This intensive focuses specifically on the art of writing a memoir. In this extended course, you will be introduced to all of the tips and tricks you need to effectively write your own life story. Gain insight into how to structure your ideas, learn which stories to include and which to omit, master the delicate art of fact-based story embellishment, discover your narrative voice, and work towards unearthing your theme. It's a fact-filled, fun journey to finally get your story in print. This session will include lectures, discussions, writing assignments, in-class cooperative exercises, and a critique workshop. Now is the best time to start your memoir. Join the workshop and let's get your life on the page!
02/02/26 - 03/23/26: Winter Session - Refine your concept, discover your voice, pick the right stories, and uncover your theme.
04/13/26 - 05/04/26: Memoir Writing Critique Group - Keep the momentum going after completing the Memoir Writers Workshop with this chance to share more of your work, get honest feedback, and fine-tune your story in a supportive and informative setting.
Creative Writing for Adults (ages 18+) offers five-week comprehensive sessions delivering entertaining, in-depth instruction for students of all skill levels and experience! Improve your creative techniques, enhance your story-telling knowledge, and learn everything you need to know to become the writer you've always wanted to be! Enjoy fun and uniquely informative exercises designed to help you past the obstacles and on to unleashing your inner author. Whether you're writing a novel, a screenplay, a memoir, short stories, children's books, screenplays, or something else, every session teaches you skills that you need to know to be the best writer you can be! Students will learn a variety of methods for improving their craft and finding their own unique voice. Every session focuses on a new topic, so sign up multiple times to learn even more! Join this popular class and overcome your roadblocks! The time to write is now!
11/4/25 - 12/16/25: Planning Your Novel Start to Finish: Organizing Ideas to Make It All Writable
Writing a long-form narrative brings unique challenges in planning, sustaining momentum, and delivering a satisfying conclusion. This session equips students with tools to design a strong structure, navigate the often difficult middle, and close with impact. Students will explore multiple planning methods, pacing strategies, and techniques for managing creative stamina over months or even years - developing the ability to keep large projects focused, energized, and moving steadily from concept to completion.
01/06/26 - 02/03/26: Forms of Fiction: What Is the Perfect Length for Your Story?
This session examines how story length and form influence tone, pacing, and reader immersion. The lectures explore formats from sprawling novels to compressed microfiction, illustrating how structure shapes narrative possibilities and emotional impact. Each class highlights the strengths and limitations of various lengths, with examples that show how form supports theme and concept. The series also presents strategies for aligning a story's content, scope, and audience with its most effective form.
02/24/26 - 03/24/26: Plot & Structure: The Engine of Storytelling (From Story Spine to Scene Flow)
Plot and structure determine the momentum and flow of a story, guiding readers through conflict, discovery, and resolution. This session examines both traditional and unconventional forms, showing how structure shapes meaning and emotional impact. Students will study how pacing, tension, and scene construction combine to create a compelling narrative spine, learning to design story blueprints that align with their themes, characters, and intended reader experience.
04/14/26 - 05/12/26: Theme, Symbolism, & Meaning: Layering Deep Truths
This session explores how to infuse a story with layers that extend beyond plot - developing a thematic core and enriching it through meaningful imagery and symbolism. Students will learn to create subtle yet powerful connections that deepen emotional impact and give their stories lasting resonance. They will study how theme emerges organically from character and conflict, how symbols reinforce and echo meaning, and how to avoid heavy-handedness - ultimately crafting stories that invite reflection and linger in the reader's mind.
Summer Dates TBA - Perfecting the Senses: Immersing the Reader In All Six
This session explores how sensory detail transforms writing from flat description into an immersive, full-body experience. Students will learn to harness the five senses - plus intuition and emotion - to deepen atmosphere, character, and reader empathy. They will study how to integrate sensory detail organically into scenes so it supports tone, theme, and pacing rather than overwhelming the narrative. Through guided practice and analysis, students will develop the ability to craft vivid, sensory-rich writing that fully engages the reader's imagination.
