspiration for what kinds of lessons to teach, check out this post on essential Creative Writing lessons.

Teach Creative Writing to High School Students Step #4: Decide on Your Class Structure

Once you’ve decided on the end goals for your Creative Writing class, you can use them to help create day-to-day plans. 

What will your class look like? Will it be full of lots of quiet and independent work time? Will it be full of frenetic energy with students working in collaborative groups? Are students writing in notebooks or on laptops?

Of course, a successful class will most likely include a mixture of all of the above. But it’s up to you to decide on your ratio. 

Again, I encourage you to think about your school’s population. If you’re on ninety-minute blocks, is it realistic for students to be quietly writing that whole time? If you have high-achieving students, might they benefit from working independently at home and then getting and giving peer feedback during class time?

Use your goals to help decide on a general class structure. 

Warm-ups for Creative Writing

You’ll need a consistent way to begin each class.

When I initially began teaching Creative Writing, I just wanted to provide my students with more time to write. We began every class period with free writing. I gave students a couple of prompts to choose from each day, and then we’d write for about ten minutes. 

( Those journal prompts are right here . Every day includes two prompts plus a third option of freewriting.)

Students were given the option to share part of their writing if they wanted to. Every couple of weeks I’d flip through their notebooks to make sure they were keeping up, but I only read the entries they starred for me in advance. 

Later, I wanted to add some rigor to my Creative Writing class and leverage more mentor texts. I created a Poem of the Week activity for each week of the course. 

This gave students the opportunity to study professional writing before using it as a mentor text for a new, original piece. 

(You can read more about using these Poem of the Week activities here.) 

As my goals for the class and my students change, so did the way we began class. 

How can you begin your class in a way that supports the end goals or teaches the desired standards? How often will peers work together?

Teach Creative Writing to High School Students Step #5: Focus on Engagement Strategies

Now you can actually start planning lessons and projects!

But as you do so, focus on creating engaging ones–especially if your class is meant to be a fun elective.

Need more tips? Check out this post full of Creative Writing teaching tips!

Use Mentor Texts and Lots of Examples

Have you ever tried putting a puzzle together without knowing what the image was going to look like? It would be pretty difficult! Similarly, students need lots of examples of strong writing to aspire to. 

Without clear models or mentor texts , students will happily turn in unread drafts. They’ll choose the first word that comes to their mind instead of searching for a better one. 

But if you surround students with great writing, highlight strong technique when discussing the writing of others, and challenge them to notice the details in their own writing, they’ll naturally become better at self-editing.

I don’t believe that you can provide students with too many mentor texts or examples of strong writing. As you teach Creative Writing, keep or take pictures of strong writing samples from students to use as examples later. 

Nearly all of my lessons and projects include an example along with instruction.

Model and Create with Your Students

You can even use your own writing as an example. When I had students free write to creative writing prompts, I always wrote with them. Sometimes I would then put my notebook under the document camera and model reading my own work.  

I would cross out words and replace them or underline phrases I thought were strong enough to keep. Model for students not just great writing, but the process of strengthening writing.

And then give them plenty of time to edit theirs. This is when having students engage in peer feedback is a game-changer. 

Without great writing to aspire to, however, students easily become lazy and turn in work that is “good enough” in their eyes. Don’t let them get lazy in their writing. Keep throwing greater and greater work in front of them and challenge them to push themselves. 

(This is another reason I love using Poem of the Week warm-ups –they expose students to a new writer every week!)

Set Clear Expectations

Creative writing causes a lot of students anxiety. There’s no “right” answer, so how will they know if they creatively wrote “correctly?”

Help them out by setting clear expectations. Offering a rubric for every project is great for this. If you can, give them specifics to include. “At least 500 words” or “three or more similes” are nice, concrete guidelines that students can follow.

Give Students Choice

Offering students choice always boosts engagement. It lets students take charge of their learning and pursue something that interests them.

For example, when I teach odes , students are given the opportunity to write about something they love.

With an author study , students can study a writer whose style and work they admire.

Teach Creative Writing to High School Students Step #6: Use Clear and Structured Expectations

While showing students excellent prose or perfect poetry should help inspire students, your writers will still need some hard parameters to follow. 

Academic writing is often easier for students than creative writing. Usually, academic writing follows a structure or certain formula. The rubric dictates exactly how many quotes need to be included or how long an essay needs to be. MLA or APA formats tell students how to punctuate quotes and citations. 

These rules don’t apply to creative writing. And while that’s exactly what makes creative writing awesome, it’s often overwhelming. 

So do your students a favor and give them some clear expectations (without, of course, entirely dictating what they need to write about).  

The project also includes a rubric, so young writers know what should be included in their stories.

Don’t give your students so much creative freedom that it paralyzes them! Your writers are still students; give them the same level of structure and organization that you would in any other class. 

Engage your students in more creative writing!

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Teach Creative Writing to High School Students Step #7: Give Students Choices

So how do you give students frameworks, requirements, and uphold high expectations without stifling their creativity?

Give students choices. You can write about A, B, or C, as long as you meet requirements 1, 2, and 3. 

Offering choices works with small one-day assignments or lessons as well as bigger, longer-term projects. 

The previously mentioned Fairy Tale Retelling Project is a great example of offering a narrow selection of choices that uphold expectations without dictating what students write. 

Another one of my favorite examples of offering students choices is my “Show. Don’t Tell” Mini-lesson . This lesson touches on everything students need to successfully learn creative writing. 

First I teach them the concept of showing vs. telling in writing through direct instruction. I show them lots of examples of expanding a “telling sentence” into a “showing paragraph.”

Then I model for students how I would write a paragraph that shows crucial information, rather than telling it. 

Lastly, I have students pick a strip of paper from a hat or a bag. Each strip of paper contains a “telling sentence” that they must then write as a “showing paragraph.” Students are limited by the sentences I provide, but they still have complete freedom over how they achieve that detailed paragraph. 

If you wanted to give students even more freedom, you could let them pick their sentences or trade with a peer rather than blindly choosing. 

Any time you can give students a choice, you give them permission to use their creativity and allow them to take some of the initiative in their own learning.

Teach Creative Writing to High School Students Step #8: Encourage Peer Collaboration and Feedback

We can tell students something a hundred times, but they won’t listen until a peer says the same thing. Us educators know the value of positive peer interaction, so don’t limit it in a creative writing class!

There are a ton of ways to implement peer interaction in a creative writing class. I often do this on the first day of class with a writing game. You’ve probably heard of it: everyone writes a sentence on a piece of paper, then everyone passes the paper and adds a sentence, and so on. 

I highly encourage you to use peer feedback throughout the class. I usually start having students share their work from day one with my free “I Am” Poem Lesson so that they can start getting used to having their work read by others immediately.

Make getting feedback so routine in your room that students don’t even question it.

It’s really tempting to let students get away without sharing their work. We don’t want to make shy or anxious students uncomfortable. I mean, what better way to completely ruin creative writing for a student than to make them feel embarrassed all the time, right?

But keep trying to encourage shy students to share. Even if that means you share it anonymously or read it aloud for them. 

I recommend including some kind of peer feedback with every writing assignment . Yes, even short practice assignments. This will work as a kind of “immersion therapy” for receiving feedback on more involved work.

After some time, you might find that your students even begin to share their work without your prompting! 

I like to organize the desks in my Creative Writing class so that students are in little groups. I’ve found that at least half of my classes will begin talking and sharing with one another in their little groups while working on projects. 

They’ll ask each other questions or to remind them of a word. They’ll read sentences aloud and ask if they sound right. Personally, I would much rather hear this kind of chatter in my class than have a dead silent room of boring writers!

However you decide to allow students to work together, be sure to provide the opportunity. Reading and getting feedback from peers could possibly teach students more about writing than any of your instruction (sorry!).

One of the truly great things about teaching creative writing to high school students is that there often isn’t a rigid curriculum. Of course, this is also sometimes one of the worst things about teaching creative writing to high school students!

You have total freedom over the assignments you give, the standards you teach, and how you organize and structure your classroom. After a few years of teaching Creative Writing, however, I’ve found that sticking to these six steps is a great way to have a successful semester.

If you’re excited about teaching your Creative Writing class, but are running low on prep time, check out my complete 9-week Creative Writing course ! Included are two different types of warm-ups, poetry analysis activities from well-known authors, mini-lesson, projects, and more!

A Look Into Creative Writing | Oxford Summer Courses

Exploring the magic of creative writing with oxford summer courses.

