Creative Writing Classes & Seminars
Looking for a place to express your inner writer? In each of our three yearly sessions (winter/spring, summer, and fall), we offer creative writing classes on weekday evenings, weekday mornings, and the daytime on weekends. Classes range from those geared for novice writers or those with some writing experience who are looking for a structured environment in which to bloom to those geared for intermediate, advanced, or professional writers.
We offer classes for adults as well as pre-teen and teen writers. Genres and topics offered include a variety of creative writing classes in poetry, fiction, flash fiction, memoir and creative nonfiction, screenwriting, playwriting, storytelling, comic books and graphic novels, songwriting, food writing, science fiction, fantasy, children’s book writing, journaling, and multi-genre writing, as well as seminars in writers craft, research, and professional development.
Class size is usually capped at 8 or 9 students—classes with different maximum sizes are indicated in the class listing. We teach short seminars that meet once all the way to longer workshops that meet up to eight times.
Search our classes by genre, level, and time of day below.
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April 2021
The Poetry Workshop
The Poetry Workshop continues with returning members, new members from Introduction to poetry Writing, and new members with poetry writing experience. .Members of the group will actively write and revise original poems, focusing on elements of craft and analyzing select poems by our best poets that effectively model those elements. All group members will have the opportunity to submit material for the workshop. Your instructor will make every effort to tailor the submission schedule to your individual goals. Please note:…
Wednesdays, February 17 - April 28 @ 7:00 pm - 9:30 pm
Poetry of Self-Compassion
English poet, David Whyte, describes self-compassion as a form of faith, a way in which to converse with the world, and as poets, we can only best perform this act with innocent eyes. In this class, we will attempt to do just that. We will grant ourselves permission to wonder again, to gaze at the world freshly, to recognize our innate curiosities as our own spiritual journeys and to return to those curiosities with sacred ferocity. And in turn, hopefully,…
April 17 @ 10:00 am - 12:30 pm
The Image-Repertoire: Solving the Enigma of Desire (Second Session Added!)
In this workshop we will read love poems, poems of longing, poems about the love for one’s hometown and other objects of affection, and we will generate a series of prompts that we can use during and after the workshop to further reveal and develop our associative image-repertoires of desire. In the straight-talk of poetry craft, the image system is a set of images used throughout a poem or larger work that belong together in some way. Barthes’ image-repertoire, however,…
April 17 @ 1:00 pm - 3:30 pm
Shape Shifting: Persona Poems and Shifting Voice
Let your poems run wild as you experiment with persona. We will get out of our own heads, put on the mask of persona and inhabit the voice of another through our poems. Whether you are working with historical subjects, fantasy characters, or even inanimate objects, we will look at capturing the authenticity of that speaker and allow a level of freedom, play and experimentation to your work. We will explore masters of the persona poem such as Ai, Cornelius…
Sundays, March 21 - April 18 @ 1:00 pm - 3:30 pm
Poetry 1
Whether you’re brand new to poetry or just need a refresher on the craft of writing poems, this class will focus on the fundamentals of what makes a great poem. With a strong emphasis on how to read a poem as a writer, this class mixes both traditional and formal poetry with modern contemporary examples and covers the basics of form and language. This class will help you build your toolbox of literary devices to begin crafting poems on your…
Mondays, March 15 - April 19 @ 7:00 pm - 9:30 pm
The Poetry Studio
The studio continues: Members of the group will actively write and revise original poetry, with a special emphasis on the careful review of members' work, the examination of the literary and commercial marketplace, and the submission of work for publication. Work will be submitted in advance of each meeting. All poems submitted will be critiqued during that meeting. After registration, attendees will be sent a separate email with payment instructions. Please note: This class is an online class. To participate,…
Tuesdays, February 16 - May 18 @ 7:00 pm - 9:30 pm
The Image-Repertoire: Solving the Enigma of Desire
In this workshop we will read love poems, poems of longing, poems about the love for one’s hometown and other objects of affection, and we will generate a series of prompts that we can use during and after the workshop to further reveal and develop our associative image-repertoires of desire. In the straight-talk of poetry craft, the image system is a set of images used throughout a poem or larger work that belong together in some way. Barthes’ image-repertoire, however,…
April 25 @ 1:00 pm - 3:30 pm
The Advanced Poetry Workshop
The Advanced Poetry Workshop is an expansion of the principles and techniques learned in the Poetry Workshop. It is open to students who have completed previous workshop-level classes at The Muse or those who have extensive workshop or graduate-level experience. This class focuses on writing, criticism, and the exploration of contemporary poetic discourse. Students at this level are writing poetry with an increased focus on creating an individual voice and emotional richness. Students will be expected to submit regularly and…
Mondays, February 15 - April 26 @ 7:00 pm - 9:30 pm
Accessibility for Those with Disabilities
The Muse Writers Center strives to be a fully accessible facility. Please contact us if you have any questions or concerns or would like to request an accommodation.