how to workshop creative writing

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How to Lead a Creative Writing Workshop

A writing workshop has been described as a class that teaches itself. At their best, they can create an experience that exceeds everyone’s expectations – including the leader’s! Here’s how to give your next workshop the best chance of making that happen.   

As writers who have both attended and conducted writing workshops, we’ve seen firsthand how they can work well – and how they can fall apart. Every writing workshop is unique, and there is no magical formula to ensure success. But there are lots of things you can do to set up the session to have the best chance of generating some truly creative magic.

So much about your workshop’s success depends on the participants and how they work with each other as well as the exercises they are given. Even as the workshop leader, you won’t have complete control over these variables. But you can do your best to provide the right environment, ideas and support for the creative spark to ignite.

Choose a Conducive Venue

Getting the setting for the workshop right, if it’s not already determined as part of another event, is essential. You want a space that’s easy for people to find, with practicalities like parking, accommodations and refreshments covered. At the same time, it needs to be a quiet, self-contained space where you and your fellow creative writers won’t be disturbed.

If you are running the workshop to generate revenue, you may need to factor in costs like venue rental and hiring extra help. Training providers and creative companies will often be willing to rent out an unused meeting room at a reasonable rate, and libraries or even church halls can make good locations, too. So it’s a good idea to ask around before springing for an option that will look very swish, but will erode your profits.

Set Expectations

Give participants a good idea of what to expect before they arrive at the workshop. Let them know that they’ll be asked to write something during the session, and that their writing will be discussed in a nonjudgmental way by the group.

It’s important to communicate this up front, because some writers – however experienced – may be uncomfortable with the idea of writing spontaneously and sharing in a group setting. The writers that gain the most from workshops are likely to be those that are ready to take on a challenge and to push beyond their comfort zones in the hopes of developing their craft.

Lock Down the Practicalities

Inform participants about the length and overall structure of the session. A decent length of time per session is about two hours, typically broken down into an hour of writing followed by another hour of reading and feedback. Make sure the time and location are both clearly communicated beforehand, and that you have confirmation of the number of writers who will be attending.

In terms of numbers, five is probably about the ideal group size for this kind of workshop and timeframe. Many more than that, and there is the risk of running out of time before everyone’s had a chance to receive feedback on their work. Less than four participants, and it can start to feel a bit too intense, and lacking in varied opinions.

People sometimes forget to bring writing materials, too, so make sure you have a stock of spare pens and pads handy.

How to Structure Your Workshop

There are a number of different ways to structure a workshop, but whichever approach you use, don’t brief participants on the specific exercises you intend to give them. It’s vital that they arrive without any preconceptions about what they will try to write.

Warm-up and Rapport

Before starting any exercise, it helps to have a way to break the ice and generate a bit of group rapport, especially as some attendees may be strangers to each other and will understandably feel a little nervous about diving in.

A simple way to do this is to get the group to pair off and chat briefly about why they’ve come to the workshop and what sort of writing they do. Then, you bring everyone back together and ask each person to introduce not themselves, but whomever he or she talked to. Inevitably, the subject of each intro will want to chip in and clarify or supplement a few facts, and in this way people warm up and start interacting more freely.

From there, it’s straight into the exercise section!

The Single-exercise Approach: Pros and Cons

We’ve attended writing workshops where, after a brief introduction, everyone launches straight into a single, hour-long exercise. This approach has both benefits and drawbacks.

The main benefit is that it gives participants the time to attempt something ambitious and unconstrained. It’s comforting to know that you can always abandon your piece if it isn’t working, and still be able to produce something halfway decent by the end of the session.

The drawbacks are that, firstly, you’ve barely taken off your coat and uncapped your pen (or fired up your laptop) and you’re immediately expected to be creative – often the mind can freeze in such situations. Secondly, if you’re not inspired by the exercise you’ve been given, you’re basically stuck. So, this can be quite the risky approach, and we’d advise breaking up the writing part of the workshop into a number of different exercises to take some of the pressure off your participants.

The Multi-exercise Approach

A more common approach in writing workshops is for participants to begin with a short and simple warm-up exercise to get the creative juices flowing. This could be, for example, spending a minute writing down all the sounds they can hear. They could then extend this to imagine themselves in a forest or on a busy street and write down what they think they could hear now that they’ve extended the setting.

Another simple exercise to get people in the writing mood would be to ask them to use a couple hundred words to describe a recent meal, their journey to the workshop, or a room in their house or a view from a window. For an extra challenge, tell them they have to do it without using the word “I.”

These limited and circumscribed exercises can be followed by a more open kind of writing challenge, such as:

• Write a story in which each sentence begins with a different letter of the alphabet
• Write a letter to your younger self
• Think of someone you know well and write a scene from his or her perspective

Other classic workshop exercises require some preparatory work on the leader’s part. You might, for example, provide a list of odd and mismatched words and ask the participants to write a story containing all of them. Or, you might hand around images cut out from a magazine as inspiration for a story. There are lots of other weird and wonderful prompts you could draw on here, too.

The Cumulative Approach

Personally, we prefer to structure writing exercises so that the results flow into one another and contribute to, and help shape, a larger story.

For example, you might start off by inviting participants to select one object out of a variety: a hat, a pair of shoes, an umbrella, a pair of glasses, a walking stick, a wristwatch, etc. They would then be asked to write a paragraph describing their chosen object in detail. In the second exercise, the challenge is to describe the person who owns or regularly uses the object, including that person’s personality and life story. The next task is to describe the person’s relationship with the object – how it was acquired, why it’s important to the owner, how it’s used, how it can be personalized, and how it’s changed its owner.

Finally, after briefly discussing what the participants have developed so far, they are asked to begin a story featuring the person and the object. This could be the origin story of how the two first came in contact, a moment of triumph or pride when the object helped the owner achieve something, a significant event when the object first became important, or a moment of crisis or loss. With this approach, the exercises feed naturally into one other, with each adding to the next, giving writers momentum, so that when it comes to the final exercise, they have fewer doubts about the stories they wish to write.

The Feedback Session: Balancing Praise and Critique

When the writing part of the workshop is over, the leader will invite participants to read out some or all of what they have written. No one should feel compelled to read – although it might be worth gently reminding reluctant participants that a big part of the value of any workshop is the feedback one receives from one’s peers.

The leader usually facilitates the discussion that follows a reading by offering his or her views, which should always be positive and constructive to set the right tone. Everything written in the pressure cooker environment of a workshop is deserving of sincere and wholehearted praise, after all. We praise primarily to show that we understand what the writer intended and can appreciate the work from the writer’s perspective, on his or her terms.

When it comes to the critique part of the workshop, you have to be careful how you express things. Avoid speaking in definitive or objective terms (“this is bad writing”) and refer instead to aspects that didn’t work for you as a reader, or what the writer might expand on, with suggestions of things he or she might do differently or try in the future.

It’s important that the leader doesn’t dominate the feedback session, but also encourages the other participants to give their responses to the readings. The leader’s main role, after offering an informed opinion, is to keep the discussion positive and on-topic, to challenge harsh or unfair criticisms, and to sum up at the end. The leader should also keep an eye on the clock to ensure that discussions don’t run on too long and everyone gets a fair share of feedback time. Once everyone has shared his or her thoughts on the readings, or there is no more time left for the workshop, the leader should bring the session to a close with a few final summarizing remarks.

Watch the Benefits Emerge

Often the real benefit of a workshop will only become apparent after the fact. The exercises, along with the feedback, may have sown the seeds of a potential story, or maybe even a novel. The experience might encourage a participant to work on and improve an aspect of his or her technique. The exercises themselves can be reused or adapted as writing prompts in the future.

In short, no one can be sure exactly what will be gained from a creative writing workshop until jumping in and doing one! The simple act of writing spontaneously and then discussing the results will always throw out surprises, and the leader is likely to learn as much, if not more, than the participants.

About the author

Alex Woolf and Dan Brotzel are co-authors of a new comic novel, Kitten on a Fatberg (Unbound). As a reader of this website, you can pre-order Kitten on a Fatberg for a 10% discount – simply quote promo code KITTEN10.

Alex has written over 100 books for children and adults, published by the likes of OUP, Ladybird, and Heinemann and Watts.

Dan Brotzel

Dan Brotzel is the winner of the latest Riptide Journal short story competition, was runner-up in the 2019 Leicester Writes contest, and was highly commended in the Manchester Writing School competition 2018. Other competition shortlists include Flash500, Sunderland University/Waterstones, To Hull and Back, Wimbledon BookFest, Fish, Dorset Writers Award and Retreat West. He has words in places like Pithead Chapel, Ellipsis, Reflex Fiction, Cabinet of Heed, Bending Genres, The Esthetic Apostle, Spelk, Ginger Collect, and Fiction Pool. His first collection of short stories, Hotel du Jack, will be published early 2020. He is also co-author of a comic novel, Kitten on a Fatberg, now available to pre-order at Unbound (discount code Kitten10).

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How to Run a Writing Workshop

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Participating in a writing workshop can be one of the most rewarding, and frightening, experiences of your writing career. A writer’s workshop is a chance for authors to learn from each other through receiving and giving critiques. A successful writer’s workshop will provide a supportive environment for developing one’s skills. This article explores how to run a writing workshop and make it a success.

What is a writing workshop?

A writer’s workshop is a collaborative environment where participants have a chance to create one or several pieces of work on a theme. The participants then get to critique others on their work and have their writing critiqued, too. One of the challenges of a writer’s workshop is that writers are told not to take the comments personally, but that is a difficult challenge for many because we are always intimately connected to the work we produce. A good writer’s workshop facilitator will make sure that all criticism is taken in the right way and in a way that encourages growth in the craft.

Why should I hold a workshop?

Writer’s workshops help create an environment where writers can see their work through a reader’s eyes. The reason for holding one might seem to be to help others, but the facilitator will often gain as much as everyone else when it comes to practical ways to improve their work. Usually, one thinks about creative writing when they think about a workshop, but you can hold a workshop for any other type of writers, such as bloggers, copywriters, nonfiction writers, or any other niche.

One of the challenges that almost any writer faces is that we tend to work in a vacuum. We create our work, publish it, and then wait to see if anyone buys it, clicks on it, or shares it. If our pieces are not performing the way we would like, or if we simply want to get better at what we do, we often lack insight into why our piece worked or did not work.