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Defining Creative Writing

Creative writing , as taught at Oxford Summer Courses, is the process of crafting original and imaginative works of literature, poetry, prose, or scripts. It transcends conventional writing, encouraging individuals to explore language, structure, and narrative. Whether it's a heartfelt poem, a captivating short story, or a thought-provoking novel, creative writing allows us to communicate our unique perspectives and experiences with the world.

The Magic of Imagination

Creative Writing is a catalyst that sparks our creativity and empowers us to breathe life into our ideas on the page. With Oxford Summer Courses, aspiring writers aged 16-24 can embark on an extraordinary journey of creative expression and growth. Immerse yourself in the captivating realms of Oxford and Cambridge as you explore our inspiring creative writing programs. Teleport readers to distant lands, realms of fantasy and creation, introduce them to captivating characters, and craft new worlds through the transformative art of storytelling. Discover more about our creative writing course here . Unleash your imagination and unlock the writer within.

What Are the Different Types of Creative Writing?

Creative Writing comes in many forms, encompassing a range of genres and styles. There are lots of different types of Creative Writing, which can be categorised as fiction or non-fiction. Some of the most popular being:

• Biographies
• Fiction: novels, novellas, short stories, etc.
• Poetry and Spoken word
• Playwriting/Scriptwriting
• Personal essays

At Oxford Summer Courses, students have the opportunity to delve into these various types of Creative Writing during the Summer School.

The Benefits of Creative Writing with Oxford Summer Courses

Engaging in Creative Writing with Oxford Summer Courses offers numerous benefits beyond self-expression. By joining our dedicated Creative Writing summer school programme, you would:

• Foster self-discovery and gain a deeper understanding of your thoughts, emotions, and personal experiences.
• Improve your communication skills, honing your ability to express yourself effectively and engage readers through refined language and storytelling abilities.
• Enhance empathy by exploring diverse perspectives and stepping into the shoes of different characters, broadening your understanding of the world around you.
• Gain new skills for further education or work, expanding your repertoire of writing techniques and abilities to enhance your academic or professional pursuits.
• Nurture your creativity, encouraging you to think outside the box, embrace unconventional ideas, and challenge the status quo, fostering a life-long mindset of innovation and originality.

Embracing the Journey

To embark on a journey of creative writing, embrace curiosity, take risks, and surrender to the flow of imagination. Write regularly, read widely, embrace feedback from tutors and peers at Oxford Summer Courses. Begin to experiment with styles and genres, and stay persistent in your course of action. The path of creative writing requires dedication, practice, and an open mind. Join us as we provide tips to help you start your creative writing journey and unleash your full creative potential under the guidance of industry professionals.

Creative Writing is a remarkable voyage that invites us to unleash our imagination, share our stories, and inspire others. It offers countless personal and professional benefits, nurturing self-expression, empathy, and creativity. So, grab a pen, open your mind, and embark on this enchanting journey of creative writing with Oxford Summer Courses. Let your words paint a vivid tapestry that captivates hearts and minds under the guidance of experienced tutors from Oxford and Cambridge. Join us as we explore the magic of creative writing and discover the transformative power it holds within through the renowned Oxford Summer Courses summer school.

Ready to study Creative Writing? Apply now to Oxford Summer Courses and join a community of motivated learners from around the world. Apply here .

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Discover the enchantment of creative writing with Oxford Summer Courses. Unleash your imagination, explore different genres, and enhance your communication skills. Nurture self-expression, empathy, and creativity while gaining valuable writing techniques.

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Creative Writing Classes: Are They Really Worth It?

The rumors are true. You can become a successful author without a degree in creative writing .

In fact, it’s even possible to learn the craft on the cheap, scraping together insight from free articles, library books, and fellow writers. You don’t have to take a formal writing course at all .

So why do creative writing classes even exist?

Loads of reasons, actually. 

For one thing, many aspiring writers learn best in a structured classroom or workshop setting with personal attention from an instructor. 

Creative writing courses also provide opportunities to form relationships with other writers and even find a mentor. They often require you to share your writing and provide feedback on your classmates’ work, both of which teach you how to think more analytically about the craft and embrace constructive criticism .

You don’t even have to be an aspiring author to reap the benefits of these classes. 

You could be a college student looking to boost your communication skills. Or a senior hoping to share their story with future generations. Or a person who’s just looking for a fun hobby.

There are plenty of reasons to pursue formal instruction in writing. The trick is determining whether a class can help you meet your current goals and, if so, which course is right for you.

You and I are going to think through that together. We’ll talk about what you can learn in these courses, key considerations when choosing your class, and how to get the most out of it. 

You’ll even leave with some tips for overcoming the biggest challenges of writing workshops… like the part where you have to share your hot mess of a first draft with a room full of semi-strangers.

First, we need to get clear on what creative writing even is.

What Counts as Creative Writing?

Creative writing is a ridiculously broad term that can mean a lot of things. It basically covers all forms of writing that are creative, personal, and expressive rather than informative and objective.

Creative writing uses literary devices like metaphor and symbolism to create an emotional experience for the reader. In non-creative writing, factual clarity is the primary goal, which often means using direct language and avoiding emotion or bias.

For example, a novel is creative writing. A newspaper article is not.

A poem is creative writing. The user manual for your new smart toilet is not.

If you’re looking at a class that promises to teach you “creative writing,” take a close look at the description to make sure it fits your actual goals. That course could be covering any one of—or even all of—these things:

Forms of Creative Writing

There are three primary forms of creative writing. Each one has approximately half a billion sub-forms and genres , which is why it’s a good idea to be specific in your search for creative writing classes.

Here are the three main forms of creative writing:

Fiction - Any narrative that isn’t true or is even partially made up falls under the category of fiction. This includes novels, novellas , and short stories as well as scripted fiction like plays, screenplays, and teleplays.

Creative nonfiction - This includes anything that’s true but expressed creatively through the biased perspective of the author. In this category, you’ll find things like memoirs , personal essays, travel writing, nature writing, and literary journalism.  

Poetry - Poetry has so many subgenres it’s borderline impossible to define. Generally speaking, it’s an expression of abstract ideas or emotions, often using evocative sensory details and unconventional sentence structures. It may or may not have a deliberate rhythm, it may or may not rhyme, and it might even tell a true or made-up story, stepping its bold little foot into the territory of narrative essays or fiction.

Where to Find Creative Writing Classes

Once you know which specific creative writing skills you’d like to develop, how do you find the class that’s right for you?

Turns out, there are a ton of places to look. 

If you want to take an in-person course, you can see what the local community college has to offer. You might also be able to find creative writing classes at a local community center or attend a workshop hosted by a writers’ group.

There are also absolute buckets of online writing courses. Browse the options available on sites like Coursera , Udemy , MasterClass , and Gotham Writers Workshop . Or Google exactly what you’re looking for and see what comes up.

You’ll discover that you have a ton of options. The next challenge is narrowing them down.

How to Choose the Right Creative Writing Class

Once you realize just how many creative writing courses are out there, you may feel a bit overwhelmed. How are you supposed to know which one is right for you?

Start by asking yourself these seven easy-peasy questions:

1. What Do You Want to Write?

Do you want to write fiction? Nonfiction? Poetry?

Whichever one it is, are you able to narrow your preferences down even further? 

Let’s say you know you want to study fiction writing. Is it because you dream of being a novelist? Because you have a great screenplay idea? Or maybe you want to be a novelist, but you’d like to learn the fundamentals by writing a short story first.

Don’t be afraid to get even more specific. For example, if you’d love to learn how to write fantasy , see what fantasy writing courses are out there. 

You may find options that are too specific for where you are in your journey. If you’re still not clear on how to craft a character arc or create unforgettable characters , it might not be time to worry about developing magic systems . 

But maybe a class on fantasy story development will be more beneficial than a more generic fiction writing class.

On that note, if you want to focus on genre fiction (like fantasy, sci-fi , romance , horror … that kind of stuff), make sure you take a genre-friendly class. Some creative writing classes—especially in academia—focus on literary fiction and get a little snooty about the commercial stuff.

2. What are Your Goals?

Think about why you want to take a creative writing class in the first place. What do you hope to get out of this?

Common motivations include:

• Exploring creative writing as a hobby
• Building the skills necessary to become a successful author
• Unwinding and having fun through self-expression
• Leaving a legacy
• Learning how to write books that sell
• Becoming more involved in the writing community
• Sharpening specific creative writing skills, like character development or prose

Based on your goal, which writing courses are likely to help you the most?

