How do we capture a moment and create an immersive experience for our readers?
In this craft-focused workshop, you’ll explore how to use language to evoke emotion, engage the senses, and create memorable moments on the page. Whether you’re working on a novel, memoir, short story, or simply experimenting with new ideas, this course is perfect for writers of all levels who wish to deepen their craft.
This workshop emphasizes play and exploration, providing a supportive environment where you can experiment with new ideas without the pressure to be perfect. Through hands-on practice, feedback, and creative collaboration, you’ll leave with a toolkit of strategies to add to your practice that will help you craft immersive moments that captivate and engage your audience.
I’m delighted to announce this new master class in craft with Rena Willis! As our lead Story Intensive instructor, Rena brings years of wisdom both as an accomplished writer and as a beacon for emerging voices. Her unique gift lies in weaving together deep craft knowledge with an intuitive understanding of how creative writers learn and grow.
Writers consistently flourish under her guidance, and learn how to write with more skill and joy. I’m thrilled to offer you this chance to work with such an exceptional teacher.
This is an eight-week course beginning on Monday, February 3 and running until Sunday, March 30, 2025. Class is in session Monday through Wednesday; students are encouraged to visit the classroom at their convenience during each week’s three-day window.
In this workshop, we’ll aim to demystify “Show Don’t Tell” by diving into the heart of what makes writing truly immersive. Rather than simply showing readers what’s happening, we’ll explore techniques that harness the power of language to evoke emotion, embody sensory perception, and create moments our readers can step into. By the end of this workshop, you’ll have a collection of tools for your writer’s toolkit and a clearer understanding of how to make your writing come alive on the page.
Here’s the best part: this workshop is all about play! You won’t need to worry about creating a polished story or having everything figured out. There’s no pressure to make it perfect or even coherent—our focus is on experimentation and discovery. Over the course of eight weeks, we’ll draw inspiration from various art forms to help shape our writing with newfound creativity.
Each week we will get the chance to practice what we have learned and explore something new. Each lesson will consist of pre-readings followed by a Zoom call where we will have the opportunity to practice together, then we will play with what we’ve learned with an exercise or two that we can then share in the discussion forum where we will provide each other feedback (not critique – remember, we are just playing here!)
Zoom Call Schedule:
Saturdays at 10am PT
(timezone converter)
This course is for writers who want to dive a little deeper into craft, but also don’t mind getting a bit messy with it. We approach writing as both a practice and a source of joy, recognizing that there is no single right way to engage our readers—just a range of possibilities to explore.
In this course, we’ll explore what makes writing immersive and how to incorporate those elements into our own work. Think of it as a walk through a conceptual museum, where we’ll examine how different art forms use movement, pattern, composition, light and focus to engage their audience. Then, we’ll put those techniques into practice in our writing. This course is more about exploration than perfection, so let’s see what we can discover together.
No. To get the most from this course, you simply need a willingness to learn and play and a commitment to nurture your creativity.
Writer Terry Pratchett once said: “Everything’s a story—you just have to find the narrative.” I believe that is true! However, in this course we will not be exploring ‘Story’ specifically. Instead, we will be looking at how to craft moments on the page that will invite our readers to connect with and experience our stories.
This course will help you develop your craft no matter what kind of creative writing project you are currently working on – Memoir, Fiction, Personal Essay, CNF, Flash, Short Story – creating immersive moments for your readers is important for all writers. (Unless, of course, you are writing a technical support document or standard operating procedure, in which case this course may not be helpful!)
There will be 8 zoom meetings during the course. We meet weekly on Saturdays at 10:00am PT. (See a timezone converter here). Each meeting will contain additional material, practice and discussion meant to further our understanding of the topic and provide a foundation for the weekly exercises that are shared in the discussion forum. Although the recordings from individual meetings will be made available should you be unable to attend, I highly recommend participating in as many of the zoom meetings as possible. A lot of writing magic happens during live sessions. Remember, the class is small so discussion can be rich!
Rena Willis is a writer and an educator. Her short fiction and CNF work has appeared in Brevity, South Florida Poetry Journal, Five on the Fifth, New Flash Fiction Review, Headland Literary Journal, The Ekphrastic Review, and others. She is currently working on a Flash Fiction collection. She teaches Creative Writing to both teens and adults. She loves new ideas and encourages different perspectives. She is the Founder and Director of an International K-12 school in Costa Rica, where her passion for writing and her love for learning intersect. She strives to make a positive difference in her community and the world. She believes we succeed together.
