Creative Writing Modules

A scene is arguably the most fundamental building block of a story, but is often overlooked in creative writing courses. In this craft-focused module, we will dissect the structure of a great scene. Considering short examples from classic books, films and TV shows, you will discover how a great scene establishes context, advances the plot and reveals character. Using Signum’s collaborative feedback method, you will have the opportunity to develop individual scenes in a supportive workshop. Whether you are a beginning writer or looking to further your skills, this module will help you create scenes with intentionality and precision.

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

A scene is arguably the most fundamental building block of a story, but is often overlooked in creative writing courses. In this craft-focused module, you will dissect the structure of a great scene, building on what you previously learned about character, setting and structure. Considering short examples from classic books, films and TV shows, you will discover the key questions to enhance your scenes and explore different types of narrative conflict on the scene level. In a supportive, kindness-first workshop, you will have the opportunity to share and develop individual scenes. As you continue your journey with your novel and reflect upon it in your journal, this module will help you craft scenes with intentionality and precision.

Note: Anyone is welcome to join our Novel in a Year modules at any time.* Each module is designed to stand alone without strict prerequisites. However, for the richest experience, the full twelve-month sequence of modules will carry you from blank page through to completing your novel. Whether you are looking to publish commercially or simply writing for yourself, our program is designed to nurture your individual writing journey. Our workshops place kindness first, lifting up excellence and encouraging you to tell your story in your own voice. For more information about our Collaborative Feedback model, check out our video.

•••The only exception is Novel in a Year 11: Workshop, which is designed specifically for the cohort.•••

Collaborative Feedback: A method of supportive feedback which lifts up excellence and encourages your own story in your own voice. You will read and comment kindly on others’ work as well as having the option to share your own writing (which we very much hope you will do). For more information, check out our video.

What makes a good story? How can we make our characters feel like real people? In this module, we will closely read Aristotle's Poetics in full and discuss how we can employ his precepts on character, theme, and emotional catharsis can enrich our creative practice. This module will be a must for fiction authors, screenwriters and directors, RPG game masters, or anyone who wants to weave a dynamic tale!


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

In this craft-focused module, you will discover techniques of characterization and voice, two of the biggest things readers are looking for. You will see how a character’s verbal and non-verbal communication reveals who they are, while also developing your own individual narrative voice. In class, you will analyze film clips and excerpts from published authors to unpack their techniques, before applying them in short writing exercises. In workshops, you will have the opportunity to share your novel-in-progress and receive feedback in a kindness-first, supportive environment. In your journal, you will track your progress and moments of unexpected, joyful discovery as you continue your novel. The module aims to hone your skills in creating organic dialogue, and boost your confidence in your own voice.

Note: Anyone is welcome to join our Novel in a Year modules at any time.* Each module is designed to stand alone without strict prerequisites. However, for the richest experience, the full twelve-month sequence of modules will carry you from blank page through to completing your novel. Whether you are looking to publish commercially or simply writing for yourself, our program is designed to nurture your individual writing journey. Our workshops place kindness first, lifting up excellence and encouraging you to tell your story in your own voice. For more information about our Collaborative Feedback model, check out our video.

•••The only exception is Novel in a Year 11: Workshop, which is designed specifically for the cohort.•••

Collaborative Feedback: A method of supportive feedback which lifts up excellence and encourages your own story in your own voice. You will read and comment kindly on others’ work as well as having the option to share your own writing (which we very much hope you will do). For more information, check out our video.

What makes a character unforgettable? Join us as we unpack techniques to create characters who leap off the page and live in the minds of your readers! Discover how to create tests that reveal who your characters truly are, how to create an effective ensemble, and how the tiniest character details change everything about your story. Using Signum’s collaborative feedback method, you will have the opportunity to discover your characters’ wants, needs and fears in a supportive workshop. Whether you are a beginning writer or looking to further your skills, this module will help you craft characters who feel like real people.

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

This will be a beginner's guide to creating text-based, first person interactive (computer) fiction using the Inform software. We'll discuss what kinds of stories work, how to make interlocking loops of choices for our readers/players, and how to create a world with only a small text box to work with! From installing the program through learning a core group of commands, from designing a non-frustrating game through adapting to the fast-paced nature of these games, we will laugh, try things, and have fun. How do we help our readers create the ending that's best for them?