Most class descriptions provide a breakdown of the objectives for the class, indicate what kind of assignments or major project you’ll complete, and lay out the topics you’ll cover. For many online courses, you can even read reviews from past students.

All this information can give you a clear indication of what the class can (or cannot) do to help you on your journey.    

3. Do You Want to Learn Online or in Person?

If you prefer online writing courses, you’ll have way more options to choose from. You can also learn from the comfort of your own home and enjoy the opportunity to connect with writers from all over the country… maybe even all over the world.

Depending on the way the class is set up, you might also have a flexible schedule. Some online courses feature pre-recorded video lectures and exercises you can do on your own time. The downside is that you can’t easily connect with your fellow learners and may not get feedback on your work.

Other online creative writing classes have live sessions and assignments with real deadlines, so there’s less flexibility but you can still enjoy the ease of a twenty-foot commute.

In-person classes are great because they help you build relationships with fellow writers in your community (or close enough). They also promote a deeper, more focused commitment. Not only do you have to block out the time and show up, you also physically remove yourself from the distractions of your personal life.

There are pros and cons to both options. Only you can decide what makes sense for you.

4. What Skill Level Does This Course Demand?

If you already have some knowledge of writing fundamentals, you’ll be bored senseless in a class that teaches you what symbolism is and how to use dialogue tags .

You’ll also be miserable in a class that’s way over your head.

Once again, the course description should help you deduce whether this course will be tough enough to advance your writing skills without being so challenging that you can’t keep up. When in doubt, email the instructor and ask if their class is right for someone of your experience level.

5. What Do You Know About the Instructor?

Is the instructor published or working professionally in your area of study? What are their strengths as a teacher? Does this seem like the right person to help you reach your writing goals?

Whenever possible check out reviews or ask previous students what they say about their class and teaching style. Just because an instructor gets great work out of their students, that doesn’t automatically mean they’re the best guide for everyone.

If your only objective is to have fun exploring a new hobby, you probably don’t need the “look to your left, look to your right, only one of you will survive this class” instructor.

6. What Do You Know About the Other Students?

You don’t need to get your hands on the class roster. I just mean, what do you know about the type of people who typically take this particular writing course?

What are their goals? How advanced are their creative writing skills? Are they creative writing majors in a competitive academic environment? Newbies who are just trying to get a sense of what the writing world is like? Aspiring indie authors eager to encourage one another?

Also, how many of them are there? Whether you’re hoping for more focused guidance from the instructor or kiiiiinda wanna blend into the crowd, class size is something to consider. 

7. How Much Does It Cost?

Depending on how extensive they are or where you find them, creative writing courses can cost anywhere from a little to a whole, whole lot. Before you get attached to any specific class, search your soul (and your bank account) and decide how much you’re ready to invest in building your writing skills.

The right answer is whatever answer is right for you .

What to Expect in a Creative Writing Course

Okay. You’ve enrolled, you bought a new notebook, you’ve got your four-color pen… now what? What can you expect from your creative writing course? 

Seeing as how this grand world of ours is full of so many different types of creative writing and different writing classes and different writing instructors, I can’t give you a super specific answer.

But I’ll do my best to provide a general overview of what you might experience in a very typical writing class.

What You’ll Learn

I know I seem pretty obsessed with course descriptions at this point, but that really is the best place to look if you want to know what topics your instructor will cover.

Other than that, here are some concepts that are commonly covered in the following creative writing classes:

In a standard fiction writing class, you’ll likely go over all the essential building blocks of a story. That includes plot structure , character development , conflict , setting , and theme .

You might also have an opportunity to dive into the prose itself, working to perfect more detailed skills like dialogue , scene description , and pacing .

If you study any form of script writing (playwriting, screenwriting, or teleplay writing), you may also learn formatting rules and how to write action, especially if it’s a beginner class.

You’ll have a lot of writing assignments. Some creative writing classes are structured to help you complete a project, in which case your assignments might build towards writing a script, novel, novella, short story, or children’s book.

You can probably expect a lot of reading assignments, too, as your instructor will want you to see how published authors have mastered the skills you’re learning.

Creative Nonfiction

In this type of course, you’ll most likely learn how to find the narrative arc in a true story, zero in on a theme, and tell a compelling tale without abandoning reality. 

In some classes, you might also explore ethical issues surrounding nonfiction writing or dive into advanced topics like incorporating research and blending personal stories with societal issues.

As for assignments, it’s the same deal as if you were learning fiction. You’ll probably read work by the greats, do some writing of your own, and end the class with at least one good personal essay or the beginnings of a great memoir.  

In a poetry class, you can expect to cover different poetic forms (haiku, sonnet, all that jazz) and learn a truckload of literary devices. You’ll probably dive into elements like meter, rhyme, and rhythm.

Try not to be too shocked when I tell you that you’ll also write poems—like, a ton of poems—and read even more. 

Class Structure

As for the way the class is structured, your course will land somewhere on the lecture-to-workshop spectrum. Allow me to explain.

In some creative writing classes, you mostly listen to the teacher teach, do some assigned reading, and turn your writing assignments in to be graded or critiqued by the instructor.

Actually, there are online creative writing classes where you don’t even do that much. 

MasterClass courses, for example, are completely self-directed, with pre-recorded video lectures and workbooks you go through on your own. You don’t share your work with the instructor because the instructors are people like Margaret Atwood, and Margaret Atwood is very busy doing other things.

On the other end of the spectrum are writing workshops, where there’s a lot less teaching and loads more writing. In this scenario, you and your fellow students spend most of your class time sharing and providing feedback on one another’s work.

Then, of course, there are creative writing courses that land somewhere between the two, with a little sharing, a little lecturing, and hopefully a lot of learning.

Specialized Creative Writing Courses

Another thing you might notice on your quest to find creative writing classes is that some of these courses get very specific. There are plenty of advanced skills you can learn to take your writing to the next level, boost your qualifications in a specific area, or improve your odds of making a living off your words.

Let’s take a quick look at the kind of specialized classes you might find as you search for creative writing courses. 

By Skill 

Rather than learning the basics of a particular form of writing, you can take classes that invite you to focus on a single skill or element.

You might learn how to craft a compelling plot, develop characters with psychological and emotional depth, or write for a specific audience .

You can also find a course that will help you develop non-writing skills that will still make you a better writer, like developmental or copy editing .

As I mentioned before, it may be worth looking for creative writing classes that are specific to your genre. Each genre comes with its own tropes, conventions, and reader expectations. You can embrace or subvert them, but you can’t do either if you don’t know them.

You might find more generalized courses like “How to Write Mysteries” or more specific ones like “How to Build Romantic Tension.” 

The Business

Then there are the courses that focus less on the craft of creative writing and more on the business of it .

If you hope to publish traditionally , you might look for classes on writing query letters , creating book proposals, or navigating the publishing industry as a whole.

If you plan to self-publish , you can find courses on writing to market , developing a marketing plan , the entire self-publishing process , or any of the other six thousand things indie authors have to think about.

This kind of education can be extremely helpful if you hope to make a living from your words.

Seizing the Opportunity to Build a Community

Writers need other writers. Your peers can inspire you to stay on course, share resources and opportunities, and possibly even connect you with gatekeepers when you’re ready to publish. 

Most importantly, they understand the journey you’re on. That might not seem like a big deal now, but you’ll see the benefit of it when you’re standing there in your salsa-stained sweatshirt, trying to explain to your helplessly confused spouse that you’re freaking out because your protagonist derailed your entire third act by making a choice that wasn’t in the outline .

Yeah. Writing gets weird. Your people can help you get through the weirdness, and writing courses present great opportunities for finding your community.

Here’s how to make it happen:

Connecting With Classmates

The tricks for making friends in a creative writing class are the same as in any other context. Make friendly conversation before and after class and during breaks. Share ideas or resources that might be helpful.

Focus on connecting with people you’d genuinely like to be friends with. The relationships that help you the most in the long term will always be the ones that start from a real connection.

Also keep in mind that a creative writing class is a vulnerable place, especially if it’s a workshop where everyone is sharing early drafts.

When you offer feedback to your fellow writers, be kind and constructive. On the flip side, notice which of your classmates know how to be helpful without scoffing at your efforts. That combination of positive and enriching is absolutely essential for a long-term writer friendship.

Staying Connected

The next challenge is staying in touch with these people after the course ends. There are many ways to do this.

Tell the person or people you want to stay in touch with that you want to stay in touch with them. Swap phone numbers or email addresses if you haven’t already.