A writer’s workshop gives you a rare chance to get to see your work as your audience does. What’s more, they are a tool for fostering community among writers of the same type of work. You can share secrets, tips, challenges, and a few laughs. Receiving this type of honest criticism and feedback of your work can be intimidating, but knowing that everyone else in the room has the same feeling can help to ease the process a bit. After a few times, it becomes easy.

Components and Frameworks

Most writing workshops seem to follow a similar framework and structure. Here are some examples of how to run a writing workshop. The first thing you need is a list of good prompts that will challenge participants and help them grow. Some workshops for authors have participants submit something they are already working on, such as a short story or chapter of a book. In the latter case, you need to give participants lead time to prepare the work.

When it comes time for the workshop to begin, you can open by letting your audience know why you have something valuable to contribute. You do not have to be a best-selling author or anything of the sort. All you need to do is simply state your credentials, such as the number of years you have been writing or how many works you have written. It is not necessary to rattle off a long list of degrees and certifications because, in the writing business, it is your work that counts.

The second tip for your workshop is to make sure you establish clear goals and have some type of introduction that lets your audience know what to expect. Of course, you will want to start out with the information that you have learned from your writing career, but be sure to break it up with visuals and short activities. Your audience wants to do more than hear you talk or look at a wall of words in front of them. Make it engaging, and get to the meat of the workshop, which is the writing and feedback.

Participating and Engaging

The most important component of the workshop is the ability of participants to ask questions and engage with each other. It is not a lecture, so you should encourage interaction with you and with other participants. When it comes time for critique, it should be obvious that people should be nice and provide helpful advice, but this is not always a skill that everyone has mastered. One pro tip is that if you hear someone stating something in a way that is not helpful or that might be hurtful, you can try to rephrase the key points of what they have to say and restate it in a way that is positive and affirming.

As a facilitator, you should also participate as much as possible by sharing your own work and inviting critique. Also remember to keep sharing tips, from how to find a literary agent to how a thesaurus can improve your writing . Another tip: if it seems like the person giving the critique missed the point, don’t be afraid to break in and ask the author what his or her intent was in the piece. This can clear up quite a bit of confusion on everyone’s part.

One of the most common challenges new writers face is a lack of variety in their work. Our speech patterns are developed from early childhood, and our old habits can be our worst pitfall as a writer. If you feel like you are just rehashing the same ideas and structure, a writing workshop can help break you out of your daily grind.

Online Version

You might be thinking, is it possible to have an online writing workshop? If you know how to run a writing workshop, the answer to this is absolutely. People do it all the time. In today’s world, it is entirely possible to have a successful writing workshop online using web conferencing software. Webinar software can help you create an experience that is just as engaging, if not more so, than holding it in a physical location.

Participants can join from the comfort of their own homes, and this can encourage participation. This takes away the element of reading your work in an unfamiliar environment to a room full of strangers. Also, you can screen share and add visuals that might take more technical skill when you are using standard audio-visual equipment. A webinar workshop can add depth to the experience that face-to-face workshops might not be able to do. You still get peer feedback, only participants can work from the space where they do most of their work, which means they are more likely to transfer the skills learned into their daily writing practice.

Wrapping it Up

Now, you know how to run a writing workshop and make it a success. Writing workshops can be a lot of fun if you approach them with the right attitude. Learning to take helpful criticism is humbling, but it also offers the greatest opportunity for growth and mentorship. If you have been writing for some time, there is no reason why you should not plan to hold a writing workshop, either in person or as a webinar.

Follower of Jesus. Husband. Father. Founder of InspireFirst and Nao Media.

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How to Run a Creative Writing Workshop or Class

Whether it’s fiction , poetry, plays, or screenplays, all writers can benefit from a creative writing workshop. So how do you run one, or organise one with your friends and colleagues? 

I’ve taught, or run, creative writing workshops at university level, and I’m going to share what I’ve learned with you below.

The Technical Elements of Running a Creative Writing Workshop

Creative writing workshops can be any size you like. I’ve taught them to up to twenty students, and I’ve heard that they get a little unmanageable beyond that size.

Remember that for each additional member of the group, you will get more feedback , but you will also have less time to workshop each student’s work!

You can run a workshop in a formal class setting , such as at a high school, or university. You can also set up a creative writing workshop with your friends and colleagues / peers. They are organised in a similar way. 

Each week or session ask a certain number of writers to submit work for the group to read and provide feedback on.

The writers should submit their work at least one week before the workshop to give the class time to read and to think about feedback.

When a student’s work is being workshopped, all writers should be encouraged to provide some comments to create an atmosphere of sharing. Nobody wants to feel that they are giving more to the group than they are getting out of it. 

Create a Supportive, Positive, and Judgement Free Environment for Creative Writing Workshops

First of all, you want the students to feel totally safe to reveal their work to the group. Creative writing can be a very vulnerable experience, because the writer may be drawing on their own experience of life (they have to to some extent, right?). 

When people reveal their creative writing they often feel like they are revealing a part of who they are, or a little bit of their soul. So remember to always be encouraging, because self expression is a valuable and fragile thing! 

Remember to advise everyone to always start with a complement and end with one. Start by identifying what you like about the work, and what is working. 

Then move to comments that may be harder for the writer to hear i.e. harsher criticism . Then make sure to end on something positive as well! 

Remember that each person in a workshop will be there for a different reason and hoping to get something different from the experience.

Some very nervous students may be trying to build confidence, some very confident ones will be seeking the harshest criticisms they can find to test their writing in a cauldron of fire. 

Make sure to think about what the writer wants, and needs , and stay sensitive to the fact that every writer is different. 

Students are ready to hear different things at different times. If you sense the student isn’t ready for your super hot truth bomb, consider not dropping it on them, or giving them a little taste and letting them know they can approach you for further comments if they like. 

Remember There is no Right or Wrong in Creative Writing  

Ultimately, all assessment of writing , without a rubric, comes down to a matter of taste. Don’t’ tell writers that they are wrong, or that there is a better way of doing things. 

This is subtle, but suggest that they consider doing things in a slightly different way, if you believe their writing would benefit from experimentation in that direction.

Also direct the writer to what other authorities have said about creative writing. You might want to mention Heminway’s Iceberg theory for instance. 

Basically, just try to move away from the idea that there’s only one way of doing things, and find a happy existence in the gray zone!! 

Try to Help the Writer Achieve Their Own Goals, Not Yours

If the writer wants to writer Fast and the Furious Ten, then help them to do that. Don’t try to get them to write Hamlet 2. 

Another way of saying this is don’t try to get them to abandon their project and work on a better one. Try to see what they are striving to achieve and help them to achieve it. 

How do you Assess Creative Writing in a Formal Environment? 

If there is no right or wrong in creative writing , then how do you formally assess it, and give it a mark? 

Often in creative writing classes there will be a course component. The essay that accompanies that component will often form the majority or a significant amount of the final mark for the course , so most of the marks often do not come from the creative work itself.

If you do two rounds of feedback for your student, for example a workshop, followed by a submission of a final work for marking at the end of the the course, then the final mark can be derived largely from how well the writer has engaged with the comments of the workshop.

There is always a subjective element in marking creative writing . This is why it is generally preferable for the person marking the submission at the university level to have had some success as a creative writer .

Don’t worry at all though if you are leading a creative writing workshop at the school level and have not had work published yourself.

Writers at this level are generally not seeking publication yet, and are still being exposed to writing concepts that are foundational.

Try to guide your students to a better understanding of the core principles of writing like showing and not telling.

Creative writing courses will often provide a rubric which outlines exactly what is being assessed in the creative submission. This reduces the subject element involved in marking, because the marker is assessing how well you can perform a technical creative writing task, such as ‘creating subtext.’ 

Another way to reduce the subjective element of assessing creative work is to assess how well the creative submission embodies the lessons taught as part of the critical component of the course. 

When assessing creative writing it is also possible to assess the work according the criteria established by the writer themselves.

For instance, if a poet has submitted work written as a sonnet, you might want to assess how effectively they have utilised the poetic rules applicable for the sonnet form they have chosen. 

Creative Writing Workshops Should be Fun!

Creative writing should be fun. Don’t buy into the whole suffer for your art thing. If you don’t enjoy writing go do something you do enjoy. Life is short.

So make sure if you are running a workshop to make it fun for everyone involved, and I hope you have fun too 🙂

10 Essential Lessons You’ll Learn in a Creative Writing Workshop

by Melissa Donovan | Jul 11, 2023 | Creative Writing | 9 comments

What can you learn in a creative writing workshop?

When I look back over all my years of formal education, from preschool through college, only a few classes stand out as truly educational in a life-changing way.

In sixth grade, we did a section on space, which fascinated me. I retained a lot of what I learned. Later, I took astronomy and learned even more about the universe. A class on women writers exposed me to a whole world of literature I didn’t know existed. And two writing workshops (poetry and creative writing) put me on the path to becoming a professional writer.

The main difference between a regular class and a workshop is that a workshop is interactive. You work together with your fellow students, critiquing each other’s work, asking questions, and exchanging insights. Whatever you can learn from a single instructor is multiplied by all the knowledge and wisdom you gain by sharing ideas with a roomful of your peers.

What You Can Learn from a Creative Writing Workshop

2. Find out what your writing strengths are. The best part about receiving critiques from your peers is that they tell you what you’re doing right, which is reassuring. When you know that your writing skills have a solid foundation, it’s easier to accept that you still have work to do.

3. Accept the weaknesses in your writing. No matter how good your writing is now, there are things you can do to improve it. When ten of your classmates agree that certain elements in your prose need touching up or that you need to hit the grammar books, all you can do is accept it and dig your heels in.

4. Learn to handle critiques of your work. The first few critiques might be a bit rough, but once you see how all the suggestions make your writing better, you’ll start looking forward to them. You’ll learn how to separate yourself from your work, and you’ll be able to not only handle but actually embrace (and look forward to) critiques. This will also prepare you for real-world critics and their reviews.

5. Help others improve their work. When other writers put your suggestions into action or express appreciation for your recommendations and then tell you that your feedback helped them improve their writing, it feels good, especially when the arrangement is reciprocal.