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

This module takes a deep dive into imagined culture. How can you integrate imaginary customs, traditions, art, values and social norms seamlessly into your narrative? Analyzing examples from authors such as Brandon Sanderson, Robert Jordan, Frank Herbert and Margaret Atwood, you will discover how details such as clothing, body language and colloquialisms can enrich your world. Whether you are a beginning writer or looking to enhance your current skills, this is the ideal module for anybody who wants to make their universe feel like a real place!

What’s at stake? What’s the motive? What’s the value behind it all? What are the deeply held beliefs which drive our characters’ ethical choices? What makes our heroes admirable and our villains reprehensible and our fools silly? How can their personalities develop over time? You will write — and we hope you will share! — scenes, backstory, character interviews and more, exploring different theories of adult development to find the right fit for your character and your story; you’ll support your fellow authors’ efforts, too. Your simple writing journal will capture your insights as you follow your characters around to see what they get up to next. This class will help you understand why on earth they did that, and what they might do next.

Note: Anyone is welcome to join our Novel in a Year modules at any time.* Each module is designed to stand alone without strict prerequisites. However, for the richest experience, the full twelve-month sequence of modules will carry you from blank page through to completing your novel. Whether you are looking to publish commercially or simply writing for yourself, our program is designed to nurture your individual writing journey. Our workshops place kindness first, lifting up excellence and encouraging you to tell your story in your own voice. For more information about our Collaborative Feedback model, check out our video.

•••The only exception is Novel in a Year 11: Workshop, which is designed specifically for the cohort.•••

Collaborative Feedback: A method of supportive feedback which lifts up excellence and encourages your own story in your own voice. You will read and comment kindly on others’ work as well as having the option to share your own writing (which we very much hope you will do). For more information, check out our video.

Manticores, Owlbears and Kappas, oh my! In this quirky module, we will continue our deep dive into world-building, with a particular focus on monsters and imagined creatures. Using extracts from ancient myths and medieval bestiaries as writing prompts, you will have the opportunity to share short pieces or extracts from longer projects in a supportive workshop. Alternatively, you can let your imagination run wild as you populate a menagerie with creatures of your own devising! A fun module that will help you fill your world with uncanny fauna.


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

Step back in time and unleash the fantastic! In this module, you will unlock the secrets of transporting readers into historical worlds that incorporate magic, myth and legend. Unpacking examples from authors such as Michelle Paver, Lian Hearn and Mary Robinette Kowal, you will discover how to fuse the writing techniques of realistic historical fiction with those of fantasy. You will then have the opportunity to write short pieces based on fun writing prompts and share them in a supportive workshop, or you can share extracts from an extended project if you prefer. A fascinating module that will help you bring life to worlds of wonder and delight.


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

Whether your story is set in fourth century Greece or nineteenth century Japan, this module is all about bringing historical worlds to life! Unpacking examples from authors such as Jean M. Auel, Lindsey Davis, Hilary Mantel and Marcus Zusak, you will discover how to draw upon primary sources, create historically authentic dialogue, use compelling details and deal with anachronisms. Using fun writing prompts, you will then have the opportunity to write short pieces and share them in a supportive workshop. A fantastic module to help you transport readers into your favorite era of history!

Let’s go deeper into world-building with this exploration of history and politics in fantasy and science fiction. How can you write a sense of history and add political conflict to enrich the setting of your world? Unpacking examples from authors such as Robert Jordan, Samantha Shannon, Frank Herbert and James S. A. Corey, you will discover how to seamlessly integrate history and politics into your world-building. You will then have the opportunity to share your own world-building in a supportive workshop. This is the perfect module for any writer who wants to make their world feel immersive.

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.

What is fan fiction? Where did it come from? Why do people read and write it?

This module will explore fan fiction as a platform, independent of any particular universe (although we will touch on several, based on student input), including its origins, conventions and techniques, purposes, and the opinions of a variety of different stake holders: authors, show creators, and legal experts among them. If there’s time, we may even try writing some of our own! Students will complete this course with a high-level understanding of fan fiction as genre, community, and as a transformative response to the source material.

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.