You could also invite someone to meet up for lunch or coffee in the near future.

You could arrange to be critique partners for one another on your current project. Or simply agree to be accountability partners, checking in with each other once a week to see how things are going.

If you really clicked with your classmates, you might consider creating a writers’ group. This happened with an online essay writing class I took once. We continued sharing personal essays and giving feedback for about a year after the course ended.

If all of these options overwhelm you, start small. Become social media chums. Engage with their content. As you become more comfortable, send them a private message asking how their latest work in progress is going. Build the relationship actively but gradually.

Common Obstacles 

I promised to go over some of the trickier or more intimidating aspects of creative writing courses. These are the little obstacles that crop up when you’re suddenly in a position of having to share your work or craft masterful writing on someone else’s schedule.

It can be overwhelming, but it’s all survivable. And, as is the case with most overwhelming things, these challenges will build character and better prepare you for a writing career, if that’s what you’re after. 

Writer’s Block

Writer’s block is that thing where all your creative gears seem to come to a grinding halt. You can’t think of a single story idea or figure out what happens next or even write one coherent sentence.

It’s a frustrating problem that gets even tougher when you have to have ten pages ready to share with the class by Friday. 

So how do you get past it?

The best move is to first identify what’s really going on. Your imagination might be frozen because you’re afraid your story will suck. Or maybe you can’t quiet your inner critic or you’ve got a lot going on in your life and your brain can’t handle another job right now.

You can find a ton of exercises to work through these issues in this article . In the meantime, one of the best ways to get through writer’s block is to simply let it be bad. Let yourself write garbage, if that’s how it has to be. You can fix it once it’s on the page.

Fear of Feedback

Not exactly stoked to have a bunch of people you just met tell you what’s wrong with your story? None of us are, my friend. 

Nevertheless, receiving constructive criticism is crucial for improving your skills. Plus, if you plan to build a writing career, you’ll be receiving loads of feedback on your work for the rest of your life. Creative writing classes can help you ease into this jarring scenario so you can be a real pro about it when you receive notes from agents, editors, and readers.

We actually have a guide on managing this fear, too, so I’ll just give you the short version for now:

Focus on becoming a better writer rather than proving that you’re a good one.

You might already be fantastic. But you can always be better, and if that’s your goal, you’ll be able to appreciate feedback for the gift that it is.

Meeting Deadlines

Creative writing almost always takes longer than we think it should. In fact, the more you learn, the longer you’ll probably spend on your assignments. 

I recommend scheduling your writing time in advance. Block out writing sessions and stick to them.

Not only does this help you prioritize your writing rather than leaving it to the last minute, it also trains your brain to enter the creative zone when your official writing time rolls around. That helps you get the work done faster.

You can find more tips on creating an effective writing schedule here , advice for building a writing habit here , and tricks for writing faster here .

Keep Learning Beyond Creative Writing Classes

You won’t learn all the creative writing skills you need in a single class. You won’t even learn them in a single lifetime. 

Great writers pursue education continuously. But that doesn’t mean you have to spend all your walkin’ around money on online writing classes. 

You also learn the craft by reading the authors you admire, studying the way they structure their stories and shape their prose.

You learn by sharing your work with critique partners for feedback and by examining their work—an exercise that trains you to think more analytically about what makes a great story great.

You can read books and articles on writing. You can attend conferences and seminars and literary events.

And you can hang out with us here at Dabble.

We’ve got loads of free articles and other resources in DabbleU . We’ve got a free ebook that walks you through the entire process of writing a novel. We’ve got a free newsletter that delivers hot tips right to your inbox.

All of this is available to you even if you don’t use our super rad, all-in-one writing tool .

And if you do ?

So glad you asked. Premium Dabble subscribers also get access to a bonus, information-packed newsletter and exclusive workshops. (You can get a sneak peek of one here .)

Not a Dabbler yet, but always been a little curious? Click this link for a free trial. That gets you access to all Premium features for two weeks. You don’t even have to enter a credit card!

Consider it a free education.

Abi Wurdeman is the author of Cross-Section of a Human Heart: A Memoir of Early Adulthood, as well as the novella, Holiday Gifts for Insufferable People. She also writes for film and television with her brother and writing partner, Phil Wurdeman. On occasion, Abi pretends to be a poet. One of her poems is (legally) stamped into a sidewalk in Santa Clarita, California. When she’s not writing, Abi is most likely hiking, reading, or texting her mother pictures of her houseplants to ask why they look like that.

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596 Best Creative Writing Classes in 2024

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2024 Youth Summer Camp: Sci-Fi/Fantasy ONLINE

Story Studio Chicago

Over the course of one week, writers will generate their own science fiction and fantasy pieces and workshop them with the help of their peers. They will learn the differences between the genres and read the works of notable authors.

Website: https://www.storystudiochicago.org/classes/youth/2024-you...

Categories: Book, Fiction, Fantasy, and Science Fiction

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8-week Writing Sprints: A Generative Class

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Writing Sprints is an exercise-intensive course designed to “unstick” writers struggling to start or continue new projects, boosting writing productivity. The course relies heavily on writing exercises (for both fiction & nonfiction writers). This class is for writers of all levels looking for inspiration and motivation.

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Prerequisites: A writing sample is recommended for this class.

The Secret Life of Scenes Workshop with David Biespiel

Attic Institute

Do you feel your writing gets bogged down in announcing, recounting, and summarizing? What you need is some scene-making medicine. Work with Attic Institute founder and two-time Oregon Book Award winner David Biespiel to learn the keys to explain less and dramatize more.

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2024 I Love to Write Camp

Kansas City Writers

Explore the creative writing process without worrying about your grade! These workshops include experience with free writing of many types of writing and techniques to help your writing come alive.

Website: https://www.kansascitywriters.com/workshops-for-kids.html

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Healing a Heart: Writing Your Way to Hope

Rockvale Writer's Colony

In this four-part class we'll explore the art and magic of writing as a healing process in a collaborative and supportive environment. Together, we will share our stories, read a variety of essays and short fiction in order to identify how others have utilized the written word to heal themselves.

Website: https://rockvalewriterscolony.org/workshops/november-8-10...

Categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Book, and Essay

November, 2024

Fall Virtual Workshop

Futurescapes

Futurescapes is an intensive, exclusive workshop, offering writers an unparalleled chance to work with top authors and agents in speculative fiction (science fiction, horror, fantasy, paranormal).

Website: https://futurescapes.ink/fall-workshop

Categories: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Book, and Fiction

October, 2024

Prerequisites: You may submit any original written work for your application.

Teen Summer: Say It Like You Mean It

Whether characters are arguing, bantering, betraying secrets, or confessing their guilt, dialogue can be one of the most challenging parts of writing a scene. In this workshop, we’ll learn about the various ways you can use dialogue in your writing, such as to advance the plot or develop characters.

Website: https://grubstreet.org/workshop/teen-summer-say-it-like-y...

Categories: Screenplay, Short Story, Book, Kids, and Nonfiction

August, 2024

The Poetry of Play

Writers.com

In this class, we’ll enjoy a rollicking good time by responding to poetry’s call to do just that. Students will read a wide variety of playful poetry, then experiment with in-class writing prompts designed to awaken freedom and enjoyment.

Website: https://writers.com/course/the-poetry-of-play

Categories: Poetry, Book, and Short Story

January, 2025

The Art of Live Storytelling

Ever dreamt of captivating an audience with your storytelling, condensing your writing into a sharp pitch, or confidently speaking in public? This course is designed for you. Uncover the craft of powerful storytelling using the classic "pity, fear, catharsis" framework and contemporary engagement techniques.

Website: https://grubstreet.org/workshop/the-art-of-live-storytell...

Categories: Nonfiction, Essay, and Fiction

Prerequisites: For writers age 13 - 18 ONLY.

Writing Experimental Essays

The aim of this class is to open up your writing by embracing this experimentation with form and structure. You’ll learn about the lyric essay—braided, collage, and hermit crab and more.

Website: https://grubstreet.org/workshop/writing-experimental-essa...

Categories: Nonfiction and Essay

Teen Summer: DIY Comic Book Making

You love comics, and graphic novels, and you like to doodle, but perhaps you’ve never finished a multi-page comic story? Or, you are a veteran comics creator and want to draw a new one! Now’s your chance to create a mini-comic during one week this summer.

Website: https://grubstreet.org/workshop/teen-summer-diy-comic-boo...