6. Meet people who share your passion. There’s nothing like sitting in a room surrounded by people who are just as excited about writing as you are. It’s not only inspiring, it’s comforting. Plus, it’s a great opportunity to meet like-minded people, some of whom may become lifelong friends, writing partners, or your future writing group.

7. Improve your writing. This, of course, is the main reason most people take a creative writing workshop. The ultimate goal is to become a better writer , and a workshop will definitely do the trick. You’ll also put a lot more effort into everything you write because you know it will be scrutinized, and this builds excellent writing habits .

8. Adopt new writing techniques. Between the instructor and your peers, you’ll discover all kinds of interesting new writing tools and techniques, often simply through the course of discussion as well as through observing everyone’s work.

9. Get access to a mentor. The person running the workshop should be knowledgeable and experienced in the world of writing. Maybe the instructor is a published author, or maybe it’s someone who’s worked as an agent, editor, or publisher. This access to a mentor is priceless. Take advantage of it!

10. Gain experience and get a lot of creative writing practice. This is one of the most valuable benefits of a creative writing workshop. When writers work on their own, they tend to procrastinate, get distracted, and generally don’t finish most of the projects they start. But in a workshop, you’re forced to get it done. This gives you lots of great experience and practice, and it also builds good writing habits.

Thinking About Taking a Creative Writing Workshop?

I definitely recommend taking a creative writing workshop if you can find a good one that suits your schedule, budget, and writing needs. If you’ve already taken a creative writing workshop or class, share your experiences by leaving a comment. Did you learn or gain anything? Would you do it again?

You have spoken along these lines before, Melissa, and this entry is, as all your posts, fascinating and carries a great deal of sense. However, and I know I am repeating myself, I am quite unable to allow others to trample over my work, however poor it is and however noble their (expressed) motives.

I cannot help but think of the vast number of ‘real’ writers, men and women who would not have entertained the thought that writing could be learned, like arithmetic, in a classroom.

I am a poor writer and have come to accept the fact I shall always be a poor writer; it is my belief that some things – like arithmetic – can be ‘brought to heel’ by sheer hatd work, while others, like music, painting and writing, will remain ever beyond the reach of some.

Further, I have seen very promising young tennis players taken up by organisations such as the LTA and coached, every shred of flair and originality brutally ‘ironed out’ of them, and my fear is that, for many of us, attending a writer’s workshop would be a similarly dulling experience.

I also realise, however, that there are those of a temperament to survive – and evn thrive in such conditions. Sadly, I am not one of them.

Again, my thanks for a fascinating and informative blog and may it go on to even greater success, but I think you should make it clear that not everyone who has pretensions of being a writer will see their dream come true.

I believe anyone can become a writer. It starts with believing in yourself. I would add that successful authors demonstrate a range of writing skills. Even a “poor writer” (which you are not) can eke out a career in writing. I’ve seen it done. The only way to be sure you will never succeed is to never try.

Writing can be intended for a wide audience but it’s reason for being is that the writer cannot bear not to write. Whether you are a Eudora Welty, basking in prayers se or an Ethel Jackson whose writing fills notebooks only she has seen, your work has much value

Our local university has leisure learning classes that are workshops. We not only get feedback on our work, but we also learn how to workshop a piece, looking parts of the writing process with a discerning eye. The instructors keep the focus on the work, not the author. It’s so helpful for all the reasons you mentioned, but also to learn how to look constructively at my own work before anyone else ever reads it. Being inspired by fellow writers talking about writing is my favorite part. I’m sorry that opsimath feels that way. Whose to say what’s poor writing or good writing? Of course, some is obvious, and the above comment isn’t bad writing. I found it to be well-crafted and conveyed what the author intended. Not everybody is Stephen King or F.Scott Fitzgerald, and there are some who would argue even they aren’t good writers. I had the fear that I would lose myself in critique, but even in that it’s a good exercise. One of my best lessons is that no matter what others said, it’s still my writing. I can choose to take their advice or not. Workshops are only helpful when the focus is on the work, though. It’s a criitique, not a criticism. I’ve been in bad ones and they can hurt more than help. I got out of them quick.

Yes! Everything you said is spot-on. Your experiences in workshop give all of us reason to feel optimistic about finding good writing workshops and the benefits that we’ll gain from them. Thanks so much for sharing your experience. I hope it inspires others to take the plunge and try workshopping for themselves.

You have talked thusly some time recently, Melissa, and this section is, as every one of your posts, interesting and conveys a lot of sense. On the other hand, and I know I am rehashing myself, I am very not able to permit others to trample over my work, however poor it is and however honorable their (communicated) thought processes.

I really want to think about the incomprehensible number of “genuine” essayists, men and ladies who might not have entertained the prospect that written work could be learned, similar to math, in a classroom.

I am a poor essayist and now acknowledge the actuality I should dependably be a poor author; it is my conviction that a few things – like math – can be ‘conveyed to heel’ by sheer hatd work, while others, similar to music, painting and composing, will remain ever past the compass of some.

Further, I have seen extremely encouraging youthful tennis players taken up by associations, for example, the LTA and instructed, each shred of energy and innovation mercilessly ‘resolved’ of them, and my trepidation is that, for a significant number of us, going to an author’s workshop would be an also dulling knowle

Hi Shamit. Receiving feedback and critiques is not the same as people trampling all over your work. A good critique is designed to make your writing better. If you want to be a better writer, you can certainly work toward that. It’s your choice. There are people who have a natural talent for writing. However, great writing requires a lot of different skills (grammar, storytelling, word-craft, etc.). Even the most talented writers will find some area of the craft where they need to learn skills they don’t possess. The idea that writing can’t be learned is simply not true, as evidenced by thousands upon thousands of people who worked hard to learn the craft and then became successful. The myth that talent is a requirement is an unfortunate one.

A writer is someone who writes. However, the object of writing is not necessarily to get published or make a living by writing. Read, for example, the notebooks of Thomas Edison. One of the best writers I knew was my grandmother, who maintained weekly correspondence with seven high school girlfriends for over 50 years.

That’s true, Ann. People write for many reasons and not only for professional purposes.

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How to Lead a Stand-Out Writing Workshop

Krystal N. Craiker

We’ve all been there. You’re excited about a particular workshop or breakout session. You’ve got your pen ready to take notes in your favorite notebook. But ten minutes in, your mind is somewhere else. What time is lunch? Did I remember to feed the cat this morning? I wonder where the presenter got her shoes?

Writing workshops can be chock full of valuable information, but if that information is not delivered in an engaging way, no one will get anything out of it. Time is our most precious resource, and there’s nothing worse than wasting someone’s time.

Leading lectures, workshops, and classes are a great way to diversify your writer’s portfolio. It’s a way to get your name out there and make connections. Speaking events are another way to make money. How do you ensure that you are leading a workshop that people will both enjoy and find valuable? I have seven tips for leading a great workshop.

1. Get Personal

2. establish clear goals, 3. use visuals, 4. facilitate activities, 5. ask questions, 6. manage your time, 7. have a back-up plan.

If you want people to listen to you, they need to care about you. At the beginning of every workshop or lecture, your introduction should do two things:

• Establish your credentials, knowledge, or expertise
• Humanize yourself as a presenter

First, people need to know why you are qualified to speak to them. I don’t mean that you need to rattle off every degree and certification. You don’t need to list all your Amazon rankings. Don’t be pretentious, but let your audience know why you have valuable knowledge to offer them. Here are some things you might say:

• I’ve been a freelance writer for four years
• I’m the author of two novels
• I’ve worked as a professional publicist for dozens of bestselling authors

But you are more than your career! Make yourself seem real and relatable to your audience. List off a couple of personal things about yourself. Don’t over-share, but tell your audience something interesting. When I lead workshops, I mention that I have a background in both anthropology and education, I love to travel, and I’m a proud dog-mom. My introduction slide has a few pictures of these things.

Don’t ramble. Keep it short and sweet. I get through my entire introduction in about one minute. The goal is to get your audience invested in you as a person so they want to listen to you.

Have you ever set through a workshop that you thought would be something else entirely? You stick around through information you don’t need, waiting to get to that one part that will be useful, but it never comes. It’s frustrating.

Remember, we don’t want to waste people’s time. Sometimes it’s hard to tell what a workshop will cover from its title or synopsis in a conference program.

Establish clear goals from the beginning of your workshop. Recently, I attended a session on book launches. I wanted information about hosting in-person events. The speaker immediately said that she would focus only on virtual book launches for that session. I appreciated that I wasn’t wasting my time looking for specific information.

List your goals or create a table of contents for your presentation. I also enjoy putting in flowcharts to explain how the workshop will progress.

Long walls of text on PowerPoints are out. They are intimidating and boring to your audience, and they accomplish nothing. Either your audience is trying to read everything while you’re speaking about something related, so they miss important information, or you are reading verbatim what your slide says. That’s redundant and dull and can even come across as insulting to your audience’s intelligence.

Use visuals. Graphs, charts, and templates are always useful. Pictures of books or people are other good options. You can even add funny memes or GIFs to your slide to break up information-dense sections. Free stock photos from sites like Pixabay, Freepik , or Unsplash can also enhance your presentation.

Visuals also help people process, comprehend, and later recall information . The human brain loves learning through images.

While it can be tempting to cram as much information as possible into a workshop, people have a hard time listening to someone just talk. No matter how great your public speaking skills are, people will zone out at some point.

Participants should leave a great workshop feeling like they accomplished something. Let them put your teaching to the test. Design short activities for your audience. It can be something as simple as listing goals or as complicated as making a plot timeline of their own work. If you have a short session, these activities could take as little as two to five minutes.

Place these activities throughout your presentation. If you wait till the end, people will get bored listening to someone do nothing but talk. You also risk going over your time and not getting to any of the activities at all.

Your audience will feel much more accomplished if you cover just a couple of things and let them put it into practice than if you just talked at them for an hour or more. It’s all about quality over quantity.

Your audience needs to feel like they are participating. Ask questions of your audience as you present. You can ask for examples or personal experiences.

Likewise, ask questions as your audience works on your activities. Circle through the room and ask how they’re doing. Many people won’t ask for help or clarity in front of a group due to shyness. Give them a chance to talk to you one-on-one. Ask about what they write; show that you’re invested in them so that they will be invested in you.

Asking questions leads me to my next point. Every workshop will have a person who likes to dominate the conversation. They will ask a ton of questions or ramble on about their own writing. While it’s great that someone is so engaged in your workshop, this is annoying to other participants.

