Workshops Portal

This module covers some of the basic skills which will improve your academic, scientific, and professional writing. ‘Academic Writing Skills’ is ideal for those who are looking to start an undergraduate or postgraduate course, to resume/advance their academic career, or simply to improve the objectivity, accuracy, and clarity of their writing style. Eight individual lessons cover the following topics: how to structure your academic essay; how to argue in an academic essay: evidence, logic, analogy, and other reasoning skills; how to conduct a literature review; how to use citations and references accurately and effectively; things to avoid in academic writing (Part I and II); how to reduce subjective style; how to write successful funding proposals. Hamish Williams (PhD in literary studies) has written 4 books (academic and fiction) and published over 25 academic articles and chapters.

This module is part of the Academic Mastery program. Please apply to the AM program before enrolling in this course

This module is part of the Grammar, Citing, & Humanities Writing cluster.

Anyone wishing to write about literature will need to know how to acknowledge the ideas of others, and this course offers an overview of the MLA citation style, an introduction to basic library research methods, and an introduction to engaging with sources in paragraphs, in annotated bibliographies, and in literature reviews for larger academic projects. While some students may elect to practice other citation styles for their final project, the current MLA “container” style, which can be adapted for most other styles, allows ample opportunities to discuss ways to cite nontraditional materials that are often useful for scholars working in the realms of imaginative literature, science fiction, fan studies, adaptation studies, and much more.
This module is open to all students, has no prerequisites, and may be repeated as many times as desired. Students participate in weekly discussions and workshops, complete weekly citation activities, and complete a final assessment.

Note: This module draws extensively upon lectures originally recorded for Foundations in Critical Reading and Research. Students in the MA program who have taken (or plan to take) that course may find significant overlap in the core materials.

Format: 4 weeks discussion; 1 week assessment (4 hours video; 8 hours discussion and workshops)

Assessments: weekly & summative

Materials: No additional books or materials required.

Goals and Skills:

Students who complete the module will be able to identify meaningful textual elements and explain the significance of those elements.

Students may take this module to practice writing analytical paragraphs about literary texts.

Students may take this module to learn to write, or to practice writing, a close reading essay.

This course is graduate level in intensity, with weekly and summative assessments

Fee: 2 Signum Tokens

This Writer's Workshop will be for practicing the art of writing flash fiction, works that are of 500 or fewer words in length. This is a marvelous place for a new writer to begin as the size is not overwhelming. It is also a marvelous place for a seasoned writer to practice the craft of scene creation and characterization under severe creative restriction.

We will read examples of flash fiction, and provide feedback for one another on original pieces that we shall write over the length of the course. For this we will use the Collaborative Feedback Method that we use in all Space creative writing courses, a method which emphasizes kindness and curiosity while still providing rigorous and useful feedback to the writer.

Have you wanted to write a story but didn't know how to get words onto a blank page? Once the words were there, did you wonder how to find out if those words affected your reader the way you meant them to?

In this SPACE module, we will look at where ideas for stories come from. We will take our ideas from our thoughts to the page. Then we will learn, in a supportive community using the Collaborative Feedback method, how to ask for and receive the feedback our stories need to thrive.

Note: For more information about the Collaborative Feedback Method in SPACE, please check out our video here.

Learn the fundamentals of dialogue, action, and dramatic structure in this introduction to writing for performance. Working within the limits of one set, three actors, and ten minutes, participants in this class will learn the basic building blocks of script-writing by crafting short, stand-alone narratives for the stage. Though we will be looking at a few contemporary short plays as examples, the bulk of this class will focus on writing and workshopping your own original scripts.

It turns out that writing dialogue can be tricky. A writer has to accomplish a lot through the way in which a character speaks, and how that speech is described. How do people talk to one another? Do they orate? Do they exchange fast and witty quips? Do they lecture one another to impart tons of needed exposition material? Does what they say and how they say it tell us anything about who they are?

In this class we will experiment with different ways to write dialogue and incorporate it into a story. We'll explore how details of character diction can change how a reader understands the text of what a character says. We'll do exercises designed to practice achieving particular goals Finally, students will apply what we're working on to their own writing and will receive feedback using our Collaborative Feedback method.

We're going to do a fair bit of writing, some in class, more outside of class as (optional) homework. By the end of the class a student should expect to be able to decide how a character should sound and then write dialogue that meets that goal.

