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Writing Classes
Education is an important part of a writer's career. That is why FanStory.com offers classes for adult writers of all skill levels. Take a class online from your computer. Participate while in the comfort of your home or office. Click on the title of the class below to find out more about the class. Four week classes are only $99.00.
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AVAILABLE CLASSES
 | Italian Poetic Forms
This class will focus on teaching meter and rhyme through looking at the ottava rima, terza rima, villanelle, and terzanelle forms. We'll look at the Italian origin of most of these forms, the place of these forms in the history of English poetry, and write these forms. Students can take this course without a prerequisite, though having taken Rhyme and Meter in Poetry or one of the courses in the French Poetic Forms would be helpful.
Starts: May 23rd
Seats Left: 3 seats. |
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 | Scriptwriting
Every wonder what professional playwrights go through to create a script? Learn the agony and ecstasy of it all from a staged and award-winning playwright. We'll discuss the formatting of scripts, how to turn a short story into a script, and developing character and plot through dialogue.
Starts: June 3rd
Seats Left: 2 seats. | Shorter Poetic Forms
In this course, we'll focus on brevity--how to say a lot in a little. We'll take away the mystery from haiku, senryu, tanka, and cinquains and learn how to write and enjoy them painlessly.
Starts: June 3rd
Seats Left: 12 seats. | Rhyme and Meter in Poetry
If you are interested in writing metered, rhyming poetry that sounds natural and engages your reader, this class will provide all the basics. You will also learn to use several poetic devices such as metaphors and similes. Assignments will give you hands on experience with composing your own poetry in a step by step process, and you will receive personalized help along the way. You will also have the chance to discuss this process with the instructor and other students in group chats.
Starts: June 18th
Seats Left: 9 seats. | Grammar Tips (SPAG)
This is your chance to conquer the dreaded comma, unlock the mysteries of the apostrophe and figure out once and for all when to use "lie" instead of "lay." Every discussion will feature easy-to-follow examples, and assignments will provide a chance to practice and receive individual feedback.
Starts: June 18th
Seats Left: 11 seats. | Story Poems
In this class we will read a variety of famous story poems, from The Highwayman to The Charge of the Light Brigade to Casey at the Bat. While reading these classics, we will analyze what makes a good, memorable, entertaining story in poetic form as students each work on writing their own story poem. By the end of the class you will have composed at least one story poem you would be pleased to share with others.
Starts: June 19th
Seats Left: 12 seats. | Understanding Poetry
This course is designed for people who want to understand the basics of poetry, whether they want to become better reviewers or better poets. There will be no requirements to write poetry. Assignments are designed to appreciate and respond to poetry. We will read a wide variety of famous poets and discuss how their work illustrates the elements of poetry.
Starts: June 19th
Seats Left: 10 seats. |
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 | Setting the Scene
Why should writers care about setting and where a story takes place? Why not just tell the story? One difference between a novice and more experienced storyteller is in the use of setting: experienced writers are meticulously detailed about setting. Look at almost any story from a major journal such as "The New Yorker" and see that the story cannot be separated from its time and place. In this class learn to fully integrate a detailed setting into your story.
Starts: July 2nd
Seats Left: 3 seats. |
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 | tanka
What are tanka? How are they related to haiku? Why has that beautiful lovers' poem, the Imperial Court Tanka, fascinated so many of us? In this course, we'll learn how to write individual tanka and tanka sequences, a class renga, and subtle yet romantic Imperial Court Tanka. Come be a part of the communal joy and lovers' romance that are tanka!
Starts: August 5th
Seats Left: 13 seats. | haiku
In this class, we delve deeper into the mystery of haiku and explore the depths of Japanese poetic meaning. We discuss categories of haiku, both ones concerned with the natural world and ones concerned with the social world. We also explore haiku techniques to enable us to write haiku of refinement and depth. The beauty of haiku is what it's all about!
Starts: August 5th
Seats Left: 14 seats. | Writing Short Nonfiction
Many writers turn to more "creative" genres when they begin writing, such as poetry, short stories, and the novel. However, it is nonfiction, such as articles, feature stories, and interviews, that will sell while that completed novel languishes unread ono the writer's desktop. In addition, nonfiction writers don't need agent representation while still using much of the same writing skills and creativity as a fiction writer.
Starts: August 6th
Seats Left: 7 seats. |
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 | Blank Verse
In this course, you'll learn how to write poems that are metered, but do not rhyme. Want to write a verse to someone special in your life? You can write verse without rhyming to that significant man, woman, or child in the style of classical love statements, such as you can find in the time-tested plays of Shakespeare.
From Elizabethan time on, people have written blank verse, verse in iambic pentameter that does not rhyme. Improve your writing and communicating skills in this class by learning how to write blank verse!
Starts: September 2nd
Seats Left: 14 seats. | Imperial Court Tanka
Both medieval Western and Japanese literature of the court emphasize romantic love and extol feminine virtues. In Japan, however, unlike in the West, often that court literature was written by women. Here we shall write a love or seasonal sequence in the style of the Japanese Imperial Court. Previous completion of the tanka course on this site is required.
Starts: September 2nd
Seats Left: 2 seats. |
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 | Contemporary Short Story
In this class you will learn how to read short fiction critically so that you can improve your own writing skills. You will develop the elements of your fiction through short writing exercises and receive structured feedback that will help you improve your writing skills. Each week students will read and discuss a short story and complete a writing exercise. At the end of the class you will have one completed short story that is ready to be submitted for publication.
Starts: October 1st
Seats Left: 7 seats. | Shorter Poetic Forms
In this course, we'll focus on brevity--how to say a lot in a little. We'll take away the mystery from haiku, senryu, tanka, and cinquains and learn how to write and enjoy them painlessly.
Starts: October 7th
Seats Left: 14 seats. |
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 | Voice in Fiction
"Voice" is considered one the most important elements in contemporary literature, and unique voice, (or diction or tone, as it is sometimes called), is something editors look for. In this class, students will learn about the important concept of "voice" in fiction and poetry through lecture, discussion, and examples from published works. Students will also develop their own unique voice, through exercises toward a completed story, one that will attract editors and stay with readers.
Starts: November 5th
Seats Left: 7 seats. |
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Our classes provide an excellent way to further develop your skills.
- Small Classes. Our classes are small and designed to give you one on one instruction while you complete assignments on your own time and work at your own pace in the comfort of your own home.
- Online Classrooms. All of the courses operate in our unique online classrooms. Your classroom offers you a location to meet with your instructor, read and enter assignments, and ask questions.
- Expert Review. Experienced instructors offer private review and detailed help. In addition, classes give you the ability to share your work with your classroom peers as well as the entire FanStory.com writing community.
- Great Value. Four week classes are only $99.00. Compare and you will find that classes online elsewhere are hundreds more and do not offer the small classroom size, personal attention, and benefits provided by being a school that is part of FanStory.com.
Free Writer Membership. Provided with your class is a free two month membership to the FanStory.com writing community. This bonus gives you the ability to share share your writing with the community while participating in your classroom. Get feedback for everything you write, join free writing contests, and get motivated. Details on your free membership for writers.
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FanStory.com writing courses provide adults with an opportunity to take classes online with experienced instructors.
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