When they stop for a natural pause, politely interject and say you need to move on for the sake of time. Offer to speak to them more after the workshop, or tell them you’d love for them to email you.

You should also watch your pacing carefully. Even if you’ve rehearsed your workshop, your pacing might be off on the day of the event. People have a tendency to either speak much faster or much slower than normal when they’re nervous. There are also factors like audience questions and technology hiccups that can interfere.

Wear a watch or have a small kitchen timer set up near your computer. Decide ahead of time which points can be rushed or expanded on if your timing is off. And keep an eye on your audience. If nearly everyone has finished an activity sooner than you anticipated, move on to the next part.

The first time I taught a writing workshop, I was so nervous. I even made my non-writer husband come along just in case there were hardly any people to ask questions and do my activities! I had worked hard on a presentation about planning a novel from idea generation to outlining.

The library couldn’t find the projector anywhere. I had the great idea to go paperless and give people a website to access the resources. Now I had no slideshow and no handout. I didn’t even have a whiteboard. And thirty people showed up!

I made it through. The librarian quickly printed my resource page. I apologized for having no presentation and did the best I could. Overall, it went fine. But this experience taught me to always have a back-up plan.

Technology is not always on our side. Every audience will be different. I spoke to a group of librarians about NaNoWriMo last fall. I was told I would be speaking to seventy-five people. There were six. I really had to stretch out that presentation on the fly to avoid awkward silences.

Final Thoughts

Overall, try your best. Create a workshop that you would be excited to attend. Give yourself grace when you mess up; most of your audience won’t notice. Writing workshops aren’t the Golden Globes.

Most importantly, speak to your audience with passion. Let them know that you care deeply about writing. The rest will come with practice and preparation.

What’s the best writing workshop you’ve ever attended? Tell us about it in the comments below.

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Krystal N. Craiker is the Writing Pirate, an indie romance author and blog manager at ProWritingAid. She sails the seven internet seas, breaking tropes and bending genres. She has a background in anthropology and education, which brings fresh perspectives to her romance novels. When she’s not daydreaming about her next book or article, you can find her cooking gourmet gluten-free cuisine, laughing at memes, and playing board games. Krystal lives in Dallas, Texas with her husband, child, and basset hound.

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How to Behave in a Creative Writing Workshop

Last Updated: April 13, 2023 References

wikiHow is a “wiki,” similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. To create this article, 9 people, some anonymous, worked to edit and improve it over time. This article has been viewed 3,000 times.

A creative writing workshop can help you define and develop your writing style, refine your technique, and polish your manuscript. However, no writer's workshop is a "magic bullet" that, of itself, can make you a better writer. You have to do the work; you still have to write. Here's how to behave in a creative writing workshop so that you get the most out of it.

• Be aware, however, that some workshops fill up faster that their organizers can shut down registration for them. Always check for confirmation of your registration before setting out.

• If the workshop is based around a particular genre, you should be well-read in that genre to get as much as possible out of the workshop.
• If your workshop is led by a professional author, you should, if possible, read some of that author's work prior to the workshop.

• Be sure to address criticisms to the work instead of to the author, by saying things like "This section needs" or "This passage needs" instead of "You need to".
• Do not make statements on behalf of the workshop, as in "This is not the appropriate place for this work". You're a participant at the workshop, not a member of its staff.

• Stay quiet when people are giving you critiques. Don't defend yourself; people won't be able to critique as much if you are constantly interrupting them.
• Remember that you cannot please everyone. Some critiques will cancel out others.
• Take notes. Even if you don't believe that the critique will help or just don't want to use it, write it down. You may have to rely on it in the future.
• Also be prepared to receive critiques from others than are neither thoughtful nor positive. Not every critique you receive will have useful suggestions; some won't even be coherent.

• Don't not take a critique into consideration if you think it's too much work. Sometimes the only thing that can get you published requires weeks of work.

Expert Q&A

• Do not make any comments personal, and do not take any comments personally. Remember it is the work that is critiqued, not the author. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• Keep in mind that not every comment on your work must lead to an edit or change in the story. The other participants will have opinions, but the most important opinion is yours as author. Evaluate each comment carefully: if you feel suggested changes aren't suitable, don't make them. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• After the workshop is over, you may want to provide feedback to the workshop's organizers to suggest ways they can improve the workshop for future attendees. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

You Might Also Like

• http://learnmore.duke.edu/youth/creativewriter/academic.asp
• http://www.826michigan.org/workshops/
• http://www.cmmayo.com/workshop-10-tips-for-getting-most-out-of-your-writing-workshop.html
• http://www.writersworkshop.co.uk/blog/university-courses-in-creative-writing/
• http://www.writingforward.com/creative-writing/10-essential-lessons-youll-learn-in-a-creative-writing-workshop

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Running Writing Workshops

Run effective writing workshops ..

This professional development course provides you with the skills and confidence required to run successful writing workshops.

The six-week online course, taught by world-leading tutors, gives you the practical resources and theoretical background to design an effective writing group of your own. The course is suitable for those offering, or intending to offer, writing workshops in academic, healthcare or recreational settings. You will learn about group dynamics and the psychology of what makes groups tick as well as important issues of ethics, legalities and safeguarding.

This is a certified CPD course and those who successfully complete the course receive a Certification of Completion confirming their learning and study hours.

Anne Taylor

Anne Taylor is a writer, teacher, Feldenkrais practitioner and writing group facilitator. She worked for many years as a journalist and university lecturer before embarking on an MA in Creative Writing and Personal Development and the facilitation of writing groups with various organisations and universities.

Victoria Field

Victoria Field is a pioneer in the use of writing for health and wellbeing and is a qualified biblio- poetry therapist. She has published several poetry collections and a memoir, has edited three books on therapeutic writing and has contributed to many academic and popular publications.

CPD accreditation

This course has been independently accredited for integrity and quality. It reaches globally recognised CPD standards and benchmarks for active learning that develops professional skills, competence and career aspirations.

How it works

We give you the theory in the form of videos, podcasts, written lectures and reading extracts. In the case of our live workshops, this includes a live online seminar.

You put it into practice by completing the writing assignments.

You share your work with the small group of fellow writers and the teaching team.

Your tutor and fellow learners read your work and give professional-style feedback on your submission. Giving feedback notes helps to build your skills as an editor - a critical part of the writing process.

You reflect on the exercises with the group and share what you’ve learned.

You use what you learned from the feedback and discussions to review your work and improve it.

Things to know

Running Writing Workshops is for anyone looking to develop a range of workshop management skills for use in their own creative, academic, professional or recreational practice.

The course is suitable if you:

• Are running or would like to run writing groups or workshops
• Would like to develop your skills as a group facilitator
• Work with groups or run writing workshops in schools and academic settings
• Use writing groups in your counselling practice
• Run or would like to set up an informal creative writing group
• Are interested in using writing as a therapeutic tool in group settings
• Need a steer on the logistics, ethics and legal framework of running groups
• Are looking for practical resources, exercises and teaching plans to use with writing groups
• Are seeking a CPD (Continuing Professional Development) course (15 hours didactic learning, 15 hours peer learning)
• Enjoy the discipline of deadlines and peer learning
• Want to join a friendly and supportive small group of learners
• Can dedicate a minimum of 5-7 hours per week to the learning (at a time to suit you).

This course allows you to:

• Learn the principles of running a writing workshop
• Explore and identify your role as a writing group facilitator
• Identify what kind of workshop you would like to run
• Develop an action plan for getting a workshop off the ground
• Make workshops more effective in academic settings
• Run groups in a professional setting for reflective practice
• Use writing workshops as a teaching tool
• Set up informal groups for creative writers
• Produce teaching and management plans, risk assessments, launch plans and promotional materials
• Feel confident in using a range of resources and exercises
• Develop transferable professional skills (discipline, attention to detail, ability to work to deadlines)
• Increase professionalism in working with others
• Feel more confident in responding to other people’s work and receiving responses to your own work
• Build greater independence, autonomy and judgment as you self-direct, self-manage and realise assignments to the course briefs.

Each course is divided into sessions. These sessions are released one by one (weekly or fortnightly, depending on the course). 

There’s no need to log on at a set time. You can work through the learning materials whenever suits you, day or night, wherever you are in the world. Just complete the assignments and join forum discussions by the session deadline. 

Our teaching method is based on the science of active learning: you read/listen/watch, try out, share and reflect. It’s a social experience – you become part of a small group, feeding back on each other’s writing to build a supportive bunch of readers you trust. Find out more here .

Sessions are available on Monday morning each week. While there are set deadlines for posting your work and giving feedback to fellow classmates, our 24/7 digital campus means you can work through the course material at your own pace. This course is flexible, with no pre-recordings or live classes, so you can dip in and out, fitting perfectly around any work or family commitments.

Session 1: Introducing Writing Groups – What is a writing workshop? We’ll begin by considering the history of writing groups and the variety of settings and people that they might include. We’ll look at what you want to gain personally from the course and start thinking about the sort of group you’d like to run.

Session 2: How Do Groups Work? – We’ll consider the psychology of groups and what makes them tick, with reference to existing principles including transference and projection. You’ll consider your own experience of group dynamics and how this will affect your practice and workshop plan.

Session 3: Being a Facilitator – What kind of facilitator will you be and what skills will you need? We’ll discuss facilitation styles and using writing and reflection, and will start to explore the style in which you will run your group.

Session 4: Planning and Managing – We’ll look at how to structure a session or group series, how to establish goals and evaluate outcomes. You’ll think about goals for your own writing group and content for the sessions.

Session 5: Staying Safe – We’ll consider the important issues of ethics and legalities of running groups and of keeping ourselves safe through mentoring and supervision. You’ll put your own ideas forward on how to deal with these challenges.

Session 6: Putting it All Together – You’ll complete the course by writing a mission statement based on your learning so far. With the support of your tutors and fellow learners, you’ll put the finishing touches to your writing group project proposal and outline your plans for the future.

After finishing the course you might like to explore our companion course Introduction to Therapeutic and Reflective Writing.