Categories: Book, Short Story, and Nonfiction

Teen Summer: From Story to Screen: Intro to Screenwriting

In this screenwriting and film workshop, we will learn Aristotle’s poetics, character work, scene writing, and dialogue. Further, we will immerse ourselves in clips from movies and short films and discuss how they relate to our learning techniques.

Website: https://grubstreet.org/workshop/teen-summer-from-story-to...

Categories: Kids

What are the 5 best creative writing classes?

Congratulations! Deciding to learn how to creative write is often the hardest step of all. Now it's time for a choice that's almost just as difficult: picking which creative writing class you want to take in a market that's getting more crowded by the day.  

That’s why we built this directory of the best creative writing courses — so that you can more easily filter through all of the selections out there. But in case you don't have time to dive into them all, here are five of the best creative writing classes for you to take a look at. 

1. Reedsy Learning

💲 Cost: Free 👨‍🏫 Type: Email lessons

If you’re struggling to find time for creative writing classes, Reedsy Learning is for you. These bite-sized lessons are emailed to you once a day for ten days and can be read in five minutes or less. But don’t let their compact size fool you — each lesson is packed with practical tips, links to additional resources, and enough exercises to keep your skills sharp. There are also courses on editing, marketing, and publishing for when you’re ready to take your creative writing to the next level.

2. Gotham Writers’ Workshop

💲 Cost: $165 - $409 (plus registration fees) 👨‍🏫 Type: Video lectures, live Zoom classes, assignments, critique

The largest adult-education writing school in the US, Gotham Writers has been helping budding authors hone their skills since the 1990s. Based in New York City, they offer in-person classes as well as a variety of online options for students all over the globe. With self-paced courses, live Zoom lectures, write-ins, and several free events per term, Gotham Writers emulates the university feel wherever possible.

💲 Cost: $0 - $109 👨‍🏫 Type: Lectures (videos, slides, and text)

Founded in 2010, Udemy is a massive online open course (MOOC) platform, created to provide an alternative to in-person, university learning. Their primary audience is made up of professionals and students — some of their courses even offer credit toward technical certifications. Their creative writing courses are broad and geared mainly toward beginners, through there are some intermediate courses that get into specific niches.

💲 Cost: $0 - $998 👨‍🏫 Type: Video lectures, online assignments

Another MOOC, edX was started as a collaboration between Harvard and MIT, but these days boasts classes from a wide variety of respected universities. Like Udemy, some of their courses also offer college credits. edX’s courses are weekly, consisting of short videos, interactive learning exercises, and online discussion groups. Their writing courses cover everything from novels to stand-up comedy to digital content. There are also related courses in journalism, composition, and grammar, among other specializations.

5. Coursera

💲 Cost: Free (Creative Writing Specialization) 👨‍🏫 Type: Video lectures, online assignments

One last MOOC for our list, this time founded by several Computer Science professors from Stanford University. But don’t let its history fool you — Coursera offers humanities classes as much as science and technology. In addition to general courses, Coursera also offers specializations, a series of courses that work together much like what you’d find in a university.

I have a long list of creative writing courses. Now what?

If you've narrowed down a list of writing classes in English you like, then it's time to commit to one of them. But how do you know which is the right fit for your needs and lifestyle?

Before committing to one of them, we recommend considering some of these questions.

• What skill levels does the writing course cover?
• What’s the price of the writing course? Does it match your budget?
• How long does the writing course run for?
• Who is the instructor of the course? Can you verify their credentials?
• Is the writing course remote or in-person?

More creative writing resources

Whether you’re a new or established author, there are always evergreen resources out there to how to get a headstart on creative writing! 

Free online materials

• Creative Writing Prompts (resource)
• Book Title Generator (resource)
• Character Name Generator (resource)
• Plot Generator (resource)
• How to Write a Novel (blog post)
• How to Write a Book Proposal (blog post)
• How to Edit a Book (blog post)

Recommended books

• For writers in the UK:  Writers' & Artists' Yearbook  
• For writers in the US:  Writer’s Market 2020

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Learn About Creative Writing Classes

In this guide, we’ll provide a clear answer to the question: what is a creative writing class?

In short, creative writing classes are for people who want to improve their writing skills, knowledge and understanding. These classes teach students the basics of storytelling, grammar, and sentence structure.

Creative writing classes are not just for aspiring authors or poets. There are creative writing courses for children, business professionals, and aspiring journalists as well.

Let’s dive into things in a bit more detail.

What Is A Creative Writing Class?

So, what is a creative writing class exactly? Basically, it’s a form of education that teaches people how to write fiction, be it poetry or written forms like prose .

Creative writing classes can be found in a variety of places, from universities , to community centers, and even online. Some online writing classes are taught by professional writers who have extensive experience in the field, like bestselling fantasy author, Brandon Sanderson. You can actually watch one of Sanderson’s free online writing classes below to give you a flavour of what this form of education may entail:

It’s important to note that not all creative writing classes will be like this one. Sanderson is teaching this class at a real college and his lectures are merely recorded.

Some tutors will record presentations. Some may host regular classes in which you’re encouraged to share your writing. You may get given assignments on which you get feedback.

There’s a wide variety of creative writing classes available. If you do a bit of research you can quickly find a teaching style, commitment level and price that suits your needs.

What Are The Benefits Of A Creative Writing Class?

Creative writing classes can help people improve their creative skills, get a better understanding of the creative process, and also provide them with valuable feedback on their work. They can also be beneficial for those who are looking to break into the creative industry as they give you an opportunity to meet other writers, editors, publishers or agents.

Creative writing classes also provide you with space to explore different creative ideas and find out what kind of writer you want to be.

Beyond this, creative writing generally is a powerful tool that can be used to improve a person’s communication skills, as well as their critical thinking skills.

But for me, one of the biggest benefits of creative writing classes is the therapeutic effects. Creative writing is an activity that can help with mental health issues such as depression and anxiety. It also helps people who want to learn how to express themselves more clearly. 

Are There Any Drawbacks?

There are some drawbacks to creative writing classes. The main one is the financial cost. There are some free online writing classes out there but reviews can be mixed.

Some tutors can seek upwards of $50 for a single class. This may last around 1-2 hours and may or may not include some free resources.

If the writing class is with a top author with a track record of teaching (usually gleaned through reading honest reviews), then $50 may be a bargain. It’s just important to do your research before committing, just so you know you’re getting the best deal possible.

Other Ways To Improve Your Creative Writing Skills

Writing creatively is one of the most difficult skills in the world, but it’s also one of the most rewarding. Although creative writing classes are a great way to improve your skills, learn new techniques and meet others with similar interests, there are other ways to learn too, such as:

• Read as much as possible – Reading is a great way to learn new words and phrases that can be used in your own writing. It also helps you understand how other authors use language and structure their sentences.
• Write every day – The more you write, the better you will get at it. You don’t have to write long pieces each time either. Just keep writing short pieces every day and eventually, they will start getting longer and more detailed as well as more interesting to read
• Set goals and deadlines for yourself. This will help you focus on what’s important and finish your work on time.
• Get feedback.  The honest opinions of others can shine light on areas of your writing that may be weak or in need or improvement.

Take A Class Today

If you’re interested in taking a creative writing class, I’ve included links to some of mine below.

Some people charge an absolute fortune for classes and some of the feedback I’ve seen is disappointing at best. That’s why I keep all of my prices as low as possible—enough to cover costs with some left over to invest in making more online classes.

Here’s what you can dive into today:

• How to write a fantasy novel
• An expert class on how to edit a novel
• How to create lifelike characters
• Learn how to build a fantasy world
• Find fantasy novel writing classes online
• Learn all about worldbuilding classes here

If you need any more help or support with the question, ‘what is a creative writing class?’, please don’t hesitate to contact me .

• Recent Posts

• 15 Amazing Words To Describe The Moon, With Definitions And Example Sentences - May 22, 2024
• Examples Of The 5 Senses In Writing And How To Use Them - May 1, 2024
• Mastering Dialogue: The Very Best Tips - January 12, 2024

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Creative Writing Concentration

Hone your personal creative voice and study the art of creatively stringing words together to create meaning, inspire action, and tell a story – from social media to children’s books.

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Develop who you are as a writer.

If you don’t go a day without writing—journal entries, blog posts, poetry, impassioned emails, or witty social media updates to friends—the Creative Writing concentration offers a rewarding way for you to develop the practice.

