Begins: April 2 – August 6
Instructor: Heather Aimee O’Neill
Location: Meetings via video every other Wednesday 6-8pm ET
Fee: $2000 (writers returning to Sackett Street – $1800)
This is a virtual class & video meetings are held every other week.
*This section of Manuscript Generator is intended for writers who have participated in a previous MG class but new writers are welcome to apply.
In this generative workshop, students have the opportunity to hand in chapters (up to 5000 words pages) every other week, and receive feedback from the instructor on these pages. The workshop is open to writers who have completed one or more chapters of a novel or memoir, as well as writers working on short story and/or essay collections. Writers participating in this course will learn how to recognize the successful techniques in their writing – what engages the reader, and how that success is achieved. Carefully planned lessons and online discussions will focus on analyzing the many choices (point-of-view, tone, characterizing details, pacing, etc.) a writer must make concerning structure, character and language. This course is intended for writers who have some experience writing and workshopping.
A writing sample is recommended for this class.
A private conference with the instructor is included.
Heather Aimee O’Neill has worked with hundreds of writers in Sackett Street’s popular Manuscript Intensive Workshop (online and in Brooklyn) and they have continued on to publish with both independent and commercial presses such as Penguin Random House, Harper Collins, LiveWright, Henry Holt, Park Row, Mariner Books, Lake Union, Doubleday, Flatiron, Little A, Dzanc Books and more. Her debut novel, The Irish Goodbye, will be published in Fall 2025. Her most recent collection of poetry, Obliterations, was co-authored with Jessica Piazza and published by Red Hen Press. A recent Lambda Literary Poetry Fellow, her poetry chapbook, Memory Future, won the University of Southern California’s Gold Line Press Award, chosen by judge Carol Muske-Dukes. She is a freelance writer for publications such as Time Out New York, Parents Magazine and Salon.com.