Join our alumni community 

After your course, you can join our online alumni community – a friendly group of writers supporting each other as they continue to explore and develop their writing. There’s no cost for this. It’s easy to access via the online classroom, where you can:

• Revisit all your courses materials, including tutor notes, feedback, videos, podcasts and forum posts
• Rejoin your classmates, and continue working together in a private space
• Meet alumni from other courses to find beta-readers and share work on our critiquing forum
• Network with other writers working in your genre or area of interest
• Take part in regular ‘sit and write’ Zoom sessions, to push forward with your work-in progress
• Join our monthly live alumni events with our expert tutors and industry guests, including agents, editors, publishers, competition and festival organisers, and prizewinning writers

Taking things further If you’d like to continue on to another Professional Writing Academy course,  please get in touch  for more details.

Meet your course team

Healing with Words

More about Anne Taylor

Poetry Therapy Pioneer

More about Victoria Field

Kate McBarron

Kate is a writer, editor and writing for wellbeing practitioner & researcher. She is passionate about words and their ability to enhance our daily lives, from relaxation to self-discovery and workplace wellness.

Kate is cofounder of  WritingForLife.co.uk  and founder of  WriteToRelax.com .

More about Kate McBarron

Claire Maguire

Community Guide

Start your journey

£ 475

Earlybird price

£ 428

(Including taxes)

A generous, inspiring and well planned course which is both creative and practical. An invaluable resource for anyone considering running a writing group!

Student, 2017

Find out about our payment plans and get in touch.

Course Alumni

Meet our writers.

Laura Steen

Sometimes it isn’t possible to find your perfect writing group — let alone attend one — for reasons that range from geographical constraints to personal. However, if this has taught me anything, it’s that being part of an online group can be just as rewarding as ‘real life’ interaction.

More on Running Writing Workshops

Write Advice: poetry therapist Victoria Field discusses the power of writing groups

Running Writing Groups course director takes questions from our students.

Ten tips for running writing groups

There’s more to think about than exercises when you’re setting up a workshop. Here, Running Writing Workshops tutor Anne Taylor has put together her ten most important pieces of advice for anyone looking to get involved in holding their own workshops.

How to run a writing workshop

Victoria Field explains the benefits of writing groups and how to run them.

More courses

Looking for something different.

Therapeutic and Reflective Writing

For personal development or for your professional practice.

WriteWell Community

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Creativity For Writers

Commit to new ideas and establish creative habits that stick.

Become a better writer and meet beta readers in our online writing group

Scribophile is one of the largest and most award-winning online writing communities.

Make your writing shine with feedback from other writers

You’ve spent a lot of time writing your story. But how can you make it perfect before you start thinking about publishing?

Scribophile is a writing group focused on getting you feedback on your manuscript. — in fact, we’re one of the largest online writing groups out there. Our points-based peer critique system guarantees you’ll get feedback from writers from all walks of life. You can then use that feedback to polish your writing before you take the next step in your publishing journey.

How Scribophile works

1 earn points by giving feedback.

Earn karma points by critiquing writing. Giving feedback to group members is fast, easy, fun, and helps improve your own writing, too!

2 Get feedback on your own writing

Spend karma points to post your own writing for critique from our writing community — anything from flash fiction to novels. Our writer’s group will give you detailed feedback on how to improve it, regardless of your specific genre, and all in a supportive environment.

3 Make friends and meet beta readers

As you participate in our writing group, you’ll meet and form relationships with many different kinds writers. They’ll become your inspiration, your encouragement, and even your beta readers, ready to help with your current manuscript, and your next ones too!

Scribophile was the first place I stopped when I went from being an I-wanna-be-a-writer to I-am-an-author. Now I have four international bestselling novels with major publishers, and when authors come to me I always send them to Scribophile. Genevieve Graham Tides of Honour and others published with Simon & Schuster

Join writing workshops and level up your writing

Our writing workshops are taught by bestselling authors, expert teachers, and industry insiders. We have workshops for writers of any skill level, where we cover everything from beginning topics to advanced techniques.

Our writing workshops are designed to be both comprehensive and transformational — they’re your fast track to leveling up your writing.

Some of our upcoming writing workshops

Unlocking Your Story’s Midpoint with Jacquelin Cangro

Jun 8, 2024 • 2 hour webinar

Author, developmental editor, and book coach Jacquelin Cangro shows you how to make sure your midpoint keeps readers engaged while driving the plot forward toward the climax.

Crafting Purposeful Secondary Characters with Claudia Whitsitt

Jun 15, 2024 • 2 hour webinar with instructor feedback on your writing

Author and expert writing teacher Claudia Whitsitt shows you how to create meaningful and moving secondary characters that fill out a well-rounded story.

Our writing group welcomes writers of any skill level

Our writing group welcomes writers of all skill levels — from beginners to published authors, and every writer in between.

Each critique you receive on your manuscript is a fresh perspective for you to incorporate. Our bustling writing forums feature writers discussing the craft twenty-four hours a day — share inspiration, ignite your creativity, get support, and connect with others no matter your genre. Plus, our extensive Writing Academy is full of insightful articles on the art — and business — of writing.

Scribophile played a major part in helping me polish my novel for submission. I learnt a huge amount from critiquing other people’s work, as well as from reading critiques of mine. I now have a wonderful agent and have signed a three-book deal in the UK, a two-book deal in Germany, and a TV option. The book was also shortlisted for The Debut Dagger! Roz Watkins The Devil’s Dice and others published with HarperCollins

Giving and receiving critiques on Scribophile made a big difference to the quality of my writing. I learned how to write a query letter here and that led to an agent and a book deal. Ruth Lauren Prisoner of Ice and Snow and others published with Bloomsbury

No more writing alone — meet your new community

Sometimes, the hardest part of the writing process is how lonely it can get.

That’s why the most important part of Scribophile is our community of hundreds of thousands of writers from all over the world. No matter what genre you work in, or how far along you are in your manuscript, the friends you make at Scribophile will give encouragement, accountability, and will finally take the loneliness out of our solitary craft.

My years on Scribophile have given me a master’s level education in writing. The critiques are great, but I’ve learned as much from reading and analyzing other writers on Scribophile. I don’t think I could have polished my novel to a publishable level without this site. I’m an addict. Laura Creedle The Love Letters of Abelard and Lily published with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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Unsilencing the Writing Workshop

Students might learn more and hate it less if they talk about their own work.

If you’ve taken creative writing classes then you probably know what it’s like to sit in silence while everyone else in the room discusses your work as if you aren’t even there. This is called workshop, the traditional foundation of creative writing programs.

When I asked a group of writers how they would describe their workshop experiences, responses included: crushing, nightmare, hazing ritual, test of endurance, awful, ugh. I’ve heard of students drinking before their workshops; I’ve heard of students crying in class and after it; I’ve heard of students never looking at their workshopped pieces again. The word brutal is often used, as if honesty must necessarily be brutal. All of this seems to be viewed as inevitable, just part of the workshop experience, because it’s balanced by the positive: detailed critiques, solid suggestions, real ideas for revision, and validation from peers and professors. We are told that this is how workshop goes: praise and critique, praise and critique. Throughout, the student who is “up” for workshop sits in silence.

But is this format really the most effective way to go? Perhaps it’s time—way past time—to rethink how we workshop. To make it less a test of endurance and more a space of open discussion. Perhaps it’s time to undo the silence of workshop, to let students be part of conversations about their work rather than mere witnesses.

Here’s a story from my own MFA experience. I had submitted a piece in which characters were on their way to dim sum. In the workshop, people wanted to know what dim sum was. They couldn’t ask me directly because it was workshop; the writer was supposed to stay silent and take notes. They spent some time talking about how dim sum must be something Asian but it was confusing and it made the whole piece confusing—they were distracted, you see, by not knowing what dim sum was. Of course the whole time I was thinking, really, you don’t know what dim sum is? Also, why didn’t you find out before workshop? But again I was supposed to stay silent, and everyone knows that at the end of workshop when you’re asked if there’s anything you’d like to say, it’s better just to say thanks and not much more because otherwise you’re just going to sound defensive.

In this workshop format, the idea of what constituted basic knowledge did not include dim sum. They, the rest of the people in the workshop, decided what constituted basic knowledge. And yes, they were white except for one other person and I was not (though you already knew that). The group’s knowledge was knowledge. I was the outsider, the strange Asian who needed to adapt my work to what they understood. This wasn’t intentional malice; it was baseline assumption.

This is also the kind of unchecked, micro-aggressive yet forceful imbalance of power that is the typical workshop environment. It is undoubtedly experienced in some way by everyone but profoundly so for writers of color, especially since creative writing programs, nationally, are 74 percent white.

I got my MFA in 1998, which feels like a very long time ago because it was. Yet workshops are still conducted in the same way. I have participated plenty in the typical language of traditional workshop—I wanted to see more of this or that, what are the stakes—the usual starting with praise then quickly turning to critique. I also know that, more often than that, I left workshop feeling some combination of demoralized and uncertain; I left wanting more validation, no matter how much I’d already received. But I didn’t question the overall system. It was just the way things were done.

As I became a workshop leader myself and a professor of creative writing, I perpetuated the same ideas about workshop space: the silence, the barrage of praise and criticism, the feeling of not knowing what to do with all the conflicting comments. I did this because it’s what I knew; it’s what I had learned. This system is so powerful, so much the core of what some call the creative writing industrial complex, that even today the majority of creative writing instructors adhere to it.

And so most of us end up getting through workshop with endurance stories that we go on to tell our friends. Like the story I just told you, about dim sum, which is minor compared to countless horrible workshop stories I have heard from other writers. But we do endure; we get through it; often we do it in order to get somewhere else—to the end of the semester, end of the program, to the other side of the classroom.

But I think that a system that relies on silencing and skewed power and endurance is a terrible system. Possibly it begins in how we’re taught literature and writing in elementary school through high school: the idea of thesis statements, textual evidence, and the emphasis on texts. The author—intention, context, biography—is made to disappear, as if in their disappearance we can reach some kind of objectivity. Students are trained to think about texts and in workshop they are trained to think of their classmates’ works as texts.

But a text doesn’t exist without its author or without the time, place, and circumstances—political, cultural, and more—in which it needed to be created. Which is why workshops are always, always personal, no matter how often we’re told not to take it personally.

I began rethinking workshop space in earnest years ago when I started teaching nonfiction. Here the personal is real. There is no scrim of fiction. This makes the space more delicate: when you talk about a “text” that is true, and the author is in the room, then you are also talking about the author. No way around it. For underrepresented students especially, this can quickly become a tense, stressful environment.