This concentration is designed for students inspired to pursue their own artistic vision. You’ll study the craft and discipline of writing, learn how writers create their unique voices, and explore world literature. You’ll have opportunities to study—and participate in—personal and group performance at Champlain and beyond. With our Creative Writing concentration, you will develop your individual style and add versatile skills to a toolbox that can be used in a variety of career settings. Through courses in this concentration, you can:

• Pursue your artistic vision through developing your unique voice.
• Study contemporary and historical writing from various world regions.
• Build your portfolio so you can show the world what you can do.

Courses in the Creative Writing Concentration

All Creative Media students are required to select a Primary Area of Focus and a Complementary Area of Focus. Shown here is the curriculum for the 24-credit Primary Area of Focus. If you choose Creative Writing as a 12-credit Complementary Area of Focus, requirements will differ from those shown.

8 courses through at least the 300 level are required for Creative Writing Primary Focus Area

Choose at least one of the following:

• WRT 220: Intermediate Creative Writing
• WRT 221: Intermediate Poetry Workshop
• WRT 226: Intermediate Fiction Workshop
• WRT 237: Intermediate Creative Nonfiction

Primary area electives:

• WRT 180: Introduction to Songwriting
• WRT 200: Fundamentals of Journalism
• WRT 235: Writing Children’s Literature
• WRT 236: Writing About Food
• WRT 280: Reading & Writing in the Wilderness
• WRT 324: Advanced Poetry Workshop
• WRT 325: Advanced Fiction Workshop
• WRT 327: Seminar in Playwriting
• WRT 337: Advanced Creative Nonfiction
• WRT 346: Publishing in the 21st Century
• FLM 128: Screenwriting I
• FLM 328: Screenwriting II

WRT 120 Creative Writing, Introduction to

Introduction to Creative Writing explores techniques used by poets and fiction writers in their crafts. Students will analyze examples of published works and will produce portfolios of original works. Workshop activity is required; students must share their work with the entire class.

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Home > English > Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research > 202

English, Department of

Department of english: dissertations, theses, and student research, creative writing pedagogy: building curriculum for high school students.

Elizabeth Lengel , University of Nebraska-Lincoln Follow

First Advisor

Stacey Waite

Second Advisor

Rachael Shah

Third Advisor

Lauren Gatti

Date of this Version

A thesis presented to the faculty of the Graduate College at the University of Nebraska in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of Master of Arts

Major: English

Under the supervision of Professor Stacey Waite

Lincoln, Nebraska, May 2024

Copyright 2024, Elizabeth Lengel. Used by permission

This thesis serves as a rationale for the creative writing pedagogy I use and how it serves my high school creative writing class. As my school district made the decision to overhaul our English curriculum, the English department decided to add Creative Writing as an English class elective.

The work for planning these new classes was spread around the English Department, and I was assigned to design the curriculum for the new Creative Writing class. Designing an entire class from scratch leaves a lot of room for creativity and innovation. However, as excited for this new course as I was, I also felt intimidated. I wanted to get this right and attempt to create a course that would nurture an environment for students to explore their creativity without trepidation but would also challenge them and allow them to build their writing skills. I needed to be prepared for the variety of students who would enter the class, so I started to research creative writing pedagogy. I set out to learn how I could create the most productive writing classroom while also understanding that many of my students would still have a lot to learn or review about writing before they could feel confident in their skills and willing to actually see where their ideas could take them.

In the first section, I will lay out what I discovered in my research and the reasons for the decisions I made when planning and structuring my units for the class. In the next section, what I might do differently next time I teach the course. And in the final section, I will lay out my unit plans for this semester-long course.

Advisor: Stacey Waite

Since May 29, 2024

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'It’s a creative community': Creative writing class in Lawrence connects its housed, unhoused community

LAWRENCE, Kan. — Brian Daldorph taught creative writing at the Douglas County Jail for 20 years until the COVID-19 pandemic ended the class, now he teaches a class of housed and unhoused people at the Homeless Resource Center in Lawrence.

After the Douglas County Jail class — which Daldorph wrote a book about and won the 2024 Hefner Heitz Kansas Book Award in Literary Nonfiction award — ended in 2021, Daldorph said he wanted a different sort of challenge.

Daldorph was already a volunteer at the Homeless Resource Center when a former director suggested he bring the creative writing class to the center.

So, he began teaching the class again in August 2023.

“It’s for unhoused people in our community but also for the community as well, so that everybody can come together in the class,” Daldorph said.

Daldorph enjoys giving people the opportunity to write creatively.

“I’ve learned so much, I mean, it’s a great opportunity for me to meet people, to hear their stories and do my own writing, which is kind of inspired by the class," he said.

One student in particular stands out.

“Lee is just dynamic," Daldorph said.

Lee was present for class on Tuesday, May 28.

“The class is filled with different types of people that are in different situations in their lives," she said.

Lee said she began taking the class seven months ago because of her own situation; she says she's a survivor of domestic abuse and lost custody of her children.

Lee is also homeless.

“It’s a break, it’s kind of a break, and it’s something, you know, that a lot of people that come here look forward to because it’s about being around people that are trying to do the same thing," she said.

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A Voice for Everyone

Program for Class Day Celebration 2024

Class Day Recognizes Graduates and Awards Top Prizes in the Arts

On Monday, May 27, the Lewis Center for the Arts celebrates graduates of the Class of 2024 who earned certificates and degrees through the Programs in Creative Writing, Dance, Theater & Music Theater, and Visual Arts.

A Note from the Lewis Center for the Arts Chair Judith Hamera

Welcome to the Matthews Theatre in the McCarter Theatre Center, where we join family, friends, and members of the Lewis Center for the Arts community to celebrate the culmination of our students’ time with us. Our LCA Class of ’24 arrived amidst a global pandemic and departs amidst multiple global upheavals that, once again, challenge us all. Class of ’24, I hope your work in the LCA—your rigorous and generous collaborations, your pursuit of foundational questions around what it means to live a good and worthy life, your courage, and the care you extended to those with whom you shared this time—has given you multiple ways to see yourselves making positive differences in these complicated times, sustained by the conviction that you are part of a community of artist-scholars who can accompany you as you do so. Thank you for the work you did here, all good wishes for the important work ahead, and warm congratulations to you on behalf of the entire LCA.

Certificate Program Graduates

Creative writing.

Kenza Benazzouz, Juliette Carbonnier, Anna Chung, Arlette V. Cojab, Sydney Eck, Andi Grene, Ananya Grover, Sydney Hwang, Ashley Hyun, Sal Kang, Lara Katz, Sabrina Kim, Amanda Kural, Abbie Lambert, Kate Lee, Ellen Li, Ethan Luk, Hailey Mead, Zoe Montague, Tobias Nguyen, Anurag Pratap, Olivia Ragan, Claire Schultz, Mollika Jai Singh, Sierra Stern, Grady Trexler, Cathleen Weng, Emmett Willford, Henry Wright, Briony Zhao, Valeria Zuluaga-Sánchez

Haley Baird-Dibble, Olivia Buckhorn, Mei Cecilia Geller, Laura Maria Haubold, Ive Jumadeh Jones, Jewel Justice, Isabel Byers Kingston, Vivian Li, Zi Han Liu, Ethan Luk, Ayla-Rose Kapili’ulaokekaupoku Naehu-Ramos, Sanghyun “Chris” Park, Jasmine Minerva Rivers, Aniyah Storm Stokes, Kristen Umbriac, Julia Zhou

Theater & Music Theater

Theater Certificate Students:

Kenza Benazzouz, Juliette Carbonnier, Sandra Chen, Sarah Duntley, Nica Evans, Kerstin Fagerstrom, Kira Fitzgerald, Lana Gaige, Sydney Hwang, Sabina Jafri, Taneyah Jolly, Cooper Kofron, Charlotte Kunesh, Madeleine LeBeau, Jessica Lopez, Ethan Luk, Anaika Mehra, Tanaka Dunbar Ngwara, Raquel Ramirez, Chloe Satenberg, Aneekah Uddin, Aaron Ventresca, Bethany Villaruz, Jay White

Music Theater Certificate Students:

Casey Beidel, Juliette Carbonnier, Sarah Duntley, Sydney Hwang, Carrington Johnson, Cooper Kofron, Charlotte Kunesh, Madeleine LeBeau, Ethan Luk, Tanaka Dunbar Ngwara, Aaron Ventresca, Jay White

Visual Arts

Certificate Students:

David Akpokiere, Miriam Beams, Arianna Borromeo, Hazel Flaherty, Sreesha Ghosh, Lana Glisic, Max Jakobsen, Petr Karpov, Erin Macanze, Kirsten Pardo, Warren Quan, Collin Riggins, Luke Shannon, Julia Stahlman, Justin Zhang, Noori Zubieta

Practice of Art Students:

Daniel Drake, Evan Haley, Emma Mohrmann, Cary Moore, Ayla-Rose Kapili’ulaokekaupoku Naehu-Ramos, Lauren Olson, Magnolia Wilkinson

Student Awards

A number of seniors receive awards for outstanding achievement in each Program and top academic prizes are awarded by the Lewis Center Program Directors for overall achievement in the arts.