(description forthcoming)

Note: Anyone is welcome to join our Novel in a Year modules at any time.* Each module is designed to stand alone without strict prerequisites. However, for the richest experience, the full twelve-month sequence of modules will carry you from blank page through to completing your novel. Whether you are looking to publish commercially or simply writing for yourself, our program is designed to nurture your individual writing journey. Our workshops place kindness first, lifting up excellence and encouraging you to tell your story in your own voice. For more information about our Collaborative Feedback model, check out our video.

•••The only exception is Novel in a Year 11: Workshop, which is designed specifically for the cohort.•••

Collaborative Feedback: A method of supportive feedback which lifts up excellence and encourages your own story in your own voice. You will read and comment kindly on others’ work as well as having the option to share your own writing (which we very much hope you will do). For more information, check out our video.

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.

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 learn, create, and tell our short tales in a month of cooperative fun and work. We will use a collaborative and encouraging mode of feedback. You will end the month with two or three new stories to revise and practice and a toolkit for exploring this art.


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

You've written an epic book or an incredible screenplay, but what comes next? In this module, we will discuss how to make your story irresistible to potential buyers and entice readers to pick up your book! Examining successful examples combined with my experience in attracting publishers and an agent, we will workshop your query letter, synopsis and blurb, before finessing your verbal pitch. Whether you are looking to a traditional writing deal or an indie career, this module will help you sell the sizzle in your narrative.

Congratulations! You've written an epic manuscript. What comes next? In this module, it’s time to celebrate with your peers, discover how to make your story irresistible to potential buyers and entice readers to pick up your book! In class, you will analyze examples of successful pitches before developing your own in fun, engaging exercises. In a kindness-first workshop, you will have the opportunity to develop your query letter, synopsis and blurb, before finessing your verbal pitch. Whether you seek a traditional publishing deal, indie publishing, or are writing for yourself, this module will help you sell the sizzle in your narrative and appreciate your work for the gem that it is.

Note: Anyone is welcome to join our Novel in a Year modules at any time.* Each module is designed to stand alone without strict prerequisites. However, for the richest experience, the full twelve-month sequence of modules will carry you from blank page through to completing your novel. Whether you are looking to publish commercially or simply writing for yourself, our program is designed to nurture your individual writing journey. Our workshops place kindness first, lifting up excellence and encouraging you to tell your story in your own voice. For more information about our Collaborative Feedback model, check out our video.

•••The only exception is Novel in a Year 11: Workshop, which is designed specifically for the cohort.•••

Collaborative Feedback: A method of supportive feedback which lifts up excellence and encourages your own story in your own voice. You will read and comment kindly on others’ work as well as having the option to share your own writing (which we very much hope you will do). For more information, check out our video.

Are you up for an adventure? Whether you plan ahead or improvise, begin right here with as little as blank page and a vague idea. You will learn about two characteristics of a story this month: developing your plot threads and designing a story structure that will serve your unique tale. We’ll examine how plot threads can influence each other to amplify your story’s impact. By studying different story structure methods, you’ll discover or possibly invent the right structure to carry your tale. Using a very simple writing journal, you’ll identify your strengths as an author and techniques for your toolbox. Every session will feature discussion, writing exercises, and — best of all — Collaborative Feedback on our stories.

Note: Anyone is welcome to join our Novel in a Year modules at any time.* Each module is designed to stand alone without strict prerequisites. However, for the richest experience, the full twelve-month sequence of modules will carry you from blank page through to completing your novel. Whether you are looking to publish commercially or simply writing for yourself, our program is designed to nurture your individual writing journey. Our workshops place kindness first, lifting up excellence and encouraging you to tell your story in your own voice. For more information about our Collaborative Feedback model, check out our video.

•••The only exception is Novel in a Year 11: Workshop, which is designed specifically for the cohort.•••

Collaborative Feedback: A method of supportive feedback which lifts up excellence and encourages your own story in your own voice. You will read and comment kindly on others’ work as well as having the option to share your own writing (which we very much hope you will do). For more information, check out our video.

In this module, discover how to craft gripping non-fiction narratives about complex historical events and figures. Learn how to entertain and inform the reader using creative writing techniques such as close viewpoint and character conflict without sacrificing historical accuracy. Using Signum’s collaborative feedback method, you will have the opportunity to develop your own projects in a supportive workshop. Whether you're a beginning author or a history buff, this module offers a unique opportunity to spin new threads in the rich tapestry of the past.