I was also tired of workshop spending so much time talking about a plot point or logistical matter that could easily be cleared up by simply asking the writer what was intended. So one day I did just that: started asking the writer what they meant. And the entire workshop shifted. The mood lifted. The writer and the rest of the workshop could talk about intention—what carried through and what didn’t. The writer could engage in process during workshop.

When we unsilence workshop, when we invite students to participate in the discussion of their own work, everything changes: the writer is no longer passively accepting comments. Rather, they become who they should be: the creators and navigators of their own work.

The workshoppers, in turn, are asked to do less prescribing (I want to see more of this; I want this or that to happen; I didn’t want that character to be here) and more questioning. Why did you use first-person? How important is the sister character supposed to be? Instead of a typical old-school workshop comment such as “I want to see more about the mother,” there’s a question: “We don’t see much about the mother—how important of a character is she?” The former is a demand; the latter is an opening.

When the writer gets to talk about what they’re trying to do, they discover something more about what they actually are doing. Almost always, they reveal information that they’d been holding back. In other words, their talking within workshop, rather than at the end of it, helped them process their own process.

I remember, when I first started opening up workshop space, that it felt very rebellious and transgressive. I was letting the writer talk! Letting them answer questions! The students were shocked by this too. That’s how well-trained we are in the traditional system. But it didn’t take long to get used to an open space because, it simply feels more productive. It simply makes more sense to have a conversation.

Here’s an overview of how I ran a recent fiction workshop in which MFA students were writing novels and short stories:

I began the semester with a few classes devoted to talking about workshop and craft. I did this because most of the students had never before been in workshops that hadn’t followed the traditional format. Crucial essays we read were Matt Salesses’s “Pure Craft is a Lie” series at Pleiades, and Joy Castro’s “Racial and Ethnic Justice in the Creative Writing Course” in Gulf Coast.

These essays also helped establish how the semester was going to proceed: that we were rethinking and revisioning our way of talking about story-making. That we respected each other’s individual histories, backgrounds, and experiences and understood that our critiques and suggestions were informed by our own backgrounds and experiences.

When a student distributed their stories for workshop, they were encouraged (but not required) to include a brief written overview of what they hoped the workshop would address. For example, students would say they were particularly concerned about structure, or not sure about the point of view, and so on. Some students wanted particular attention paid to certain paragraph or sections. The workshoppers’ feedback letters focused on how they interpreted the story, what they thought it was about or what they thought the story was doing, and included questions around areas that seemed unclear, confusion, or particularly tense.

On workshop day, the writer who was “up” began discussion by talking about how they wrote the story. Where ideas came from, why they wrote it, what they were trying to do. They got to set the stage for their own workshop. From there, workshop moved in the direction of conversation, with questions and suggestions supplied by the rest of the class. For example, a typical comment of praise we might hear—“I love the images in the first paragraph and I thought it was a great way to being the story”—would be reframed into a question like: “I love the images in the first paragraph and I thought it was a great way to being the story—how did you decide to begin with that?”

Of course, students sometimes fell into habits of traditional workshop critique, and sometimes that worked fine, integrated into our more open approach, and sometimes some additional steering on my part was needed. My steering often returned the conversation to the writer, asking them to consider their own work. In the first few weeks students often said, I’m not used to talking , almost cautiously, as if they were breaking a rule. It took practice to adapt to this more open system but it didn’t take long, probably because this unsilenced method creates a greater level of comfort in the room.

What I have found is that an unsilenced workshop is a more invigorated and healthy space. There is conversation rather than everyone waiting to take a turn to speak their critique. Numerous students have told me that they’d never actually enjoyed a workshop before. That they felt less worried about on how their peers would react—and thus more free to take risks.

My goal is for students to leave feeling heard and feeling motivated to keep working and revising, with ideas (rather than demands) in hand. The traditional, silenced workshop tends toward tension, competition, a sense of failure. The unsilenced workshop tends toward encouragement, generative discussion, a sense of possibility. The critiques are not directives but perspectives.

The creative writing workshop has always been about doing workshop more than being up for workshop; you spend far more time considering the work of your peers than hearing comments on your own. This process helps teach us how to be better at revising and editing. A more open, unsilenced, dialogue-focused workshop space continues this benefit while also allowing writers to be more actively involved in their own process. They aren’t watching the critique of their own work, but rather central to the conversation. In talking out loud about their work, writers often find their own answers.

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7 Steps to a Great Writing Workshop

Would you like to make your classroom a stimulating community of writers and learners? Set up a writing workshop! This instructional approach truly engages students by letting them write, read, interact, mentor, and take risks—all at their own pace. Follow these simple steps to create a writing workshop in your classroom.

Step 1: Set up a writing workshop framework.

A typical writing workshop session has four parts.

Step 2: Be a writer!

Teach by example, showing not only how you write, but also how to collaborate, respond to other writers, and make improvements based on responses.

Step 3: Create a writing community.

Help your students work side by side, learning from each other in much the same way that artists do in studios or cooks do in the kitchen. Provide spaces for individual work and spaces for small-group work.

Step 4: Provide many models and topic choices.

Models help students see how other writers have shaped their ideas in essays and stories. They also serve as springboards for minilessons and class discussions about specific writing strategies. ( See student models .)

Your students need to write about topics that interest them. When students have strong feelings about their topics, they stay with their writing longer and do their best work. ( See writing topics .)

Step 5: Let students work at their own pace.

On any given day, some students may be researching a topic; others may be drafting or revising; and still others may have finished one piece of work and started on another. As workshop manager, your job is to make sure that everyone is gainfully working on a project.

Step 6: Invite peer responses.

Your students need the feedback of their peers to develop strong writing and feel part of the writing community. Help them carry out peer response groups. ( See the peer response minilesson .)

Step 7: Offer your support.

Hold brief (2- to 3-minute) conferences with students as needed during independent writing time. During these conferences, don’t act as a fixer but rather as someone who listens and suggests and offers next steps.

Final Thoughts:

Effective classroom management is the key to implementing a successful writing workshop. You need to establish specific goals (such as the number of pieces to be completed per quarter), keep students on task (via the work check), and look for teachable moments to introduce specific minilessons.

Writing Workshop Resources

Writing Workshop: The Essential Guide by Ralph Fletcher and JoAnn Portalupi

About the Authors: Writing Workshop with Our Youngest Writers by Katie Wood Ray

In the Middle: New Understandings About Writing, Reading, and Learning by Nancie Atwell

The 9 Rights of Every Writer by Vicki Spandel

The No-Nonsense Guide to Teaching Writing by Judy Davis and Sharon Hill

www.writingproject.org (National Writing Project)

Teacher Support:

Click to find out more about this resource.

Standards Correlations:

The State Standards provide a way to evaluate your students' performance.

• LAFS.K12.W.1.1
• LAFS.K12.W.1.2
• LAFS.K12.W.1.3
• LAFS.K12.W.2.4
• LAFS.K12.W.2.5
• LAFS.K12.W.2.6
• LAFS.K12.W.3.7
• LAFS.K12.W.3.8
• LAFS.K12.W.3.9
• LAFS.K12.W.4.10

Related Resources

All resources.

• Forming a Focus
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• Writing a "Showing" Paragraph
• Writing a Four-Star Food Review
• Drawing a Life Map
• All 3-5 Units (5 Seats)
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• All 6-8 Units (5 Seats)
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• Writing Essays
• Writers Express
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• Writers Express Teacher's Guide
• Write on Course 20-20
• Write for Business

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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What Is Creative Writing? (Ultimate Guide + 20 Examples)

Creative writing begins with a blank page and the courage to fill it with the stories only you can tell.

I face this intimidating blank page daily–and I have for the better part of 20+ years.

In this guide, you’ll learn all the ins and outs of creative writing with tons of examples.

What Is Creative Writing (Long Description)?

Creative Writing is the art of using words to express ideas and emotions in imaginative ways. It encompasses various forms including novels, poetry, and plays, focusing on narrative craft, character development, and the use of literary tropes.

Table of Contents

Let’s expand on that definition a bit.

Creative writing is an art form that transcends traditional literature boundaries.

It includes professional, journalistic, academic, and technical writing. This type of writing emphasizes narrative craft, character development, and literary tropes. It also explores poetry and poetics traditions.

In essence, creative writing lets you express ideas and emotions uniquely and imaginatively.

It’s about the freedom to invent worlds, characters, and stories. These creations evoke a spectrum of emotions in readers.

Creative writing covers fiction, poetry, and everything in between.

It allows writers to express inner thoughts and feelings. Often, it reflects human experiences through a fabricated lens.

Types of Creative Writing

There are many types of creative writing that we need to explain.

Some of the most common types:

• Short stories
• Screenplays
• Flash fiction
• Creative Nonfiction

Short Stories (The Brief Escape)

Short stories are like narrative treasures.

They are compact but impactful, telling a full story within a limited word count. These tales often focus on a single character or a crucial moment.

Short stories are known for their brevity.

They deliver emotion and insight in a concise yet powerful package. This format is ideal for exploring diverse genres, themes, and characters. It leaves a lasting impression on readers.

Example: Emma discovers an old photo of her smiling grandmother. It’s a rarity. Through flashbacks, Emma learns about her grandmother’s wartime love story. She comes to understand her grandmother’s resilience and the value of joy.

Novels (The Long Journey)

Novels are extensive explorations of character, plot, and setting.

They span thousands of words, giving writers the space to create entire worlds. Novels can weave complex stories across various themes and timelines.

The length of a novel allows for deep narrative and character development.

Readers get an immersive experience.

Example: Across the Divide tells of two siblings separated in childhood. They grow up in different cultures. Their reunion highlights the strength of family bonds, despite distance and differences.

Poetry (The Soul’s Language)

Poetry expresses ideas and emotions through rhythm, sound, and word beauty.

It distills emotions and thoughts into verses. Poetry often uses metaphors, similes, and figurative language to reach the reader’s heart and mind.

Poetry ranges from structured forms, like sonnets, to free verse.

The latter breaks away from traditional formats for more expressive thought.

Example: Whispers of Dawn is a poem collection capturing morning’s quiet moments. “First Light” personifies dawn as a painter. It brings colors of hope and renewal to the world.