Top Academic Prizes

Presented by Judith Hamera, Chair of the Lewis Center for the Arts and Professor of Dance

The Louis Sudler Prize in the Arts , presented annually to one or more graduating seniors who have demonstrated excellence or the highest standard of proficiency, in performance or execution or in the field of composition in the following general areas: music, theater, dance, painting, sculpture or photography, is awarded to Tanaka Dunbar Ngwara   and Ethan Luk .

The Toni Morrison Prize that honors the late Toni Morrison, Nobel Prize Laureate and Robert F. Goheen Professor in the Humanities, Emeritus, will be given to one or more graduating seniors whose individual or collaborative artistic practice has pushed the boundaries and enlarged the scope of our understanding of issues of race. This prize honors work in any form that, in the spirit of Morrison’s, is “characterized by visionary force and poetic import.” Aniyah Storm Stokes and Ayla-Rose Kapili’ulaokekaupoku Naehu-Ramos are recipients of this year’s award.

The Lewis Center for the Arts Action Based Community Engagement Award is awarded to the student or students whose contributions to the Lewis Center embody a commitment to “interrogating that which is accepted or understood in an attempt to break into the territory of the unknown or under-explored.” Jasmine Minerva Rivers and Magnolia Wilkinson  are the recipients of this year’s award.

Creative Writing Prizes

Presented by Ilya Kaminksy, Professor of Creative Writing

Theodore H. Holmes ’51 and Bernice Holmes Poetry Prize — Ethan Luk Theodore Weiss Award — Tobias Nguyen Samuel Shellabarger Memorial Prize in Creative Writing — Anurag Pratap Joyce Carol Oates Award — Claire Schultz Outstanding Work by a Senior — Gloria Wang, Kenza Benazzouz, Henry Wright, Arlette V. Cojab, Madeleine Burns James Richardson Award — Ananya Grover Edmund Keeley Literary Translation Award — Ellen Li

Read a description of each creative writing award

Dance Prizes

Presented by Rebecca Lazier, Professor of the Practice and Acting Director of the Program in Dance

Francis LeMoyne Page Class of 1922 Prize for Outstanding Achievement in the Creative Arts — Zi Han Liu, Mei Cecilia Geller, Isabel Byers Kingston, Vivian Li Ze’eva Cohen Senior Award — Sanghyun “Chris” Park Outstanding Senior Independent Project — Olivia Buckhorn, Haley Baird-Dibble Sustained Community Achievement Award — Laura Maria Haubold

Read a description of each dance award

Theater & Music Theater Prizes

Presented by Jane Cox, Professor of the Practice and Director of the Program in Theater & Music Theater

Francis LeMoyne Page Class of 1922 Prize for Outstanding Achievement in the Creative Arts — Juliette Carbonnier Innovation in Theater Making Award — Taneyah Jolly, Nica Evans Outstanding Contribution to Theater — Sydney Hwang Creative and Community Leadership Award — Madeleine LeBeau Outstanding Work by a Senior in Theater (Senior Prize) — Aaron Ventresca, Anaika Mehra, Aneekah Uddin, Bethany Villaruz, Carrington Johnson, Casey Beidel, Charlotte Kunesh, Chloe Satenberg, Cooper Kofron, Ethan Luk, Jay White, Jessica Lopez, Juliette Carbonnier, Kenza Benazzouz, Kerstin Fagerstrom, Kira Fitzgerald, Lana Gaige, Madeleine LeBeau, Nica Evans, Raquel Ramirez, Sabina Jafri, Sandra Chen, Sarah Duntley, Sydney Hwang, Tanaka Dunbar Ngwara, Taneyah Jolly Outstanding Contribution to Music Theater — Aaron Ventresca, Carrington Johnson Tim Vasen Award for Talent and Citizenship — Sabina Jafri

Read a description of each theater & music theater award

Visual Arts Prizes

Presented by Jeff Whetstone, Professor and Director of the Program in Visual Arts

Jim Seawright Award in Visual Arts — Emma Mohrmann Lucas Award in Visual Arts — David Akpokiere, Miriam Beams, Arianna Borromeo, Daniel Drake, Hazel Flaherty, Sreesha Ghosh, Lana Glisic, Evan Haley, Petr Karpov, Erin Macanze, Emma Mohrmann, Cary Moore, Ayla-Rose Kapili’ulaokekaupoku Naehu-Ramos, Lauren Olson, Kirsten Pardo, Warren Quan, Luke Shannon, Julia Stahlman, Magnolia Wilkinson, Justin Zhang

Read a description of each visual arts award

Land Acknowledgement

The Lewis Center for the Arts is working to create a living land acknowledgement, one that is embodied in its consideration of—and engagement with—the past, present, and future. As we continue this work, we acknowledge that this building sits on land considered part of the ancient homelands of the Lenni-Lenape peoples and that this campus was built on this land with no recorded consultation with the Lenni-Lenape peoples. We acknowledge that learning about history and making this statement isn’t enough. Equally important is our ongoing work to understand past harms; build awareness in present relationships and actions; and bring imagination, creative problem-solving, and community-building to the future of our programs. We are taking actions towards these goals within our curriculum, pedagogy, and programming. We invite you to learn more about the Native American and Indigenous Studies Initiative at Princeton .

Lewis Center for the Arts

Chair : Judith Hamera Executive Director : Marion Friedman Young

Director of Princeton Atelier: Paul Muldoon Director of the Program in Creative Writing:   Yiyun Li Acting Director of the Program in Creative Writing:   A.M. Homes Acting Director of the Program in Dance:   Rebecca Lazier Acting Associate Director of Dance : Susan Marshall Director of the Program in Theater & Music Theater:   Jane Cox Director of Fellowships : Stacy Wolf Producing Artistic Director of Theater and Music Theater Season : Elena Araoz Director of the Program in Visual Arts : Jeff Whetstone Associate Director of Visual Arts : Pam Lins

View a list of Lewis Center for the Arts faculty

View a list of LCA staff members

The programs of the Peter B. Lewis Center for the Arts are made possible through the generous support of many alumni and other donors.  View a list of LCA Supporters

Class Day Program Digital Book

Read or download the 2024 class day program (pdf), receive lewis center events & news updates.

'My Prize Puppy': Bluewater Elementary teacher publishes book she wrote in fifth grade

NICEVILLE — What was once an assignment during a creative writing class is now an inspirational and heartwarming story about perseverance and the power of imagination.

Stephanie Lafitte, a second-grade teacher at Bluewater Elementary School, wrote the story during a creative-writing class in fifth grade. She recalls that the story's inspiration came from trips to the mall with her family. Each trip, she stopped at a pet store, where she would watch puppies in the window, and she would beg her parents to take one home.

"We would go to the mall, and I would sit at the pet store every time, and I would look at all the little puppies on the window," Lafitte recalled. "I was like, 'Can I go look at the puppies?' And of course, my parents said, 'You're not getting a puppy."

The little girl in "the story "My Prize Puppy" is unnamed but can be seen as a stand-in to Lafitte, as the character is depicted wearing purple-colored clothing, Lafitte's favorite color.

The story's catalyst, which leads to a heartwarming conclusion, is the character's lack of the $10 required to buy a dog from the store.

In spite of feeling sorry for herself, the main character decided to spend her piggy bank savings on what she could afford — a dog leash. The following chain of events sees the character do everything a normal dog owner would do, from playing fetch to walks after dinner, even going so far as entering her puppy into a dog show.

The self-laminated, staple-bound notepad on which Lafitte originally wrote her story almost 40 years ago sat untouched in her parents' house, along with other short stories she penned throughout her childhood.

After her father, Paul, was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease in 2021, her sister found the short story while cleaning up the attic. Lafitte originally threw these stories away, except for "My Prize Puppy," after her father and sister urged her to keep it.

Lafitte then took the book home, where it again sat untouched until December 2022, when her father died. After rediscovering it, she noted that the dog show was held on the same date as her father's birthday, May 16.

"Little things like that just told me to do it," Lafitte said.