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

The first pages of a novel are absolutely crucial, but so hard to write! In this module, we focus specifically on creating a compelling opening to draw readers into your narrative. As a group, you will unpack examples from authors such as J.R.R. Tolkien, Harper Lee, George R.R. Martin and Herman Melville to discover how to make the reader feel they are in safe hands. Using Signum’s collaborative feedback method, you will have the opportunity to develop the opening chapter of your book in a supportive workshop. This incredible module will help you make your book impossible to put down!


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

In this module, we continue our exploration of world-building, asking deep questions about religion in fantasy and science fiction. How does religion affect the day-to-day life of your characters, or their sense of morality? To what extent do your characters believe in the soul or the afterlife? How do magic and science interact with religion? How does religion relate to spirituality in your universe? Is it possible to be an atheist in a world where gods walk among humans? In this module, you will have the opportunity to write short pieces based on writing prompts, or share your ongoing projects in a supportive workshop. This is a wondrous module for anyone who wants to deepen their imagined universes!

So you’ve started drafting your novel - now what? In this module, you will learn strategies for working through the muddy middle part of a draft and approaching your first revision. As your project reaches its midpoint, you will learn how to approach the entire draft with fresh eyes, how to do large-scale developmental edits for plot, character arcs, and stakes. We will continue using your writing journal as a tool to explore your own revision process, and have opportunities for collaborative feedback and discussion during class.

Note: Anyone is welcome to join our Novel in a Year modules at any time.* Each module is designed to stand alone without strict prerequisites. However, for the richest experience, the full twelve-month sequence of modules will carry you from blank page through to completing your novel. Whether you are looking to publish commercially or simply writing for yourself, our program is designed to nurture your individual writing journey. Our workshops place kindness first, lifting up excellence and encouraging you to tell your story in your own voice. For more information about our Collaborative Feedback model, check out our video.

•••The only exception is Novel in a Year 11: Workshop, which is designed specifically for the cohort.•••

Collaborative Feedback: A method of supportive feedback which lifts up excellence and encourages your own story in your own voice. You will read and comment kindly on others’ work as well as having the option to share your own writing (which we very much hope you will do). For more information, check out our video.

In this module, you will discover how to make your story's setting a vivid and fully-realized character in its own right! Through fun and engaging writing exercises, you will learn techniques to create immersive environments that grow and change along with your characters. Find out how to use sensory details to create a feeling of place in your story. Using Signum’s collaborative feedback method, you will have the opportunity to develop your settings in a supportive workshop. Perfect for beginning authors or those looking to enhance their craft, this module will help you craft settings that live and breathe.


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

In this module, you will discover how to make your story's setting a vivid and fully-realized character in its own right! Through fun and engaging writing exercises, you will learn techniques to create immersive environments that grow and change along with your characters. Find out how to use sensory details to create a feeling of place in your story. In workshops, you will have the opportunity to share your novel-in-progress and receive feedback in a kindness-first, supportive environment. In your journal, you will continue to document the process of writing your novel as your story unfolds.

Note: Anyone is welcome to join our Novel in a Year modules at any time.* Each module is designed to stand alone without strict prerequisites. However, for the richest experience, the full twelve-month sequence of modules will carry you from blank page through to completing your novel. Whether you are looking to publish commercially or simply writing for yourself, our program is designed to nurture your individual writing journey. Our workshops place kindness first, lifting up excellence and encouraging you to tell your story in your own voice. For more information about our Collaborative Feedback model, check out our video.

•••The only exception is Novel in a Year 11: Workshop, which is designed specifically for the cohort.•••

Collaborative Feedback: A method of supportive feedback which lifts up excellence and encourages your own story in your own voice. You will read and comment kindly on others’ work as well as having the option to share your own writing (which we very much hope you will do). For more information, check out our video.