Summer Dates TBA - Narrative Voice & POV: Who’s Telling the Story & How
Point of view determines what readers see, hear, and feel in a story, making it one of the most powerful tools in a writer's arsenal. This session examines how narrative voice shapes tone, intimacy, and reader engagement across traditional and unconventional perspectives. Students will learn to choose and sustain a point of view that serves both story and theme while avoiding common pitfalls like inconsistency or blurred author-narrator boundaries. Through guided practice, they will learn to control, refine, and experiment with POV to enhance emotional impact and expand creative range.
Fall Dates TBA - Beginnings & Endings: Opening Strong, Closing Stronger
This session examines how openings and endings frame the reader's entire journey, shaping both first impressions and lasting resonance. Students will explore how to set tone, establish stakes, and hook the audience from the very first line, as well as how to craft endings that echo, subvert, or resolve the story's core. We will discuss techniques for mirroring beginnings in endings to create thematic and emotional cohesion, enabling students to write bookends that reflect transformation, reinforce theme, and leave the reader with a satisfying sense of completion.
Fall Dates TBA - Managing Long Form Work: Structuring & Completing a Novel
Writing a long-form narrative brings unique challenges in planning, sustaining momentum, and delivering a satisfying conclusion. This session equips students with tools to design a strong structure, navigate the often difficult middle, and close with impact. Students will explore multiple planning methods, pacing strategies, and techniques for managing creative stamina over months or even years - developing the ability to keep large projects focused, energized, and moving steadily from concept to completion.
2027 CLASSES
Story Origination: Where Creative Ideas Begin
Hero's Journey, Archetypes, and Tropes: Patterns That Resonate
Character Development: Shaping Lives That Feel Real
Setting & Worldbuilding: Shaping Meaningful Spaces
Dialogue: Communication Through Speech & Silence
Conflict & Stakes: What's At Risk & Why
Mood & Tone: Controlling Emotion Through Atmosphere
Teen Screenwriting (ages 11-17) offers six-week comprehensive sessions delivering entertaining and informative, in-depth instruction for teen students of all skill levels and experience! This popular class gives you ALL the secrets you need to know to start writing your own TV and/or Movie screenplays. You'll learn how to create amazing characters and define their intense conflicts; organize your scripts to optimize the action; carefully choose scene settings and environments; master the art of pacing and plot twists; and use FREE script writing software that will help you create YOUR MASTERPIECE! Each session is different, so sign up multiple times to learn even more - or come ALL YEAR to complete your very own feature-length screenplay as part of our Year Long Project series! Squeeze the ideas out of your head and onto the page in this FUN and informative class that's unlike any you've ever taken before!
11/5/25 - 12/17/25: Embrace Character Redemption - Why Year's End Makes Us Want to Be Better
As the year winds down, stories of transformation hit harder - characters facing their flaws, chasing forgiveness, or daring to change when it matters most. In this session, we'll dig into the heart of redemption arcs and learn why audiences crave them when the calendar turns. You'll explore how to write powerful turnarounds, from the villain who surprises us to the hero who almost gives up. By the end, you'll see how character growth can make your screenplay not just entertaining, but unforgettable.
01/07/26 - 02/11/26: Story Length: How to Make a Script Fit Your Idea
Ever had an amazing movie idea - but no clue if it should be a five-minute short, a full-length feature, or just one perfect scene? In this session, we'll unravel how story size shapes everything from pacing to payoff, helping you match your idea to its ideal screen time. You'll learn how pros stretch or compress a story's heartbeat without losing tension, emotion, or spark. By the end, you'll be crafting scripts that feel exactly as long as they should - and hit just as hard.
02/25/26 - 04/01/26: Building Plot: Keeping All Your Scenes Moving
Stories that stall lose their spark - but a great screenplay keeps every scene alive and pulling forward. In this session, you'll learn how to make your plot twist, climb, and explode with energy, using turning points that grab attention and tension that never fades. We'll break down how to build momentum scene by scene, turning slow moments into stepping stones toward your big payoff. By the end, you'll know how to make your script move like a movie that can't stop watching itself.