Well-prepared writers enjoy more completion success! We will build worlds, plan character arcs, and try to define the bones of our stories during a month of glorious sub-creation! When you declare your intentions to the group, that act of bravery alone adds momentum to your writing efforts after the month is over. (This Module is great preparation before National Novel Writing Month)


Note: For more information about the Collaborative Feedback Method in SPACE, please check out our video here.

When you think about your favorite stories, chances are you conjure the memory of a scene: the charge of the Rohirim at the coming of the new dawn, Luke turning off his targeting computer as he flies down the trench, or when Ged finally acknowledges the identity of the shadow being that has followed him literally to the land of the dead. Stories are built out of scenes, and scenes like the ones above make stories memorable.

In this class, we'll look at how to build scenes that accomplish specific things, according to the needs of the author and the story. We'll practice achieving specific goals, advancing the plot, expanding a characterization, even providing an opportunity fo exposition. We'll do this through assigned exercises, andby looking at how to apply these skills to the students' own stories.

We'll read each other's scenes and use our Collaborative Feedback method to help one another to sharpen our work. We'll be writers together helping each other's stories thrive.

We will walk through a complete project from pre-writing through writing, revising, editing, (revising, revising, revising), proofreading, and talking about publication options. Are you interested in finally getting down that memoir of your childhood? making a storybook for your grands? turning that daydream into a novelette? This adventure is for you! Whether your story is a draft, an outline, or a daydream, your project is welcome here in a place where we are aiming to finish it!

Note: For more information about the Collaborative Feedback Method in SPACE, please check out our video here.

Storytelling might just be our oldest art, crossing time, cultures, and continents. Crafting a story suitable for telling demands a heightened awareness of audience, medium, and meaning. Telling a story requires fluidity in a register both intimate and stylized. We'll create, practice, and tell our short tales in a month of cooperative fun and work. We will use a collaborative and encouraging mode of feedback to focus both on the construction of your story and on its performance. You will end the month having written an original tale, fiction or memoir or drawn from myth and legend, which has been written specifically to be shared aloud. You will also carry forward a toolkit for exploring this art.
Note: For more information about the Collaborative Feedback Method in SPACE, please check out our video here.

We will meet to discuss strategies for revising a piece of writing, including finding your own vision for your story, big-picture developmental editing, and crafting scenes. Writers are encouraged to apply revision strategies between sessions and discuss their work during class if they want to share. Writers will also have the opportunity to explore different editing strategies to help them shape their story into their own vision.

Note: For more information about the Collaborative Feedback Method in SPACE, please check out our video here.

How can we rise through suffering to become heroic? This hybrid module takes a deep dive into the stages of the hero’s journey structure and its applicability to your story. Considering different approaches to the Joseph Campbell’s monomyth, you will have the opportunity to share and reflect upon your character’s journey in supportive workshops. Whether your hero is slaying a dragon or exploring the dark depths of their psyche, this module will help you craft an epic journey.

The module will follow an 8-lesson structure as follows:
• Lecture 1: Introduction to the Monomyth
• Workshop 1: Call to Adventure

• Lecture 2: Archetypes
• Workshop 2: Challenges and Temptations

• Lecture 3: The Heroine’s Journey
• Workshop 3: Death and Rebirth

• Lecture 4: Challenging the Monomyth
• Workshop 4: Transformation, Atonement, Return

A Feast of Writing!

In one weekend, we're going to celebrate creativity by attempting a complete short story, novelette, or novella! Our format will include SPACE class sessions, WriterSpace focused writing time in excellent company, Bandersnatch Breakout room for talking about our craft and peer feedback, and an enthusiastic celebration of Story. So sharpen your quills, line up the inkpots, make a BIG casserole to last the weekend.

Here's the plan:
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Friday from 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM Eastern
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Saturday from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM Eastern
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Saturday from 3:00 PM to 9:00 PM Eastern:
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Sunday from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM Eastern
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Our goal is to create a completed first draft in one weekend! Prompts, planning, focus methods, peer encouragement, machete editing, character crucibles — we’ll do it all. Writers will write between sessions as well as during.

You are going to end this amazing experience with a complete first draft of your story!


Note: For more information about the Collaborative Feedback Method in SPACE, please check out our video here.

Write Our Hearts

Come for gentle writing. Introspection. Self expression in a circle of caring and community. Come gather virtually in the Cottage in the Woods with Sparrow: she literally wants us to prep food ahead and get away from the family and the dishes for forty eight hours to write our stories. It's so hard to find time for ourselves, so let's intentionally make that time. From Friday evening through Sunday afternoon there will be writing to prompts, conversation, ideas, blocks of free writing time. Does your heart ache to express a private grief on the page? Is your subconscious telling you to rewrite a story? Do you need to rewrite your story?

