Writing Craft Club
Join us on an inquiry-based, rules-averse hunt for craft understanding that digs into nuance and goes beyond the typical overly-generalized advice.
What's Included?
Questioning
I'll begin with questions participants have about craft to serve as our launching point. These questions come about in one of three ways, typically:
- You read a story and think, How did they do that?
- You discover some craft advice and you think, Really? Is that the case?
- You come to a roadblock in your own writing and you think, How do I handle this?
Reading
Once we've pinpointed our craft emphases for the month, we'll search for some exemplar texts that illustrate what works or what doesn't work with respect to the craft issue in question. I'll then pass those on to the group.
This is not a book club, so I will not load you up with pages. But close examination of work is where meaningful craft study begins.
This is not a book club, so I will not load you up with pages. But close examination of work is where meaningful craft study begins.
Naming
Sometimes the most helpful thing you can do for your writing is to name the problems and solutions. That's a big part of what I do as a writing teacher and editor. I find use cases for challenges like omniscient POV or orienting the reader or romantic tension, and I name the nuanced techniques that make for the most effective means of addressing such challenges.
This writing craft club will provide a behind-the-scenes glimpse into how I do that and will push you to do it for yourself.
This writing craft club will provide a behind-the-scenes glimpse into how I do that and will push you to do it for yourself.
Communing
What role will the social element play here? And how much communication can you expect? Though we'll have a forum of sorts, I don't intend for it to stray too far away from topics and ideas related to Writing Craft Club.
Nor do I wish to bombard you with more than a handful of emails each month, mostly just alerting you to our goings-on and resources. I would like to make each month somewhat patterned and predictable with the approach.
Nor do I wish to bombard you with more than a handful of emails each month, mostly just alerting you to our goings-on and resources. I would like to make each month somewhat patterned and predictable with the approach.
Access Courses
The courses listed here will be immediately available to those in the premier level, and you'll get access to any new course that is $20 or less.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Is it worth it?
The craft topics will accrue, and after a year, you'll have access to notes, readings, recorded discussions, and Q&A sessions for 10-12 different craft topics, which should be a pretty robust offering. And I'll be working to add a few more pre-recorded short courses to the school here (some of which may arise from the craft club investigations), which will be available to you for free (in addition to the courses that already are available).
What if I don't find every craft topic useful?
You likely won't. But my hope is that any month's topic that you do find useful will be worth much more than $25 to you. Plus, you'll have access to past topics and classes, which may be useful. But beyond the direct application of any one craft topic, we'll be discussing how to study craft for yourself.
What if I can't make live meetings?
I want to make this friendly both for people who can show up for live interaction and for those who cannot or prefer not to. We'll have at least two live events each month, but they'll be recorded and posted into the Craft Club Notes Course for you to look at later. So your participation can be as visible or invisible as you'd like it to be. I will try to vary our meeting times so as not to leave out participants in Europe or Australian time zones.
What level of writer do I need to be?
If you've followed my articles or course, you know that I'm a pretty academic guy. So we'll definitely be digging deep on occasion, but a big part of the point here is to demystify craft and create some practical solutions to real (not theoretical) problems. So I think this should appeal to a wide variety of writers. If you're just at the beginning of your writing journey, read through some of my articles first to make sure they're not going over your head.
Does it matter what I write?
We will mostly be examining prose storytelling. That's my area of expertise. If you're writing short stories, novels, or narrative memoir, this may be a good fit for you. If you write other nonfiction or poetry, this may not be a good fit. If you write screenplays or scripts, this may not be the best fit either since we will probably examine narration pretty often.
What's the schedule?
At the beginning of every month, I'll send out a poll asking for topic proposals. Then, having decided on a topic, I'll go about gathering readings from my own library and via suggestions from the group. Next, we'll take 7-10 days to read a little and study the texts (usually totalling about 20 pages). I'll figure out a date for our two-hour Zoom discussion, which will mix small-group and whole-group conversation. In the follow-up, I'll host an hour-long Q&A. Rinse and repeat.
Approximate Monthly Schedule
Decide on craft topic(s) for the month; select readings. Possible Zoom meeting to float ideas.
Study readings and prepare to discuss. You can be as active or passive as you'd like in this process.
Zoom discussion of readings and lessons they carry for our craft emphasis. Time and date TBD.
Follow-up lesson office hours Q&A for remaining questions and miscellaneous craft issues.
Our Monthly Workflow
Topic Poll
Each month will begin with a questionnaire about the craft topics and questions that you're most interested in digging into.
Call for Readings
Based on the topic poll, I'll select the topic for the month and send out a call for reading selections that exemplify successful or unsuccessful execution of the craft topic we're studying.
Reading Selections
I'll cull through reading suggestions and put together a group of selections (3-8 excerpts; 5000-7500 words total) that I'll make available to all.
Discussion
Once we've had a chance to consider our discussion question and read the packet, we'll get together over Zoom and talk it over. These meetings usually go for two hours and are recorded.
Q&A / Office Hours
About a week after our discussion, I'll hold an hour-long office hours session to address lingering questions from our topic discussion and other small craft questions that may not be worthy of a full month's investigation.
Join the Writing Craft Club
The Minimalist
$25/mo
Partake in our monthly examinations of craft. With this subscription, you get access to our community, topic polls, reading selections, discussions and recordings, and Q&A sessions each month. You'll be able to watch recordings of any discussion or Q&A you've missed from 2023.
The Maximalist
$35/mo
With this subscription, you get access to our community, topic polls, reading selections, discussions and recordings, and Q&A sessions each month. You'll be able to watch recordings of any discussion or Q&A you've missed from 2023.
In addition, you'll have access to all discussions and Q&A sessions from 2022 as well as the following courses from Storm Writing School: Writing Toward Instinct, Creating Romantic/Sexual Tension, Strengthen Your Story with a Revision Outline, A Guide to Interiority, and The Gold Standard Scene. Any new course priced at $20 or lower will also be available to you for free.
In addition, you'll have access to all discussions and Q&A sessions from 2022 as well as the following courses from Storm Writing School: Writing Toward Instinct, Creating Romantic/Sexual Tension, Strengthen Your Story with a Revision Outline, A Guide to Interiority, and The Gold Standard Scene. Any new course priced at $20 or lower will also be available to you for free.
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