Join the amazing Jennie Starstuff: NASA Solar System Ambassador with Sparrow F. Alden to talk about the coolest, trippiest space physics to inspire our fiction! We’ll learn stuff on one day to use as writing prompts for peer-review on the second day. The plan is to explore star lore and archaeoastronomy; gravity and relativity (things get really weird); stars and cosmic life cycles; and life in the cosmos (alien contact? Heck, yes!). What about the amazing spaces between? We will have wonderful sonifications (sound pictures) of some of the most wonder-filled, hard to believe astro science out there—just imagine the stories we’ll create!


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.

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: Anyone is welcome to join our Novel in a Year modules at any time.* Each module is designed to stand alone without strict prerequisites. However, for the richest experience, the full twelve-month sequence of modules will carry you from blank page through to completing your novel. Whether you are looking to publish commercially or simply writing for yourself, our program is designed to nurture your individual writing journey. Our workshops place kindness first, lifting up excellence and encouraging you to tell your story in your own voice. For more information about our Collaborative Feedback model, check out our video.

•••The only exception is Novel in a Year 11: Workshop, which is designed specifically for the cohort.•••

Collaborative Feedback: A method of supportive feedback which lifts up excellence and encourages your own story in your own voice. You will read and comment kindly on others’ work as well as having the option to share your own writing (which we very much hope you will do). For more information, check out our video.

How can we rise through suffering to become heroic? This module takes a deep dive into the stages of the hero’s journey structure, examining excerpts from Joseph Campbell’s classic Hero with a Thousand Faces and considering its applicability to your story. You will have the opportunity to share and reflect upon your character’s journey in a supportive online environment. Whether your hero is slaying a dragon or exploring the dark depths of their psyche, this module will help you craft an epic journey.

How do you keep the reader on the hook? This module is all about building and maintaining tension throughout your narrative. Considering examples from authors such as J.R.R. Tolkien, Roald Dahl and Stephen King, you will unpack techniques on the line, scene and structural levels to heighten suspense and keep the pages turning. Discover how to pull off a cliff hanger without frustrating readers, how intentional use of white space is the “secret sauce” of effective writing and much more! You will also have the opportunity to write short pieces based on writing prompts for feedback in a supportive workshop. Whatever your genre, this is a brilliant module for any writer looking to enrich their practice.

What are the songs that stick in your memory? Are they catchy earworms that have you humming their melodies all day? Are they complicated jazz numbers, where lyrics give place to musical elaboration? Are they ballads, where the story is the thing?

The answer varies from listener to listener, but the great songs of whatever sort have some things in common. We're going to look for these things together, considering the conventions of different genres, poetic styles and their interaction with musical choices, a bit of music theory (that won't hurt a bit, I promise) and arrangement.

Each class session, we will listen to and talk about two or three songs. we'll discuss the choices the song writer(s) made, and how they affect your experience as a listener. We'll also look at how a single song might be interpreted differently by different artists, because performance is an inseparable element of how a song lands.

Students need have no grounding in music theory, or be musicians. All that is required is a love of music, and the desire to learn a little about the song writer's craft, whether that's in aid of becoming a more discerning listener, or because there's a song buried in your soul that you've not yet written.

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

(description forthcoming)

Note: Whilst all other Novel in a Year modules are intended to be welcome for anyone to join in any month, this iteration of Creative Writing: Workshop is designed specifically for the cohort.

Collaborative Feedback: A method of supportive feedback which lifts up excellence and encourages your own story in your own voice. You will read and comment kindly on others’ work as well as having the option to share your own writing (which we very much hope you will do). For more information, check out our video.

What drives a person to make bad choices? And what makes villains such fascinating characters? Is the villain really the hero of their own story, and why are we so drawn to stories of redemption? This module is all about creating characters who are as despicable as they are compelling. You will have the opportunity to write short scenes from the villain’s viewpoint and workshop them in a supportive environment. If you want to create villains your readers will love to hate, this is the module for you!

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 nine SPACE class sessions, WriterSpace focus 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 (it's a little bit flexible):
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Friday from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM Eastern
6p - class session
7p - WriterSpace
8p - class session
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Saturday from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM Eastern
9a - class session
10a - WriterSpace, Bandersnatch, & peer review
11a - WriterSpace, Bandersnatch, & peer review
12noon - class session
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Saturday from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM Eastern:
Nap time.
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Saturday from 3:00 PM to 9:05 PM Eastern:
3p - class session
4p - WriterSpace, Bandersnatch, & peer review
5p - WriterSpace, Bandersnatch, & peer review
6p - class session
7p - WriterSpace, Bandersnatch, & peer review
8p - class session
9p - Frivolity!
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Sunday from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM Eastern
1p - class session
2p - WriterSpace, Bandersnatch, & peer review
3p - class session & wrap up at 4p.
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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 in the New Year!