Plays (The Dramatic Dialogue)

Plays are meant for performance. They bring characters and conflicts to life through dialogue and action.

This format uniquely explores human relationships and societal issues.

Playwrights face the challenge of conveying setting, emotion, and plot through dialogue and directions.

Example: Echoes of Tomorrow is set in a dystopian future. Memories can be bought and sold. It follows siblings on a quest to retrieve their stolen memories. They learn the cost of living in a world where the past has a price.

Screenplays (Cinema’s Blueprint)

Screenplays outline narratives for films and TV shows.

They require an understanding of visual storytelling, pacing, and dialogue. Screenplays must fit film production constraints.

Example: The Last Light is a screenplay for a sci-fi film. Humanity’s survivors on a dying Earth seek a new planet. The story focuses on spacecraft Argo’s crew as they face mission challenges and internal dynamics.

Memoirs (The Personal Journey)

Memoirs provide insight into an author’s life, focusing on personal experiences and emotional journeys.

They differ from autobiographies by concentrating on specific themes or events.

Memoirs invite readers into the author’s world.

They share lessons learned and hardships overcome.

Example: Under the Mango Tree is a memoir by Maria Gomez. It shares her childhood memories in rural Colombia. The mango tree in their yard symbolizes home, growth, and nostalgia. Maria reflects on her journey to a new life in America.

Flash Fiction (The Quick Twist)

Flash fiction tells stories in under 1,000 words.

It’s about crafting compelling narratives concisely. Each word in flash fiction must count, often leading to a twist.

This format captures life’s vivid moments, delivering quick, impactful insights.

Example: The Last Message features an astronaut’s final Earth message as her spacecraft drifts away. In 500 words, it explores isolation, hope, and the desire to connect against all odds.

Creative Nonfiction (The Factual Tale)

Creative nonfiction combines factual accuracy with creative storytelling.

This genre covers real events, people, and places with a twist. It uses descriptive language and narrative arcs to make true stories engaging.

Creative nonfiction includes biographies, essays, and travelogues.

Example: Echoes of Everest follows the author’s Mount Everest climb. It mixes factual details with personal reflections and the history of past climbers. The narrative captures the climb’s beauty and challenges, offering an immersive experience.

Fantasy (The World Beyond)

Fantasy transports readers to magical and mythical worlds.

It explores themes like good vs. evil and heroism in unreal settings. Fantasy requires careful world-building to create believable yet fantastic realms.

Example: The Crystal of Azmar tells of a young girl destined to save her world from darkness. She learns she’s the last sorceress in a forgotten lineage. Her journey involves mastering powers, forming alliances, and uncovering ancient kingdom myths.

Science Fiction (The Future Imagined)

Science fiction delves into futuristic and scientific themes.

It questions the impact of advancements on society and individuals.

Science fiction ranges from speculative to hard sci-fi, focusing on plausible futures.

Example: When the Stars Whisper is set in a future where humanity communicates with distant galaxies. It centers on a scientist who finds an alien message. This discovery prompts a deep look at humanity’s universe role and interstellar communication.

Watch this great video that explores the question, “What is creative writing?” and “How to get started?”:

What Are the 5 Cs of Creative Writing?

The 5 Cs of creative writing are fundamental pillars.

They guide writers to produce compelling and impactful work. These principles—Clarity, Coherence, Conciseness, Creativity, and Consistency—help craft stories that engage and entertain.

They also resonate deeply with readers. Let’s explore each of these critical components.

Clarity makes your writing understandable and accessible.

It involves choosing the right words and constructing clear sentences. Your narrative should be easy to follow.

In creative writing, clarity means conveying complex ideas in a digestible and enjoyable way.

Coherence ensures your writing flows logically.

It’s crucial for maintaining the reader’s interest. Characters should develop believably, and plots should progress logically. This makes the narrative feel cohesive.

Conciseness

Conciseness is about expressing ideas succinctly.

It’s being economical with words and avoiding redundancy. This principle helps maintain pace and tension, engaging readers throughout the story.

Creativity is the heart of creative writing.

It allows writers to invent new worlds and create memorable characters. Creativity involves originality and imagination. It’s seeing the world in unique ways and sharing that vision.

Consistency

Consistency maintains a uniform tone, style, and voice.

It means being faithful to the world you’ve created. Characters should act true to their development. This builds trust with readers, making your story immersive and believable.

Is Creative Writing Easy?

Creative writing is both rewarding and challenging.

Crafting stories from your imagination involves more than just words on a page. It requires discipline and a deep understanding of language and narrative structure.

Exploring complex characters and themes is also key.

Refining and revising your work is crucial for developing your voice.

The ease of creative writing varies. Some find the freedom of expression liberating.

Others struggle with writer’s block or plot development challenges. However, practice and feedback make creative writing more fulfilling.

What Does a Creative Writer Do?

A creative writer weaves narratives that entertain, enlighten, and inspire.

Writers explore both the world they create and the emotions they wish to evoke. Their tasks are diverse, involving more than just writing.

Creative writers develop ideas, research, and plan their stories.

They create characters and outline plots with attention to detail. Drafting and revising their work is a significant part of their process. They strive for the 5 Cs of compelling writing.

Writers engage with the literary community, seeking feedback and participating in workshops.

They may navigate the publishing world with agents and editors.

Creative writers are storytellers, craftsmen, and artists. They bring narratives to life, enriching our lives and expanding our imaginations.

How to Get Started With Creative Writing?

Embarking on a creative writing journey can feel like standing at the edge of a vast and mysterious forest.

The path is not always clear, but the adventure is calling.

Here’s how to take your first steps into the world of creative writing:

• Find a time of day when your mind is most alert and creative.
• Create a comfortable writing space free from distractions.
• Use prompts to spark your imagination. They can be as simple as a word, a phrase, or an image.
• Try writing for 15-20 minutes on a prompt without editing yourself. Let the ideas flow freely.
• Reading is fuel for your writing. Explore various genres and styles.
• Pay attention to how your favorite authors construct their sentences, develop characters, and build their worlds.
• Don’t pressure yourself to write a novel right away. Begin with short stories or poems.
• Small projects can help you hone your skills and boost your confidence.
• Look for writing groups in your area or online. These communities offer support, feedback, and motivation.
• Participating in workshops or classes can also provide valuable insights into your writing.
• Understand that your first draft is just the beginning. Revising your work is where the real magic happens.
• Be open to feedback and willing to rework your pieces.
• Carry a notebook or digital recorder to jot down ideas, observations, and snippets of conversations.
• These notes can be gold mines for future writing projects.

Final Thoughts: What Is Creative Writing?

Creative writing is an invitation to explore the unknown, to give voice to the silenced, and to celebrate the human spirit in all its forms.

Check out these creative writing tools (that I highly recommend):

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• What Is A Personal Account In Writing? (47 Examples)
• How To Write A Fantasy Short Story (Ultimate Guide + Examples)
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How to Run a Successful Writer’s Workshop

Procedures and classroom management.

Many people are concerned about Writer’s Workshop because of the different type of students they have in their class. Here are things that you may be concerned about, but that Writer’s Workshop will be effective with:

• Large class size (33)
• Needy students that struggled to work independently
• Chatty, off task students
• ELL students and students below grade level

Writer’s Workshop is fantastic with all students with proper procedures and practice. Here are a few things you will need to put into place for a successful writer’s workshop:

• A Writer’s Workshop Time: Set aside a block of time daily or every other day for writer’s workshop. The more you do writer’s workshop, the better your students will become at the task.
• Structure Your Workshop Block: (See more below): Set a schedule for your block and follow it each time. Students work better when they know the schedule and what to expect during the writing block. This also allows for continuation of the successful workshop block if you cannot be in your classroom for any reason.
• VIP Supply Bucket or VIP Table for students to use that do a great job during WW.
• Fun supplies for all students to use: I provide lots of colored markers, pens, and highlighters and use color-coding in my lessons.
• Friday recognition: I recognize one student that has done a great job during writer’s workshop this week. I give them a praise pin to wear and a no homework pass.
• Redirect students or move proximity: If you have students that just cannot focus during writer’s workshop, move them to a desk closer to your small group area so that you can easily redirect them without interrupting your small group.
• Give consequences if necessary: I always prefer positive reinforcement, but sometimes you have to go a step further. Give students consequences if they’re purposefully not doing what they’re supposed to be doing, and redirecting isn’t working. I often call and schedule a meeting with parents and the child where we review the writer’s workshop’s purpose and procedures. I stress that they have a very bright child and that this process will prepare them for working independently in school and their future career.

Structuring Your Workshop Block

I’ve read many different books and blog posts on Writer’s Workshop, and this schedule is what has worked well for me. I run my workshop in the following order:

• Mini-lesson (20%): When we first begin writer’s workshop, I teach one part of the writing process each day. Students that get ahead can get the next lesson in small group, or they may be able to go to the bulletin board and complete that step just from the information there. For example, on day 1 I do a mini-lesson using a graphic organizer for brainstorming. I do my own example while the students help give me ideas.
• Independent Work Part 1 (20%): Students work on doing what we learned in the mini-lesson for their essay. They continue on in the writing process if comfortable. I use a few minutes this time to look for 2-3 students with exceptional work to share with the class during our work sharing portion. You can write down the students’ names, or give them something to indicate that they will be sharing their work. The rest of this time I use to pull a small group of students that are struggling.
• Work Sharing (20%): I use some of this time to have the students I chose with exemplary examples share and the rest I use for students to share a piece of their work that they want feedback on with their partner or group. I model active listening and how students can provide helpful feedback because kids really struggle with this.
• Independent Work Part 2 (20%): Students get back to working on their essay. I usually open up small group to students that have questions. Sometimes I hold a small group during this time for my advanced writers that need a challenge.
• Wrap-up (20%): We use the last part of workshop to review any notes we took during workshop and to reflect on the day’s work. We also talk about what the mini-lesson is for the next day, and how they can prepare themselves for it.

Mini-lessons

Think of the mini-lesson as your whole group writing lesson, just condensed. During mini-lesson time, I have my students come back to the carpet with a rolling whiteboard and anchor chart paper (it’s a bit of a tight fit with 33 students, but it can be done!) with their writing notebook. They take notes, draw organizers, and more during this time.