Here's the plan:
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Friday from 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM Eastern
Escape session with community building and prompted writing time
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Saturday from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM Eastern
Recovery session with prompted writing, free writing, and discussion
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Saturday from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM Eastern:
Nap time.
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Saturday from 3:00 PM to 9:00 PM Eastern:
Recovery session continues with optional sharing, prompted writing, and free writing
6p - supper time discussion
More Recovery session sharing and writing
9p - Sweet dreams until tomorrow
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Sunday from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM Eastern
Consolation session discussion, prompted writing, and free writing
Wrap up at 4p.
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Our goal is to write our hearts. Is that memoir? Is that a new story just for yourself? Is that a long, long prayer in the form of a poem? Writers might write between sessions as well as during.

You are going to end this amazing experience with something that is uniquely yours. Whether this turns out to be a narrative, creative nonfiction, or a huge list of Be-Happy-Attitudes, this deserves to be on your page, just for you.


Note: For more information about the Collaborative Feedback Method in SPACE, please check out our video here.

We will meet to blend learning, discussion, and playing games with reading, appreciating, and commenting on one another’s work as it is submitted for peer review. Writers are encouraged—but never required—to submit new pieces in any state of draftiness or readiness up to 2,000 words each week for peer reading and feedback. Our Collaborative Feedback method, developed here at Signum University, asks us to comment at the author's comfort level through a structured reader (not editor) response. We gather to encourage the story that the author wants to tell. Our philosophy of kindness first might just turn around your previous experience of writing groups.





A seat has been reserved in this module for any writer (especially a beginner) of marginalized identity to support them finding their voice. Please simply write to [email protected] to identify yourself if you wish to join the class.





Note: For more information about the Collaborative Feedback Method in SPACE, please check out our video here.

Please choose this module if you're excited to be part of our Creative Writing mini-modules in the near future! If you add this module to your wish list (or short-list it), we will include you in our communications about upcoming mini modules and let you know what's available.

Note: Our mini modules are special month-long group experiences designed for a small and intimate group of 2 to 4 students for the cost of 1 Token. As soon as we get enough interested students that reserve their seat, we'll schedule this class with the group and fly!

What makes a good children’s story? We’re going to address chapter books, cultural stories, and learning tales all through a lens of moral, cultural, and spiritual human development. Trying our hands at these forms should lead us to a nice folder full of works-in-progress at the end of the month. The December iteration of this module is designed to complete one treasured story gift for the holidays.

Note: For more information about the Collaborative Feedback Method in SPACE, please check out our video here.

Come explore Fairy Tales from the inside! In the first meeting each week Pilar Barrera will lift up a Fairy Tale technique, character archetype, or trope. We'll discuss the story at hand and how that story technique makes meaning. Then, students try their own hands at that technique! What do we learn when we push these ideas to their logical extremes? In the second meeting, Sparrow Alden will facilitate a workshop-style discussion of our original tale-telling work; we'll encourage one another as writers and appreciate one another as readers! Our goal is to complete the month with a deeper appreciation for the tales we all love and a folder with one to four good drafts of original tales.

Note: For more information about the Collaborative Feedback Method in SPACE, please check out our video here.

This group of four interconnected modules is part of the Academic Mastery program. Please apply to the AM program before enrolling in Grammar, Citing, & Humanities Writing modules.

Four short, linked courses invite students to learn, review, and practice a range of skills that are critical to humanities studies: paragraph structure, analytical readings, grammar and punctuation, and research and citations. These modules can be taken independently, bundled, and in any sequence; they may be repeated as many times as desired to help students develop confidence and achieve mastery.

Note: Modules in this series draw extensively upon lectures originally recorded for Foundations in Critical Reading and Research. Students in the MA program who have taken (or plan to take) that course may find significant overlap in the core materials.

This module is part of the Academic Mastery program. Please apply to the AM program before enrolling in this course

This module is part of the Grammar, Citing, & Humanities Writing cluster.

Combining theoretical lectures by Dr. Sara Brown, chair of Signum’s Department of Language and Literature, with mini-lectures on key grammatical concepts by other established Signum faculty, this course provides an overview of English punctuation, spelling, and grammar for anyone who wants a refresher!
This Tier 1 module is open to all students, has no prerequisites, and may be repeated as many times as desired. Students participate in weekly discussions and workshops, complete weekly grammatical quizzes, and complete a final assessment.