On December 30th and 31st and January 1st, we're going to celebrate creativity by attempting a complete short story! Our format will include nine SPACE class sessions, WriterSpace focus time in excellent company, Bandersnatch Breakout room for talking about our craft, peer feedback through google doc commenting and breakout room conversations, and an enthusiastic ringing in of the new year. So sharpen your quills, line up the inkpots, make a BIG casserole to last the weekend.

Here's the plan:
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Friday the 30th from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM Eastern
6p - class session
7p - WriterSpace
8p - class session
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Saturday the 31st from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM Eastern
9a - class session
10a - WriterSpace, Bandersnatch, & peer review
11a - WriterSpace, Bandersnatch, & peer review
12noon - class session
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Saturday the 31st from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM Eastern:
Nap time.
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Saturday the 31st from 3:00 PM to 9:05 PM Eastern:
3p - class session
4p - WriterSpace, Bandersnatch, & peer review
5p - WriterSpace, Bandersnatch, & peer review
6p - class session
7p - WriterSpace, Bandersnatch, & peer review
8p - class session
9p - ringing in the new year in Grytviken, King Edward Point, Sandwich Island (time zone UTC-2)
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Sunday, the 1st from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM Eastern
1p - class session
2p - WriterSpace, Bandersnatch, & peer review
3p - class session & wrap up at 4p.
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Our goal is to create a completed short work 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. What a way to begin 2023!


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

Write in the New Year!

On December 29th (Friday), 30th (Saturday), and 31st (Sunday), we're going to celebrate creativity by attempting a complete short story! Our format will include eight SPACE class sessions, WriterSpace focus time in excellent company, Bandersnatch Breakout room for talking about our craft, peer feedback through google doc commenting and breakout room conversations, and an enthusiastic ringing in of the new year. So sharpen your quills, line up the inkpots, make a BIG casserole to last the weekend.

Here's the plan:
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Friday the 29th from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM Eastern
6p - class session
7p - WriterSpace
8p - class session
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Saturday the 30th from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM Eastern
9a - class session
10a - WriterSpace, Bandersnatch, & peer review
11a - WriterSpace, Bandersnatch, & peer review
12noon - class session
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Saturday the 30th from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM Eastern:
Nap time.
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Saturday the 30th from 3:00 PM to 9:05 PM Eastern:
3p - class session
4p - 6pm WriterSpace, Bandersnatch, & peer review
6p - class session
7p - 9pm WriterSpace Bandersnatch & peer review
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Sunday, the 31st from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM Eastern
1p - class session
2p - WriterSpace, Bandersnatch, & peer review
3p - class session
4p - ring in the New Year with our friends in Svalbard, Norway
(you'll even have time to go to a swank New Year's Eve party and introduce yourself as an author, then sleep all day on Monday the 1st)
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Our goal is to create a completed short work 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. What a way to begin 2024!


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

A New Story for a New Season!

On June 30th and July 1st & 2nd, we're going to celebrate creativity by attempting a complete story! Our format will include nine SPACE class sessions, WriterSpace focus time in excellent company, Bandersnatch Breakout rooms for craft talk and work encouragement, and an enthusiastic celebration of the season. We will plan, plan, plan on the 30th and you will get an amazing first draft on the 1st and 2nd ready for editing! This even dovetails beautifully with July Camp NaNoWriMo. So sharpen your quills, line up the inkpots, grill a BIG meal to last the weekend.

