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

BUSINESS

Demystifying the business of books, and how to make a long-term career as an author.

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

WINTER 2025 LIVE COURSES


Experience our Quarter One LIVE courses in Winter 2025 featuring Elise Kova teaching Core, Roshani Chokshi teaching Fantasy, and Cassie Malmo teaching Business.


Profiting Off Passion: Blending Business and Craft to Build your Author Career with Elise Kova

In my course, we’ll explore how to turn your passion for writing into a career, or a nice source of additional income, by merging strong writing craft with business sense to create a foundation for long-term success. We’ll focus on conceptualizing your novel with an understanding of business, industry, and audience, and make sure your idea is one that you can sell. We’ll hone writing craft to execute on your commercially robust idea, hook readers, and convert them to long-term fans. Then, we’ll examine how to get your book to market – through indie vs traditional publishing, building habits for success, and considering your backlist as the building blocks of your career.

The Writers Conservatory

The Writers Conservatory

$195

On Muses, Myths, and Legends: Storytelling from Start to Finish with Roshani Chokshi

In The Muse, the Myth, the Legend: Storytelling from Start to Finish, students will reawaken their sense of wonder to find inspiration in the world around them. Together we will explore the gaps and fissures in myth and fairytale to equip students with critical tools to find access points for retellings, new perspectives, and fresh angles. Students will be able to test the strength of their story ideas, and see it through from start to finish. Roshani guides students through craft foundations such as how to build stories around emotional anchors and how to pay homage to history while still engaging with the audience and, most importantly, honoring our intentions as authors. Though rooted in myth, fairytale, and fantastical elements, these tools and techniques can apply to works of any genre.

The Writers Conservatory

The Writers Conservatory

$195

The Business of Books: Demystifying Promotion in Traditional Publishing with Cassie Malmo

Marketing. Sales. Publicity. These three departments are crucial to a book’s success and reception. Join me and together we’ll build a strong foundation and understanding of what these departments do. I will guide you as we explore what you, the author, can do both before a book deal and after to build and grow your author brand, promote your book’s release, and be a strong partner in the publishing process.

The Writers Conservatory

The Writers Conservatory

$195

2025 COURSE BUNDLES


Bundle the courses you want to take by season or major or grab all our course offerings for 2025.




Winter 2025 Bundle

Bundle all three winter courses for a 15% discount!

Courses: 3

$497

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

FANTASY LIBRARY // The Dark Fantastic: Crafting Unputdownable Fiction with Isabel Cañas

The Dark Fantastic: Crafting Unputdownable Fantasy explores how techniques deployed by mystery and thriller, the Gothic, and horror can be used to build suspenseful, atmospheric, and thrilling fantasy. Isabel Cañas breaks down how mysteries and thrillers use pacing, foreshadowing, and red herrings to manipulate reader expectations and create tension and suspense. Students will learn techniques employed by the Gothic to enrich their settings thematically, deepen atmosphere, and embrace the subversive. Finally, students will study how character is the beating heart of horror and will learn concrete methods for bringing emotion to life on the page in vivid, fresh ways. Throughout the course, Isabel draws on her critically-acclaimed, bestselling novels to demonstrate how stealing the best of what darker genres have to offer can only strengthen your own work, regardless of genre.

The Writers Conservatory

The Writers Conservatory

$125

2024 LIBRARY BUNDLES


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




2024 Romance Library Bundle

Three courses at your own pace.

Courses: 3

$318.75

2024 Fantasy Library Bundle

Bundle all three fantasy courses from 2024 for 15% off in our library.

Courses: 3

$318.75