Note: This module draws extensively upon lectures originally recorded for Foundations in Critical Reading and Research. Students in the MA program who have taken (or plan to take) that course may find significant overlap in the core materials.

Format: 4 weeks discussion; 1 week assessment (2-6 hours video; 8 hours discussion and workshops)

Assessments: weekly & summative

Goals and Skills:

• Students who complete the module should be able to write a grammatically correct paragraph that uses standard English punctuation throughout.
• Students may use this module to practice proofreading techniques.

This course is graduate level in intensity, with weekly and summative assessments

Fee: 2 Signum Tokens

Do you love the physical object of a book just as much as the information it contains? Do you smell your books when you get home from the library or the bookstore? Do you like working with your hands to make things? Then this module is for you!

This class is an introduction to the materials, tools, and methods of making books by hand. Whether you're looking to make "junk journals" on a tight budget or want to rebind your favorite tome in leather, you'll find the information you need in this module!

The module will follow an 8-session structure as shown below:

Outline	8-Session Structure
Week 1	Session 1: Brief History of Book Binding and Tools Overview
	Session 2: Materials and Terms - The Anatomy of a Book
Week 2	Session 3: Text Block Assembly 1 - Glued Binding Options - Perfect Binding and Double Fan Binding
	Session 4: Text Block Assembly 2 - Sewn Binding Options - Kettle Stitch, Coptic Binding, and Japanese Stab Binding
Week 3	Session 5: Cover Assembly 1 - How To Make a Softcover - Paperback and Wrap Covers
	Session 6: Cover Assembly 2 - How To Make a Hardback - Classic/English Binding and Hollow Back Case Binding
Week 4	Session 7: Cover Decoration and Finishing - Traditional and Modern Methods
	Session 8: Overflow, Resources for Further Research, and Final Q & A

Do you love to look at paintings, but aren’t sure how to make them yourself? Do you want to paint, but you don’t have room to store flammable, smelly chemicals like turpentine? Do oil/acrylic canvases and easels take up too much room for you to work in a small space? If you’ve painted watercolor before, have you wondered why they looked washed out or why you get certain unexpected textures in your color mixes? Then this module is for you!

This class is an introduction to the materials, tools, and methods of watercolor painting. Whether you're brand new to making art, a seasoned painter who wants to connect with other makers, or you just want to find out how Tolkien created many of his Middle-earth illustrations, you’ll find a place in this module!

The module will follow an 8-session structure as shown below:

Outline	8-Session Structure
Week 1	Session 1: Defining Watercolor – What makes Watercolor different from other art media?
	Session 2: Materials and Terms – What you need and where to get it
Week 2	Session 3: Prep – What to do before you start painting
	Session 4: Composition – Tips for visually interesting paintings and how to save your whites
Week 3	Session 5: Values – How to get good tone, range, and contrast
	Session 6:Color Mixing – Sediments vs. stains and how to make harmonious paintings
Week 4	Session 7: Texture – Tips for interesting textures and brushwork
	Session 8: Overflow, Resources for Further Research, and Final Q & A

Do you have a general idea or old class paper that you’d like to refresh for an academic conference? This module is for individuals who are interested in turning a past or current research project into an abstract (proposal) and script or outline for a 20-minute conference paper. Bring some past writing (or a bunch of notes) to our first meeting, and we will brainstorm possible venues; wrangle past writing into conference-accessible outlines; draft and peer review abstracts; and write or outline some paragraphs or sections for oral delivery. Everyone is welcome, but this class is specifically designed for novice conference presenters who have a specific topic (or past paper) in mind and would like directed guidance and weekly accountability during the revision and preparation process.

In this module we'll work together to create individual goals, projects, and action plans for the year to come and establish a journaling system to keep you accountable. We'll also cover techniques that I've found helpful and figure out how they best apply to you individually.

Each session will begin with a 15–20-minute mini-lecture on the session’s topic followed by examples from my own life. We will then take however long is needed for Q&A and discussion on the topic. The rest of the session will be a workshop format where we will share with one another the results from your own work on the previous session’s topic and “assignment”.

To get the most out of this class, expect to spend 1-2 hours outside of each class session and be prepared to share your personal goals and projects in class so that we can help each other refine and reach our goals. As this is a SPACE module, there are no requirements. But it is encouraged that you take 1-2 hours or so between sessions to work through your implementation of what was talked about in the previous session.