Here's the plan:
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Friday the 30th from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM Eastern
6p - class session
7p - WriterSpace (we will attempt to do an entire Zero Draft)
8p - class session
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Saturday the 1st from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM Eastern
9a - class session
10a - WriterSpace & Bandersnatch (that's "quiet space and talking space")
11a - WriterSpace & Bandersnatch
12noon - class session
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Saturday the 1st from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM Eastern:
Nap time.
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Saturday the 1st from 3:00 PM to 9:05 PM Eastern:
3p - class session
4p - WriterSpace & Bandersnatch
5p - WriterSpace & Bandersnatch (completing our First Draft)
6p - class session
7p - WriterSpace & Bandersnatch
8p - class session
9p - Sparkler parade for those who can get their equipment outdoors to a safe spot.
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Sunday, the 2nd from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM Eastern
1p - class session
2p - WriterSpace & Bandersnatch (envisioning our revisions plus machete editing!)
3p - class session & wrap up at 4p.
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Our goal is to create a ready-for-edit short work 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. What a way to celebrate!


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:
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Friday from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM Eastern
6p - First session: establishing community
7p - WriterSpace: time for Evening Pages
8p - Group session: what seedlings do we have?
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Saturday from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM Eastern
9a - Morning session: affirmations and choices
10a - WriterSpace & Bandersnatch (that's "quiet space and talking space")
11a - WriterSpace & Bandersnatch
12noon - Noon session: Shedding Light & Writing Metaphors
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Saturday from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM Eastern:
Nap time.
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Saturday from 3:00 PM to 9:00 PM Eastern:
3p - Group session: The Shape of our Saplings
4p - WriterSpace & Bandersnatch
5p - WriterSpace & Bandersnatch
6p - Group session: Encouragement and Deeper Dives
7p - WriterSpace & Bandersnatch
8p - Group session: Leaning In to the Circle of Our Community
9p - Sweet dreams until tomorrow
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Sunday from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM Eastern
1p - Group session: Our Story, Our Song
2p - WriterSpace & Bandersnatch (envisioning our stories' growth)
3p - Group session & wrap up at 4p.
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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.

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 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM Eastern
6p - First session: establishing community
7p - WriterSpace: time for Evening Pages
8p - Group session: what seedlings do we have?
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Saturday from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM Eastern
9a - Morning session: affirmations and choices
10a - WriterSpace & Bandersnatch (that's "quiet space and talking space")
11a - WriterSpace & Bandersnatch
12noon - Noon session: Shedding Light & Writing Metaphors
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Saturday from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM Eastern:
Nap time.
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Saturday from 3:00 PM to 9:00 PM Eastern:
3p - Group session: The Shape of our Saplings
4p - WriterSpace & Bandersnatch
5p - WriterSpace & Bandersnatch
6p - Group session: Encouragement and Deeper Dives
7p - WriterSpace & Bandersnatch
8p - Group session: Leaning In to the Circle of Our Community
9p - Sweet dreams until tomorrow
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Sunday from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM Eastern
1p - Group session: Our Story, Our Song
2p - WriterSpace & Bandersnatch (envisioning our stories' growth)
3p - Group session & 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.

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

How do you world-build without losing your reader? In this module, we will consider techniques on the scene level to embed world-building seamlessly into your narrative without bogging the reader down in exposition. Considering examples from J.R.R. Tolkien, Ursula K. Le Guin and Frank Herbert, we will learn from the masters to bring your world to vivid life. Focusing on viewpoint, characterization, word choice, and narrative conflict, we will workshop how to draw your reader in and make your universe feel like a real place. No matter your genre, this module will enrich your commercial fiction and help make your vision a reality.


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. You are encouraged — but never required — to submit new pieces in any state of draftiness or readiness for peer reading and feedback. Our Collaborative Feedback method, developed here at Signum University, asks you to comment at the author's comfort level through a structured reader (not editor) response. We gather to encourage the story that you want to tell. Our philosophy of kindness first might just turn around your previous experience of writing groups.

Note: Anyone is welcome to join our Novel in a Year modules at any time.* Each module is designed to stand alone without strict prerequisites. However, for the richest experience, the full twelve-month sequence of modules will carry you from blank page through to completing your novel. Whether you are looking to publish commercially or simply writing for yourself, our program is designed to nurture your individual writing journey. Our workshops place kindness first, lifting up excellence and encouraging you to tell your story in your own voice. For more information about our Collaborative Feedback model, check out our video.

•••The only exception is Novel in a Year 11: Workshop, which is designed specifically for the cohort.•••

Collaborative Feedback: A method of supportive feedback which lifts up excellence and encourages your own story in your own voice. You will read and comment kindly on others’ work as well as having the option to share your own writing (which we very much hope you will do). For more information, check out our video.