04/15/26 - 05/20/26: A Question of Theme: What's It Really About?
Every great movie starts with a question that burns beneath the action - what's this story really about? In this session, we'll peel back the layers of your screenplay to uncover the deeper message hiding between your characters' choices and your plot twists. You'll learn how to turn raw emotion and big ideas into cinematic moments that make audiences feel something real. By the end, you won't just be writing scenes - you'll be saying something that matters.
Summer Dates TBA - Senses for the Screen: Sights, Sounds, and Actions That Speak Volumes
Movies don't just tell stories - they show them, echo them, and make you feel them. In this session, you'll learn how to turn ordinary scenes into sensory experiences that leap off the screen and pull your audience straight into the action. Through sound, movement, and visual rhythm, you'll discover how to make silence thunder, light whisper, and gestures say more than words ever could. Bring your imagination, your favorite movie moments, and your wildest ideas - we're about to make your scripts come alive in full cinematic color.
Summer Dates TBA - Point of View in Film: Who's Telling the Story?
Whose eyes are we really seeing through when we watch a movie - the hero's, the camera's, or our own? In this dynamic session, young screenwriters will uncover how perspective shapes emotion, suspense, and truth on screen. You'll experiment with shifting viewpoints, creative camera angles, and storytelling tricks that change how an audience feels about a single scene. By the end, you'll see that choosing a point of view isn't just a technical decision—it's pure movie magic in your hands.
Fall Dates TBA - Opening Scenes and Final Moments: Start Big, End Strong
The first scene is your movie's handshake - and the last is its echo. In this session, you'll learn how to hook your audience from the very first frame and craft closing moments that hit with power, poetry, and purpose. We'll break down iconic openings and finales from your favorite films, uncover what makes them unforgettable, and help you design your own. By the time the credits roll, you'll know how to make your story begin with a spark and end like a legend.
Fall Dates TBA - Plan Your Attack! How to Plot and Finish a Full Screenplay
Got a big movie idea but not sure how to get it all on the page? This session breaks down the secrets of planning a full-length screenplay - scene by scene, act by act - so your story actually gets finished. You'll learn how to stay inspired, manage your writing time like a pro, and build a plot that keeps your audience hooked from the first fade-in to the final credits. Bring your imagination and your hustle - by the end, you'll have a battle plan to write the movie that's been living in your head.
2027 CLASSES
Story Lab: Bringing Big Ideas to the Big Screen
Characters That Stick: Building People We Care About
Setting the Scene: Creating Worlds with Visual Detail
Dynamic Dialogue: Realistic, Powerful, and Compelling
Drama That Matters: What Your Characters Want & What's In Their Way
Setting the Mood: Creating Vibes Without Saying a Word
Heroes, Villains & Fan Favorites: Archetypes and Story Patterns That Work
The Writers Critique Group (ages 18+) is an ongoing manuscript critique group for serious-minded writers seeking constructive and insightful input on their work. The primary purpose is to gain feedback on the selections you submit while helping others with your input on theirs. The group also serves as an opportunity for members to build a community of like-minded individuals embarking on a shared creative journey together. Writing is not easy, especially without help, guidance, or inspiration. In this group, we'll endeavor to support, lean on, commiserate with, and encourage one another throughout the entire writing process. Focusing solely on member-created content, the group meets every other Thursday night. Each quarterly session guarantees students the opportunity to submit at least one selection for assessment and critique by the group. Accomplish what you've always wanted to do - it's time to get writing!
09/18/25 - 12/04/25: Fall Session (meets every other Thursday - no class 11/27/25)
01/08/26 - 03/19/26: Winter Session (meets every other Thursday)
04/02/26 - 06/11/26: Spring Session (meets every other Thursday - Special date05/21/26, no class 05/28/26)
Dates TBA: Summer Session (meets every other Thursday)
Dates TBA: Fall Session (meets every other Thursday)