This module will be divided into three main parts:

Outline	8-Session Structure
Part 1: Introspection	Session 1: Establishing Your Foundation (alt. Finding Your Why): Pillars + Roles
	Session 2: Pursuing Excellence: Arete
	Session 3: Reviews + Plans: Annual, Quarterly, and Monthly
Part 2: Planning	Session 4: Habits + Goals
	Session 5: Projects + Tasks
	Session 6: Reviews + Plans: Annual, Quarterly, and Monthly
Part 3: Action	Session 7: Taking Action: Weekly and Daily
	Session 8: Following Through: Tools, Tips, and Techniques

What are the tools of the writer’s craft, and how can we sharpen them? In this module, we will learn about the writer’s toolkit through guided writing exercises and group discussion. We will use exercises from Ursula K Le Guin’s book Steering the Craft: A 21st-Century Guide to Sailing the Sea of Story to explore tools like pacing, narration, point of view, syntax, and diction. Practice your writing technique, hone your craft, and embark on a journey with us through the “Sea of Story.”


Note: For more information about the Collaborative Feedback Method in SPACE, please check out our video here.

It's a sometimes inconvenient fact that characters have bodies, and sometimes, those bodies directly affect the stories we write about them. Writing characters who live in bodies that do not perform according to the cultural standard is a skill like any other part of the writer's craft.

In this course, we will look at examples from literature of how authors have dealt with what we usually call disabilities. Some have done well, others have materially harmed people with their writing.

We will also work with one another to hone our craft as writers who are telling stories so that we can find the new and inspirational, while leaving behind the worn-out clichés that make the lives of people like your preceptor materially harder.

Note: Texts will be provided by the preceptor.

Note: For more information about the Collaborative Feedback Method in SPACE, please check out our video here.

This module is part of the Academic Mastery program. Please apply to the AM program before enrolling in this course

This module is part of the Grammar, Citing, & Humanities Writing cluster.

Combining lectures and roundtables from Signum’s graduate faculty with interactive weekly tutorials, this five-week module is designed for students new to scholarly writing in the humanities, those returning to academic pursuits after time in other fields, or those who want to practice writing formal analysis of literary texts.
This Tier 1 module is open to all students and may be repeated as many times as desired, although we recommend completing the “Writing Formal Paragraphs” module before attempting this one. Students participate in weekly discussions and workshops, write weekly paragraphs, and complete a final written project.

Note: This module draws extensively upon lectures originally recorded for Foundations in Critical Reading and Research. Students in the MA program who have taken (or plan to take) that course may find significant overlap in the core materials.

• Format:
• 4 weeks discussion; 1 week assessment (4 hours video; 8 hours discussion and workshops)
• Assessments: weekly & summative
• No additional books or materials required.

Goals and Skills:

Students who complete the module will be able to identify meaningful textual elements and explain the significance of those elements.

Students may take this module to practice writing analytical paragraphs about literary texts.

Students may take this module to learn to write, or to practice writing, a close reading essay.

This course is graduate level in intensity, with weekly and summative assessments

Fee: 2 Signum Tokens

This module is part of the Academic Mastery program. Please apply to the AM program before enrolling in this course

This module is part of the Grammar, Citing, & Humanities Writing cluster.

Combining lectures and roundtables from Signum’s graduate faculty with interactive weekly tutorials, this five-week module is designed for students new to scholarly writing in the humanities, those returning to academic pursuits after time in other fields, or those who want to see just how challenging it can be to write a simple yet spectacular paragraph.
This Tier 1 module is open to all students, has no prerequisites, and may be repeated as many times as desired. Students participate in weekly discussions and workshops, write and revise paragraphs, and complete a final written project.

Note: This module draws extensively upon lectures originally recorded for Foundations in Critical Reading and Research. Students in the MA program who have taken (or plan to take) that course may find significant overlap in the core materials.

Format:

4 weeks discussion; 1 week assessment (2.5 hours video; 8 hours discussion and workshops)

Assessments: weekly & summative (final portfolio)

No additional books or materials required.

Goals and Skills:

Students who complete the module will be able to write organized, structurally coherent paragraphs about a single topic.

Students who master the material will be able to write organized, structurally coherent paragraphs synthesizing two or more ideas.

This course is graduate level in intensity, with weekly and summative assessments

Fee: 2 Signum Tokens

Your story is unique. Do you want to set it down on paper for yourself? For your family? No other person has accumulated your experiences; no other person has had your potential, learning, drive, disappointments, challenges, triumphs, and quiet joys. We'll explore a variety of media and forms for memoir writing, from picture books to blogs. We'll interview one another with kindness and encouragement and draw amazing stories out of each other—and ourselves.


Note: For more information about the Collaborative Feedback Method in SPACE, please check out our video here.