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. You are encouraged — but never required — to submit new pieces in any state of draftiness or readiness for peer reading and feedback. Our Collaborative Feedback method, developed here at Signum University, asks you to comment at the author's comfort level through a structured reader (not editor) response. We gather to encourage the story that you want to tell. Our philosophy of kindness first might just turn around your previous experience of writing groups.

Note: Anyone is welcome to join our Novel in a Year modules at any time.* Each module is designed to stand alone without strict prerequisites. However, for the richest experience, the full twelve-month sequence of modules will carry you from blank page through to completing your novel. Whether you are looking to publish commercially or simply writing for yourself, our program is designed to nurture your individual writing journey. Our workshops place kindness first, lifting up excellence and encouraging you to tell your story in your own voice. For more information about our Collaborative Feedback model, check out our video.

•••The only exception is Novel in a Year 11: Workshop, which is designed specifically for the cohort.•••

Collaborative Feedback: A method of supportive feedback which lifts up excellence and encourages your own story in your own voice. You will read and comment kindly on others’ work as well as having the option to share your own writing (which we very much hope you will do). For more information, check out our video.

What does a computer scientist wish that writers knew? That we are building aliens right here on Earth? That perception is not what we think it is? Join us for four weeks of learning, writing, and feedback. In "How Does Hacking Actually Work?" we'll learn to write far more complex and realistic scenes than Hollywood. In "Computer Perception" we'll talk about detecting the simple presence of volts and the most subtle patterns of the cosmos. In "Computer Interfaces" we're going to cook up stories about the Alien, the Understander, and the Quality of Misunderstanding. Finally in "Atemporal Decision Theory" we're going to ask enough questions about Truth, sentience, and honor to fill adventure after adventure with artificial and artisanal intelligences. Each week we'll have a learning and discussion day plus a day to reflect on "This idea made me ask 'what if?' and reach for my keyboard."


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

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.

We need good tales of good people making heroic choices. Whether we write memoir, pure fiction, or a what-if-it-had-ended-well personal speculations, this module is about creating the characters whom we can admire, trust, emulate, and become. Writing these short scenes during difficult times balances our minds and hearts, and can be part of a personal path to hope. This module specifically allows us to write our inner heroes within a place of safety. When believing in heroes is hard, we need to write them anyway. Explore your own traumas, toils, and fears even if your bad situation is right now, and write your own next chapter, your terrified heroic first step.

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.

Do you imagine other tales set in Tolkien's beautiful Middle-earth? First person? FRP campaign design? Screen plays? Other minds and hands will come together to create and discuss "what if" for our own fanfiction. We will use a little peer-reading and a lot of focused discussion to move each writer deeper into the story they love. Expect to end the month with a folder full of story seeds or big progress on one big project.

C.S. Lewis is one of the most prolific and influential writers of the 20th century. And yet, in his early career as an Oxford don, he viewed himself as a failed poet. Moreover, his most canonical and transformational writing happened during the most stress-filled periods of his life. This short course allows students to peek into the writing life of C.S. Lewis. Our goal is to see through the lines of printed text by visiting the letters and archival remains of Lewis in a virtual setting. Most of C.S. Lewis' papers remain undigitized and unpublished, available only locally at archives in North America and England.

As Professor Brenton Dickieson has visited these archives, he is able to invite students to appreciate C.S. Lewis' writing life by looking at the way that he consciously and unconsciously built his literary career. This course is for writers who are developing their own habits and literary life-prints, as well as folks who are curious about C.S. Lewis's life beyond the biographies and bestselling books.

Thanks to the success of streaming shows like Critical Role, D&D and other tabletop games are more popular than ever before. But according to surveys conducted by Wizards of the Coast, the average D&D campaign does not last more than six sessions, and players rarely advance farther than Levels 4-6. This series will address the short attention span of current TTRPG culture by equipping you with the tools you need to be a more "compleat" GM. In this first module, we will cover the true role of the GM (it might not be what you think!), the world-building assumptions implicit in various rulesets, how to design a setting which maximizes player agency, and how to write a gazetteer for your campaign setting. Participants will have the opportunity to produce their own 10-page setting gazetteer as part of this module.

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.

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.