The Gotham Writers Workshop is sure to have a course that is built to fit your needs and provide you with the guided support and assistance you need to turn your creative passion into a reality. These intensive writing workshops cover everything from story-telling techniques to lessons on incorporating humor to writing convincing character arcs for different mediums, genres and formats. Regardless of your level of experience as a writer, time spent in one of these workshops is sure to help improve your craft and output.
Gotham Writers Workshop focuses on fiction writing, but they also offer courses in professional writing, essay writing, creative nonfiction and professional editing so that students can find more technical courses offered. The lessons that you learn in these immersive workshops will be readily applicable in most writing professions, and they are a great way to exercise a creative muscle that you don’t normally have a chance to use.
What is Gotham Writers Workshop?
The Gotham Writers Workshop was founded in 1993 as a place for aspiring fiction writers to get a high-quality, immersive education without needing to get an MFA. All of the instructors are experienced writers, most of whom have either been published or have screenwriting credits, and all of the courses provide students with immersive opportunities to receive feedback on work on the projects that they are passionate about. The Gotham Writers Workshop believes that everyone has a story to tell, and it is their job to ensure that all students have the tools they need to tell it.
What Are Classes Like?
The classes at The Gotham Writers Workshop are structured as immersive, multi-week workshops in which students alternate between time spent writing, time spent on writing exercises and time spent on reading and critiquing other student’s work (but always in guided and productive ways). In these workshops, students will learn vital writing skills, and they will learn how to receive and respond to feedback since no story is perfect the first time and revision is a vital part of the process. Class sizes are kept small (never more than a few dozen students) so that you can get your instructor's attention, and you can be assured that they are giving your work the time it deserves.
What Classes Do They Offer?
Students who are looking to get started in the field of creative writing should consider enrolling in the Creative Writing 101: 6 Weeks course. This course is designed for students who have a passion for writing but haven’t had the opportunity to get formal training in the art form. This course will introduce students to various methodologies for writing, and it will cover a range of different genres and styles. Students will learn how to see things through the eyes of a writer and how to turn even the loosest of ideas into a viable project. Over the course of the six weeks, students will learn important techniques, like how to show, not tell and how to leverage their individual voices in writing. Students will work on both fiction and creative nonfiction writing, and the course encourages students to experiment with genre and form as they get their bearings in the process of creative writing.
Students looking to learn the art of fiction writing should consider enrolling in the Fiction Writing Intensive course. In this course, students will learn the art and craftsmanship of fiction writing, and they will spend time writing original pieces for the course. This course covers all major modes of prose fiction, and students will spend time working on novel-length writing assignments and short stories. Once the course is completed, students will have the opportunity to take the next step and enroll in an advanced Fiction Writing II/III course that focuses on either short fiction writing or novel writing. The lessons taught in this course are applicable to genre fiction, mainstream fiction and literary fiction. In addition, students will receive guidance on navigating the publishing process, which can be intimidating for first-time writers.
If you are more interested in working on the stage or the screen, The Gotham Writers Workshop offers courses in the form of their TV Writing I—10 Week Workshop and the Play Writing I—10 Week Workshop. Each of these classes focuses on the art of writing scripts that account for the unique qualities of the medium such as how to account for the necessity of commercial breaks in serialized television or the art of writing coherent stage directions for a play. Students who enroll in these courses will learn what role the script plays in drama and television, and the course is genre agnostic, so you can benefit from the program regardless of whether you want to write a police procedural, a comedy musical or a one-man short show. These courses will see students writing a complete spec script, two short plays, or a single full-length play, depending on the course in question.
Students can also take more narrow courses focused on specific aspects of writing such as the Plot 1: Mechanics—3 Weeks course or the Humor Writing Level I—10 Week course. These classes will help students grasp specific elements of the writing process, and they aim to teach students practical writing skills that can be applied across any genre or medium. The Plot 1: Mechanics class aims to provide students with the tools they need to write tightly plotted, well-thought-out long-form fiction, with the aim of producing the kinds of narratives audiences crave. The Humor Writing Level I course aims to provide students with the tools needed to add levity, wit and absurdity to their fiction. The course covers humor writing for strictly comedic texts and the art of adding humor to otherwise serious texts as a kind of mood lightener or ironic punctuation. Like the Plot 1 course, this class is a beginner-friendly introduction that will teach techniques that can be applied across various genres and mediums.
Finally, if you are just looking to start writing, The Gotham Writers Workshop offers a Just Write program that dispenses everything save for the writing time and a bit of assistance and advice from a professional instructor. This course is an ideal space for writers to give themselves the extra push that they need to complete their projects and to network with other writers who may be interested in providing feedback and assistance. The goal of this course is to give students the space to write, so the course has no built-in instruction or critique time, though students may find opportunities for these processes outside of class.Â
To find more courses and schools offering creative writing training in New York City or online, consider exploring the options available to you at CourseHorse.