Upcoming Workshops & Courses

Natures of Narrative Structure: Seeking Your Novel's Shape

Saturday, February 7, 2026 |1pm-4pm CT | online - Zoom

How do we determine the shape of a novel? What options do we have? Many of us have been taught to structure our fiction a bit like a triangle, following rising action to climax to denouement. This is the shape that many stories in contemporary western writing, from books to films, take. But it is far from our only option.

In her book Meander, Spiral, Explode, Jane Alison describes how we can turn to natural forms, like spirals and wavelets, to structure our fiction. In We Were Witches, Ariel Gore suggests that we invert the triangle, creating a deepening. In “The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction,” Ursula K. Le Guin argues that fiction can be shaped like a bag holding elements in relation to each other.

In this class, we’ll explore various structural shapes for a novel, and the techniques we can use to determine the shape of our own fiction. This class is suitable for writers at any phase of the writing or revising process.

Register Here

Writing with the Seasons

Saturday, January 10, 2026 |9am-noon | Literary Arts 716 SE Grand Ave Portland, OR 97214

Does what you write or how you write it change with the seasons? In these quarterly gatherings we’ll meet to be inspired by the turn of the world. From autumn leaves to springtime flowers, rain and snow and sun, we’ll consider nature’s shifts and how we can incorporate them into our writing practice. We’ll also reflect on the impact of climate change on our seasonal rhythms and on our writing. Through brief readings, writing prompts, and generative exercises, we’ll welcome in and attune our writing to the time of year.

This gathering meets once per season. You can sign up for all four or just come to one. It’s suitable for all writing levels and genres.

What We'll Do:

  • Introductions

  • Winter Inspiration and Readings

  • Writing Exercises

  • Optional Sharing

Register Here

Your Novel’s First Pages

Saturday, January 20, 2026 – February 24, 2026, weekly on Tuesdays (6 sessions) | 6-8pm | Literary Arts 716 SE Grand Ave Portland, OR 97214

So much of a novel is contained within its first pages. We can think of these pages as the entryway–what welcomes the reader into the story and sets expectations. We can think of these pages as a hook to catch the reader’s attention. We can think of them as a microcosm for the whole of the project–everything to come is laid out here in some way. These pages are also what you will generally send first to agents and publishers once your novel is ready for submission. In this workshop, we’ll read the first pages of novels by writers like Virginia Woolf, James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Louise Erdrich, Celeste Ng, Julia Armfield and more. We’ll consider the craft of a novel’s beginning and ways this can fit into the process of writing the full manuscript. Students will workshop their own first pages with each other and receive instructor feedback on up to 25 pages that begin their novels. Students at any point in the writing process are welcome. Whether you have a full draft or are just beginning your novel, this course can help to inspire your writing, deepen your process, and refine your craft.

Register Here

Past Courses

CREATIVE WRITING

Intermediate Fiction | Linfield University

Speculative Memoir Workshop | Deschutes Public Library

Experiments in Narrative Structure Workshop | Portland Book Festival

Writing Feminist Fairy Tales | The Loft

Advanced Creative Writing | Fiction | Portland Community College

Beginning Creative Writing | Fiction | Portland Community College

Beginning Creative Writing | Prose | University of Washington

 

LITERATURE, COMPOSITION & RESEARCH

Northwest Literature | Portland Community College

College Writing – Environmental Writing | Portland Community College

Film as Art | Portland Community College

College Writing – Feminist Literature | Portland Community College

Writing with Research | hybrid, online, and f2f | Portland Community College

College Writing | hybrid course | Portland Community College

College Writing | University of Washington

World Literature – Fairy Tales | online | Renton Technical College

College Writing and Writing with Research | online and f2f | Renton Technical College

Technical Writing | Renton Technical College