This class is sold out! Please contact us to be added to the waitlist. 

Due to weather cancellation, this class begins Wednesday, June 19, 2013

The best fiction and creative non-fiction utilize basic storytelling craft. Whether you’re looking to write fiction (short stories, novels) or creative non-fiction (personal essays, memoir, magazine) — or if you’re not yet sure what you want to write — Creative Writing I provides a strong foundation of storytelling craft, including character development, scene building, plot development, and language.

This eight-session course melds creative self-discovery, practical writing techniques, and writing exercises in a participatory and positive atmosphere. The emphasis here is on building skills to tell a better story, as well as laying the groundwork for intermediate craft and workshop classes in both fiction and non-fiction.

Each week offers:

• techniques on developing craft elements, such as character and plot
• writing prompts to help you translate class discussions onto the page and into your stories
• readings to help you learn to “read like a writer”
• lively class discussions
• student workshopping

You’ll be encouraged to work on a self-defined piece to share with classmates and receive critical feedback through “workshopping” to help you move forward. (Students do not need any prepared stories before the course begins!)

StoryStudio classes are typically limited to 15 participants or fewer. This intimate setting allows for greater interaction and personal attention.

Who should attend?

• Adults 18 and over
• Beginning writers

About the Instructor

A novelist with an MFA in Creative Writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Sarah Terez Rosenblum freelances for publications and sites including The Chicago Sun Times, afterellen.com and Pop Matters. Her work has appeared in literary magazines such as kill author, Underground Voices, and Third Coast, and she was a 2011 recipient of Carve Magazine‘s Esoteric Fiction Award. Herself When She’s Missing, Sarah’s well-received debut novel was called “devastating and beautiful” by Booklist. When not writing, Sarah supports herself as a figure model, Spinning Instructor and creative writing teacher. Inevitably one day she will find herself lecturing naked on a spinning bike. She’s kind of looking forward to it, actually.

Related Courses

• Introduction to Fiction
• Find Your Story

Creative writing, Chicago writing classes, fiction writing, non fiction, short story, personal essay, magazine writing