These little things then led to conversations with her husband about publishing the book. Those talks prompted Lafitte to contact book publishers, with four publishers immediately reaching out. By August 2023, Lafitte ultimately decided to make a deal with Dorrance Publishing Company in Pittsburgh.

After receiving her first copy, Lafitte said that her family's initial reaction to the story was positive. She points out that her mom, who usually doesn't show much emotion, was "giggly" while reading it.

Lafitte said she's sure her father would be a fan of the book.

"He would literally have tons of these. He would buy a hundred and more and have them in his car," Lafitte laughed. "I promise you, he would go to everybody. He would probably go everywhere in this city and sell these for me.

"He always told me, 'I am so proud of you,' like every week, 'I'm so proud of you. You always wanted to be a teacher and you followed through. You never even steered from the path.'"

After overwhelming support from her family, it was time to debut the book in front of her class. Lafitte said she was initially apprehensive about sharing the book with her students. Those doubts subsided as she began reading the book to her class for the first time.

"They literally did not make a sound," Lafitte said. "I thought to myself, 'Holy cow, this is a really good book.'"

The sentiment was shared by fellow teachers as well. Lafitte said her co-teacher's father had shed a tear or two by the end of the book.

"That makes my heart so happy," Lafitte said.

In addition to her student's love of the book, the kids were also in for another surprise as they saw the illustrations by Bill Ivins. Before moving to second grade, Lafitte taught a grade lower for most of her career. Because of this, some other kids in the book live on in her story as characters in the book.

The dog in the story also resembles one of her two real dogs, Ghost, an Australian shepherd-golden retriever mix rescued from The Alaqua Shelter following Hurricane Michael in 2018. Lafitte said Ghost will be the main character in her next book, which is in the early stages of writing.

Those interested in purchasing a copy of "My Prize Puppy" to learn of its heartwarming conclusion can visit the Dorrance Publishing website at https://tinyurl.com/mrw7dxxy .

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The Ancient Art of Calligraphy Is Having a Revival

Calligraphy, which means “beautiful writing” in Ancient Greek, is seeing a surge of interest from younger people who say it offers a meditative and creative escape.

Supported by

By Jenny Gross

Jenny Gross attended a recent beginner’s calligraphy class in London.

• May 29, 2024

For the first time in many years, a teacher was correcting my handwriting.

“Go more slowly,” Laura Edralin, a calligraphy teacher in London, told me, as she walked around a table of beginners on a recent Wednesday night, explaining how to achieve even, flowing strokes.

As a breaking news reporter for The New York Times, I am not used to being told to slow down, nor am I accustomed to writing by hand. But both those new to the medium and seasoned calligraphers say the deliberate, steady nature of the practice is a huge part of its appeal — one that is on the upswing. With so much digital fatigue, writing elegantly with pen and paper can be a joy.

Calligraphy, a centuries-old art form, is seeing a surge of interest, including among young people more familiar with coding than cursive. At Michael’s, the largest arts and crafts chain in North America, more than 10,000 customers signed up for lettering classes online between January 2023 and March 2024 — nearly three times more than in the same period a year ago, when about the same number of classes were offered.

An increase in calligraphy-related posts on social media and the popularity of online classes may have helped drive the trend. On TikTok, where users can find how-to videos or watch clips of experienced calligraphers at work, 63 percent more posts used #calligraphy in April 2024 than in April 2023, according to TikTok. And on Instagram, top calligraphy influencers such as Nhuan Dao in Ha Noi, Vietnam, and Paola Gallegos in Cusco, Peru, have 2 million or more followers apiece (on TikTok , Gallegos has 9 million).

@calligraphilic ¿Qué nivel eres tú? 🤔😍🥰😜 #calligraphy #lettering #artistatiktok ♬ GATA ONLY - FloyyMenor

Rajiv Surendra, a calligrapher and actor (best known as the math M.C. Kevin G. in the 2004 film “Mean Girls”), said he was surprised to find that his how-to calligraphy videos were some of the most popular posts on his YouTube channel; one video on calligraphy basics has garnered more than 840,000 views.

In this digital age, “we have come so far away from consciously thinking about how to form a ‘w’ — and how to form a beautiful ‘w,’” he said in a recent interview. For that reason, he explained, now more than ever, people are craving the ability to bring intention and care not just to what they write, but to how they write it.

He has seen this reflected in the response to his videos: A woman in Denmark recently told him, in a handwritten letter, that they had inspired her to start practicing calligraphy with her grandfather’s fountain pen.

Calligraphy dates back to before the 1st century A.D., said Dr. Chia-Ling Yang, a Chinese art history professor at the University of Edinburgh. By the 10th century, good brushwork had become known in China as a sign of good character . Separate traditions also developed with roots in other parts of East Asia and the Middle East.

In Europe, the introduction of the printing press in the mid-15th century paved the way for a distinction between handwriting and more stylized scripts. Calligraphy in Europe experienced a decline in the 19th century, with the advent of the typewriter, but it continued to be used for official documents and scholarly purposes. “What is the same in all practices of calligraphy, regardless of the language, is the beauty of the confident stroke,” Mr. Surendra said.

Today, part of calligraphy’s appeal is its accessibility: Anyone with a pen and paper can give it a go. Ms. Edralin, the London calligraphy teacher, took up the practice in 2017 as a way to cope with anxiety from a demanding job. Other than a few classes in high school, she had never really pursued art — certainly not professionally — but she lost herself in the beauty of crafting strokes into letters, and letters into words. “I could scratch the creative itch that I knew was in me, but it didn’t require me to sit at an easel for weeks on end,” she said.

Practicing calligraphy helped make Ms. Edralin aware of self-critical thoughts that had become ingrained in her internal dialogue. “If that’s happening day in and day out in everything you’re doing, it’s really hard to spot,” she said. Now, when she hears students criticizing themselves or wanting to give up halfway through a word, she encourages them to embrace imperfection and revel in the thrill of learning something new — lessons she hopes they can apply to other parts of their lives, she said.

Like Ms. Edralin, Amanda Reid, a calligrapher in Austin, Texas, began experimenting with calligraphy both as a creative outlet and as a way to ease stress — in her case, from a graduate degree she was pursuing in physical therapy. She started her own calligraphy business in 2019, taking commissions and teaching workshops, and it grew quickly during the coronavirus pandemic, when people were at home with time to learn new skills online, she said.

For Ms. Reid, crafting elegant words with her pens is not just an artistic practice, but a physical one, with a meditative rhythm of upstrokes and downstrokes. “Some people do yoga,” she said. “But I do calligraphy.”

Some preliminary studies suggest that working with your hands — whether by writing, knitting or drawing — can improve cognition and mood , and a study published in January by researchers in Norway found that writing by hand was beneficial for learning and engaged the brain more than typing on a keyboard. Some states, including California and New Hampshire , have begun reintroducing cursive (long regarded as obsolete in a digital age) into their curriculums, citing it as important for intellectual development.

The new emphasis on cursive comes even as researchers are developing products that will use artificial intelligence to replicate handwriting based on just a small sample of written material, Bloomberg reported .

Even with technological advances on the horizon, Ravi Jain, who attended the recent calligraphy class in London, said the beauty of calligraphy surpasses what any computer-generated letters could achieve. “Nothing will replace the amount of love, patience and time that goes into creating something by hand,” said Mr. Jain, 27, a data analyst at Credit Karma. “I know that the cards I give last a lot longer than a text message.”

Calligraphy by Alice Fang . Images by Marcelle Hopkins .

Jenny Gross is a reporter for The Times in London covering breaking news and other topics. More about Jenny Gross

The Rise of TikTok

News and Analysis

TikTok said that it was introducing new measures to limit the spread of videos from state-affiliated media accounts , including Russian and Chinese outlets, as the company deflects criticism that it could be used as a propaganda tool in a major election year.

An internal analysis found nearly twice as many pro-Trump posts as pro-Biden ones on TikTok since November, a sign of the right’s use of a liberal-friendly  platform.

In an attempt to rein in the amount of weight loss posts , TikTok said it will work to remove content about drugs like Ozempic, extended fasting and more from the “For You” feed.

A food editor documents the high, the low and the mid from a week’s worth  of influencer restaurant suggestions on TikTok.

At a time of heightened confusion and legal battles over access to abortion, women are turning to the social media platform to talk about their abortions  and look for answers.

Has there ever been an app more American seeming than TikTok, with its messy democratic creativity, exhibitionism, utter lack of limits and vast variety of hustlers? Here’s how the platform has changed America .

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