Guide to Classes

Writing Salon classes offer students an opportunity to explore creativity and develop craft in a supportive environment. Most classes involve some or all of the following activities:

• Writing exercises
• Lectures
• Discussions
• Readings
• Optional sharing of student work
• Optional out-of-class reading and writing
• Feedback on students’ writing

The amount of time spent on any one activity depends on the type of experience the class aims to provide as well as the course outcomes.

Non-workshop classes with live meetings, whether online or in person, often consist of most or all activities noted above. Class length will dictate the scope and depth of activities.

Workshop classes, meeting both online and in person, focus almost exclusively on the development of students’ writing and critiquing skills. Dominant activities include the sharing and reading of student work and giving and receiving feedback. Workshops usually require greater commitment, including reading and writing outside of class.

Classes with no live meetings, all of which meet online, involve a different range of activities to align with course outcomes and students’ desired experiences. Under Online Formats, you can learn more about the Daily Write Round Robin, Wet Ink Workshops, Mentorships, and The Writer’s Welcome Kit.

More than level of experience, we prefer to guide writers through class selection processes according to the experience they’d like to have in class and their writing goals. We use four categories to help with this selection process: Discover, Generate, Focus, and Workshop.

Discover
Discover classes are a great entry point for new writers or those who are looking to brush up on the basics. These classes offer opportunities to explore genres, develop a voice, and join a writing community. They often combine writing exercises, lectures, model readings, discussion, and in some cases, the optional sharing of written work.

Generate
These classes are perfect for producing new writing in any genre. Through prompt-driven writing exercises and instructors’ process-oriented strategies, writers may create new work, develop drafts, explore fresh ideas, and break through barriers to keep getting words onto the page. There is usually an optional sharing of work, short discussion, and light readings.

Focus
These classes have a specific craft, theme, or publishing focus. They offer a mixture of lecture, writing exercises, readings, and in some cases, optional sharing and supportive feedback. In these classes, students delve into specific craft elements, cultural and familial investigations, or learn and practice strategies for getting their work out into the world.

Workshop 
Workshops offer opportunities for writers to edit and refine their work. With the instructor as workshop leader, these classes focus on the development of students’ writing, revising, and critiquing skills. The majority of class time is spent reviewing student writing and offering feedback to help classmates develop their most fully realized work.

For 25 years, we’ve maintained a belief that we love the vibrancy of classes that involve writers of all backgrounds and levels of experience, as do our instructors. Most of our classes are for writers of all levels of experience, but there are instances when consideration regarding level of experience helps with the class selection process.

Classes with an Intro in the title or that fit in our Discover category are best for new writers or for writers with some experience who would like a refresher on the fundamentals.

Workshops, Craft Series classes, and Mentorships are designed for students who have some writing experience, who have taken a few creative writing classes, or who might identify as an intermediate or advanced writer.

Writing Salon classes offer a variety of feedback possibilities, from sharing in-class assignments to the extensive feedback in workshops. In general, students receive feedback from both the instructor and fellow students, bringing together professional guidance and expertise with authentic reader reactions. We like to guide writers by indicating how much feedback to expect in a class: Limited, Moderate or Extensive.

Limited feedback is usually verbal, offers high-level impressions, and focuses on opportunities for writers to develop early drafts. Most Generate and Discover classes involve limited feedback.

Moderate feedback offers more extensive verbal comments and/or brief written comments. It generally provides greater depth of response, with targeted suggestions and specific examples from the written piece. Focus classes and some classes that include workshopping have moderate feedback.

Extensive feedback is offered in our Workshop classes and mentorships, and it is generally delivered orally and in written form (solely written form for mentorships) . This level of feedback provides more comprehensive analysis and specific revision strategies and is best suited for developed and near-final drafts.