BY THE CRAFT FOR THE CRAFT

AN ONLINE LEARNING SPACE DEDICATED TO WRITING CRAFT AND THE BUSINESS OF BOOKS

Join a community of creatives as you develop your storytelling skills and prepare for the complex aspects of being a professional artist

CORE

The fundamental, but highly focused building blocks of writing craft

FANTASY

Deep dives into specialized topics that relate to all subgenres within the fantasy realm

ROMANCE

Topics that tackle the structure and mechanics of romantic arcs and development

FALL 2024 LIVE COURSES


Experience our Quarter Three LIVE courses in Fall 2024 featuring Rachel Griffin teaching Core, Isabel Cañas teaching Fantasy, and Jasmine Guillory teaching Romance.

Writing is Rewriting: The Magic of Revision

Unlock the full potential of your manuscript with New York Times bestselling author Rachel Griffin in Writing is Rewriting: The Magic of Revision, an online course designed to guide you through the magical process of revising your novel. Begin your journey by understanding the crucial role of revision in the writing process, equip yourself with practical tools like crafting a detailed edit letter to guide your revisions and create a chapter-by-chapter outline to map out your manuscript's structure, and learn how to conduct thorough read-throughs with targeted revision passes. Through a blend of instructional videos, interactive exercises, and peer feedback, this course will empower you to embrace revision as a creative opportunity and transform your novel into its best possible version. Join us and take the next step toward becoming a published author with a manuscript that truly stands out.

The Writers Conservatory

The Writers Conservatory

$195

Selling a Love Story with Jasmine Guillory

In Jasmine Guillory’s Selling a Love Story, students will learn to create compelling romance narratives by exploring the foundational aspects of romance, including its rules, structure, and key terminology. Module 1: How to Start covers character introductions, their life goals, and crafting an engaging 'Meet Cute.' Module 2: Sell the Characters helps students identify what’s missing in their characters’ lives, their strengths and flaws, and how secondary narratives influence their growth and the romance. Finally, Module 3: Sell the Story teaches students how to depict the journey from attraction to true love, ensure a satisfying happy ending, and craft a believable resolution after the Third Act Breakup. This course provides applicable exercises for students to clearly tie story arc to characterization, and it’s discussion of how to make romance believable is applicable not only to the Romance genre, but strong romance B-plots as well.

The Writers Conservatory

The Writers Conservatory

$195

LIBRARY COURSES


After a live course has concluded, the course will be available here in our library, where you can take it at your own pace.

CORE LIBRARY // Finding Your Unique Voice: Writing as Only You Can with Sabaa Tahir

National Book Award winner Sabaa Tahir introduces students to the narrative elements that make up a writer’s voice and teaches students how to use those elements to write as only they can. Using case studies, self-interviews and writing assignments, Finding Your Voice: Writing as Only You Can guides students through her process of identifying and honing an authorial voice. The goal of this course is to demystify the authorial voice by defining it as the sum of its parts. Students will explore how the Big Seven–style, tone, narrative perspective, point of view, language, characterization, and dialogue–all work together to shape not only how a book sounds but how it feels.

The Writers Conservatory

The Writers Conservatory

$125

FANTASY LIBRARY // Magical Echos: Worldbuilding that Supports Character Arc with Rebecca Ross

#1 New York Times bestselling author Rebecca Ross unveils her personal method for developing the symbiotic relationship between fantasy worlds and the characters who navigate them. In Magical Echoes: Worldbuilding That Supports Character Arc, Rebecca shares her process for building unique worlds that enrich, inform, and fulfill the protagonist’s journey. Students will investigate inner maps, study worldbuilding elements that pique the reader’s interest and inform the quest. They will also take a deep dive into magic and magic systems, and create folklore that echoes the character’s arc. Using her novels as case studies, Rebecca shares the frameworks and tools she uses to craft bestselling fantasies.

The Writers Conservatory

The Writers Conservatory

$125

CORE LIBRARY // Intentional Craft: Writing Outside Your Lived Experience with Ayana Gray

New York Times bestselling author Ayana Gray guides students through approaching their writing craft with respect, responsibility, and accountability at every stage of the process. Intentional Craft: Writing Outside Your Lived Experience will inspire you to create interesting, diverse stories by teaching students the importance and skill of crafting characters outside your own lived experiences. Storytellers have the unique power to open doors and build bridges when they write stories that are inclusive and encompass more than one community. In this foundational course, Ayana addresses how to respectfully and responsibly write characters of different races, ethnicities, gender identities and expressions, sexual orientations, disabilities, and neurodiversities. From her own experiences and research, Ayana includes best practices, dos and don’ts, as well as practical ways to avoid stereotypes when venturing out into new territory.

The Writers Conservatory

The Writers Conservatory

$125

ROMANCE LIBRARY // The Third Act Breakup with Kristin Dwyer

Kristin Dwyer, critically acclaimed author of romance novels, takes on the mechanics of the “third act breakup” to analyze the key elements of storytelling that create the foundation for an emotional impact in the darkest moment of your character's journey. The Third Act Breakup is an examination and defense of one of the romance genre's most controversial story beats. In this course, Kristin destigmatizes the trope and emboldens romance writers to capture human emotion at its most sincere. Students will explore the rules of writing romance, strategies for cultivating and maintaining tension, and frameworks for earning a happily ever after. Using myriad case studies from her extensive study of the genre, Kristin will teach students how midpoints, tension, emotion, and tone all set the stage for a devastating story beat that truly earns a happily ever after.

The Writers Conservatory

The Writers Conservatory

$125

FANTASY LIBRARY // Fantasy Gateways: Approaches to Magical Worldbuilding with Zoraida Córdova

Prolific author Zoraida Córdova guides students through the different entry points of science fiction and fantasy worlds in Fantasy Gateways: Approaches to Magical Worldbuilding.Drawing from her extensive experience, Zoraida Córdova walks students through her worldbuilding process, including character, setting, and magic system development. Presenting her own works as case studies, Córdova shows students how to bridge the fantastic to reality through research and cultural analogs. Students will join Córdova as they map a hero’s quest using her preferred story beats, research checklist, and worldbuilding questions. This course applies to all writing genres, expanding beyond novels into screenplays, comics, video games, and more.

The Writers Conservatory

The Writers Conservatory

$125

ROMANCE LIBRARY // Balancing the Heavy with Humor in Romance: A Funny Feelings Case Study with Tarah DeWitt

Romance author Tarah DeWitt introduces her approach to balanced romantic storylines through a detailed look at her 2022 contemporary romance Funny Feelings. DeWitt believes that romance, specifically, is a safe space to explore some tougher themes, with the guarantee of a happy outcome at the end. In Balancing the Heavy with Humor in Romance: A Funny Feelings Case Study, DeWitt details how to create multi-faceted characters, build perfect meet cute moments, get unstuck in the sticky middle, and utilize the power of 3s to craft compelling relationships and juicy tension. At the end of this course students will feel confident crafting a gorgeous love story with some truly funny moments

The Writers Conservatory

The Writers Conservatory

$125

2024 COURSE BUNDLES


Bundle the courses you want to take by season or major or grab all our course offerings for 2024.


Library Spring Bundle

All three Spring 2024 Library Courses at a 15% discounted rate.

Courses: 3

$318.75