The most difficult thing is deciding what to do for a mini-lesson. The first time I teach a specific type of essay, I do mini-lessons of the writing process tailored to that essay type. Here’s an example of mini-lesson topics based on opinion writing:

• What is opinion writing and what do we need to have in our opinion essay?
• Brainstorming for an opinion essay
• Organizing your brainstorming ideas for an opinion essay
• Writing an introduction for an opinion essay: Writing great hooks (leads)
• Writing an introduction for an opinion essay: Writing a thesis
• Writing an introduction for an opinion essay: Putting together the introduction using connecting sentences
• Using your organizational notes to write body paragraphs
• Beginning your body paragraph with a transition sentence
• The parts of a conclusion & why a call to action is so important
• Revising your opinion essay
• Editing your opinion essay
• Publishing your opinion essay

Conferencing vs. Small Group

I do a lot of small groups when we first start the writer’s workshop. Once my students get really good at it, or if we’re towards the end of the essay, I also do conferences during their independent work. During conferencing, I have a clipboard that has a printed spreadsheet with student names and the skills they need to learn with the particular type of essay they’re doing at their particular grade level. When I conference, I call students back individually and we look at and discuss their writing to see what they have mastered and what they still need help on. This helps me structure my small groups and also gives me an idea of what we need to review during the mini-lesson time.

Guiding Writers

I’ve mentioned many times in this post that students may go ahead in the writing process (and may be behind if they’re struggling writers or were absent). I manage this using the Writing Process Bulletin Board that has the different parts of the writing process labeled and described. Having this visual has really helped me cut down on the “helpless hand raisers” that used to really put a wrench in my small group and conferencing time.

I also provide a printable version for each essay so that students can check off each part they have done. This prevents students from skipping a step and being finished early when they’re not really finished. 

Celebrating Success

At the end of your first essay, your students will have come so far. They’ve done what seems like a hundred different things to create and improve upon their essay. It’s time to celebrate their success! Throw a “Publishing Party” where you display their published essays and every student can walk around and read them. I have students hang theirs at eye level somewhere in the classroom. We put on our [literal] party hats, eat treats, and take about 45 minutes to walk around the room and read some of the essays and talk about the process. I buy 40 party hats on Amazon for about $10 (aff. link) and students decorate them for the first party with messages about writing. They put their names on the inside and I store them to reuse for the next publishing party.

I send a letter home about a week before our publishing party asking for donations of healthy treats, party decorations, and family participation. I invite families in to see their student’s work and many are gracious enough to bring the supplies to make the party fabulous. I usually do it the last hour of the day on Friday to make it more convenient for parents to attend.

Lastly, enjoy your students’ success with writer’s workshop and the fact that the next time around will be so easy. Your students are now well trained in the art of writer’s workshop and you can take a step back to admire your new independent writers!

Featured Resources in this Article

Writer’s Workshop Bulletin Board Print, Laminate, and Done!

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About the Author

April smith.

April began her career as a 5th grade teacher in 2008 and quickly developed a passion for creating engaging educational materials to share with fellow teachers. She now works with districts around the country, training their teachers and leaders on how to implement research-based strategies and differentiation techniques that meet the needs of diverse learners.

FREE Centers Guide

Email : [email protected]

This fully-online graduate certificate program is designed for creative writers seeking to sharpen their skills and work toward publishable fiction and/or poetry, and for teachers seeking to improve and enhance their pedagogy of Creative Writing. Through a foundational course in techniques followed by workshop classes in which original creative work is read and critiqued, students will complete and revise a body of work under the guidance of experienced teachers and authors from Bowling Green State University’s acclaimed Creative Writing Program. 

Admission Requirements

Additional Documents Required:

• Statement of Purpose*  - should identify the program for which admission is sought and explain preparation for the program, the purpose for enrolling in it, and professional goals relevant to the program
• Writing Sample  - submit 8 to 10 double-spaced pages of prose or 5 pages of poetry. Applicants currently admitted in the  English: Individualized Track - MA (Online)  at Bowling Green State University need only submit a Statement of Purpose. Please contact  [email protected]  to request your Writing Sample waiver (if you were admitted to the  English: Individualized Track - MA (Online)  at BGSU).

Application Requirements

Admissions Categories and Grade Point Average Requirements

International Application Information

Degree Requirements

Curriculum requirements, required courses (12 credits), techniques - complete both courses.

ENG 6300 - Technique of Poetry    

ENG 6310 - Technique of Fiction    

Graduate Writer’s Workshop

Take 2 Sections of ENG 6320 - Graduate Writers Workshop     in any genre

Techniques - Complete 1 course

Take 3 sections of ENG 6320 - Graduate Writers Workshop    in any genre

Electives (6 credits)

Minimum total credits (12 credits), additional requirements.

• Minimum 3.0 graduate cumulative grade point average
• All requirements must be completed within six years from the end of the earliest course used to fulfill certificate requirements.

Online Summer Workshops for Teen Writers

The Young Writers Workshops — sponsored by Stony Brook Southampton’s Creative Writing MFA and the Young Artists and Writers Project (YAWP) — mentor young people in the development of creative expression and critical thinking through writing. The workshops pair seasoned writing instructors and adult writers with students, ages 13-18, in fiction, essay, poetry and scriptwriting. All workshops are held online via Zoom.

The Young Writers Creative Writing Workshops Offered: July 8-12, July 22-26, or July 29-August 2 from 10 am-3 pm Student writers explore fiction, poetry, dialogue and personal essay. By week’s end, students have several pieces of completed work to submit or publish, and participate in a reading of their work to be showcased online. Cost: $295

The Young Writers Scriptwriting Workshops Offered: July 15-19 from 10 am-3 pm Each student will create a short, two-character script for stage or screen. The final day is devoted to a rehearsed reading of students’ work to be showcased online. Cost: $295

Sign up online ; faculty/staff can use the discount code “SUNY” for 20 percent off.

For more information, contact William Chandler at  [email protected] .

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Reading and writing are acts of love and survival pursued for the intense pleasures of creativity and imagination, and for the human need to communicate. The Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing at Belmont University calls students to explore the written word as practitioners in order to better understand the means by which we know ourselves, our communities, and our empathy for others. Our faculty members, all working writers themselves, through teaching, mentoring, and collaboration, seek to expand students’ knowledge and understanding of writing and literature by aiding their developing abilities in the formal, structural, historical, and aesthetic ideals of effective creative writing for the reading public.

In the MFA in Creative Writing at Belmont, courses are designed to build on strengths and knowledge from students’ undergraduate experiences, to broaden their awareness of literature and writing, and to prepare them for the life of a writer. The graduate faculty is committed to fostering the skills of critical reading as well as creative writing, and to increasing student expertise in their chosen genre of study: fiction, poetry, or creative nonfiction. The program engages students in studying the craft of each creative writing genre, in reading literature from different cultural traditions, and in participating in intensive writing workshops to hone their imaginations and aesthetics. The program encourages students to develop professionally through sharing their work repeatedly with their peers, compiling reflective portfolios, and submitting their work for publication at leading literary journals. The MFA in Creative Writing at Belmont prepares students for Ph.D. programs in creative writing, but it will also prepare them to teach writing at the post-secondary level and to live their lives as working writers.

The Master of Fine Arts Program in Creative Writing :

1. promotes effective, creative, and reflective reading, writing, and imaginative thinking; 2. presents literature and the craft of writing within historical and cultural contexts; 3. introduces students to diverse strategies for interpreting literature of others and of their own; 4. explores with students the structures, complexities, and development of creative writing genres; 5. integrates local and global learning experiences into the curriculum taught by working writers; 6. requires students to develop the skills necessary to be a working writer by employing current professional standards and emerging technologies-and to think critically about these resources and tools; 7. engages students in independent research and long-term writing projects, such as a thesis.

Core Foundational Requirements (9 hours)

• ENG 5000 Graduate Research, Theory and Pedagogy Seminar 3 Hours

6 hours from the following*:

• ENG 5400 Craft of Fiction 3 Hours
• ENG 5500 Craft of Poetry 3 Hours
• ENG 5600 Craft of Creative Nonfiction 3 Hours

*one must be in the intended thesis writing genre

Workshop Requirements (9 hours)**

Two workshops in the student’s primary genre and one outside that genre.

• ENG 5450 Fiction Workshop 3 Hours
• ENG 5550 Poetry Workshop 3 Hours
• ENG 5650 Creative Nonfiction Workshop 3 Hours
• ** Workshops are repeatable for up to 6 hours of credit.

Elective Requirements (12 hours)

6 hours in any ENG 5000 level or above course AND 6 hours drawn from the following:

• ENG 5040 History of the English Language 3 Hours
• ENG 5720 Practicum in Pedagogy 1-3 Hours
• ENG 5730 Pedagogical Studies 3 Hours
• ENG 5800 Readings in World Literature I 3 Hours
• ENG 5810 Readings in British Literature I 3 Hours
• ENG 5820 Readings in British Literature II 3 Hours
• ENG 5830 Readings in American Literature I 3 Hours
• ENG 5840 Readings in World Literature II 3 Hours
• ENG 5850 Readings in British Literature III 3 Hours
• ENG 5860 Readings in American Literature II 3 Hours
• ENG 5950 Study Abroad 1-6 Hours
• ENG 6000 Single / Double Author Seminar 3 Hours
• ENG 6100 Genre Seminar 3 Hours
• ENG 6300 Special Topics in Writing 3 Hours
• ENG 6340 Gender Studies 3 Hours
• ENG 6400 Special Topics in Literature 3 Hours
• ENG 6420 Composition Theories 3 Hours
• ENG 6500 Special Topics in English Grammar and Linguistics 3 Hours

Thesis Requirements (6 hours)

The thesis is two semesters of the following:

• ENG 6900 MFA Thesis 3 Hours

Total Required for the Program: 36 Hours

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Creative Writing Workshop

Explore different embodied writing practices with An Lanntair residency artist Maile Bowen in the setting of Lewis Castle Grounds. The workshop will explore themes around relationships to land, language, and place through guided exercises. This workshop is open to everyone over 16 including complete beginners, no writing experience is needed.

About the Project: Maile’s residency with An Lanntair involves creating a book that explores storytelling, language, and land-based practices, inspired by her time on the Isle of Lewis and back home on Whadjuk Noongar land in Western Australia.

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