Sackett Street Writers

8,000+ creative writers since 2002 in NYC & ONLINE

12-wk VIRTUAL Manuscript Generator I* : a generative class open to novelists, memoirists, and writers working on story and essay collections – begins 9.7.22 (this is a virtual class & video meetings are held every other week)

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Begins: September 7, 2022
Instructor: Heather Aimee O’Neill
Location: Meetings via video every other Wednesday 7-9pm EST
Fee: $875.00

*This section of Manuscript Generator is intended for writers who have not participated in a previous Manuscript Generator class.

A writing sample is not required but recommended for this class.

Every other week you will submit up to 5,000 words of your manuscript to the instructor and she will provide you with written feedback. You’ll also have the opportunity to receive feedback from your fellow writers on your project synopsis or outline, scene exercises, and your manuscript’s opening paragraphs. The two-hour bi-weekly meetings will be the chance for you to discuss your projects and engage with writing prompts in shared group writing time. The instructor also offers a 30-minute one-on-one consultation at the end of the course to discuss your manuscript in depth.

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 private conference with the instructor is included.

APPLY NOW

Heather Aimee O’Neill has worked with hundreds of writers in Sackett Street’s popular Manuscript Intensive Workshop (online and in Brooklyn). 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.

8-week ONLINE Master Fiction Writing Workshop – begins week of 9.12.22

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Instructor: Monica West
Dates: begins week of September 12, 2022
Location: Online (weekly video meet-up weeknight tbd 7:30-9:30pm EST)
Fee: $575

A writing sample is required for this class. Please fill out an application with your contact info and a sample of your writing.

Our Master Fiction Workshop is aimed at writers with a regular practice, those who have mastered the essentials and are looking for a community of peers ready to offer insightful, impartial feedback on works in progress. Whether you’re a writer looking to polish work for publication, looking for a fresh perspective, looking to climb the next hurdle, or simply missing the motivation and comradery only workshop can offer, our Fiction Workshop is designed to get you writing. Come geek out with your fellow lit nerds and walk away with a renewed sense of purpose.

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Monica West is the author of the debut novel Revival Season published by Simon & Schuster in 2021. She earned a B.A. in English Literature from Duke University, an M.A. in English and American Literature from New York University, and an MFA in Fiction Writing from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop where she was also a Rona Jaffe Graduate Fellow. She has received a fellowship from Kimbilio Fiction, and was a Hedgebrook Writer-in-Residence in Spring 2021. She lives in Oakland, California and is a Sackett alum.

8-week ONLINE Creative Writing: Building an Intentional Community for Writers of Color (open to both fiction & nonfiction writers) – begins week of 9.12.22

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Instructor: Khaliah Williams
Dates: week of September 12, 2022
Location: Online (weekly video meet-up weeknight tbd 7-9pm EST)
Fee: $550 

A writing sample is not required (but recommended) for this class. Please fill out an application with your contact info and a brief sample of your writing.

Over the course of this workshop, writers will gain skills in fiction and non-fiction writing while engaging in a community of fellow writers of color. During in-class instruction, writers will gain technical skills in character development, language, and style. The combination of an intentional community coupled with thoughtful writing exercises allows participants to immerse themselves in a unique workshop experience.

Through group discussion of student work, plus that of published authors, writers in this workshop will examine the art and craft of both fiction and creative nonfiction. The focus will be on learning to understand and use a full range of literary techniques in order to tell a truly compelling story.

This workshop is open to writers of color working on fiction (short stories and novels) and creative nonfiction (memoir, personal essays or in-depth journalism) and students should have writing and writing class experience.

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Khaliah Williams is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and received her MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Her fiction has been published in Hawaii Women’s Journal, Frontier Psychiatrist, and Day One, and her non-fiction at Buzzfeed, American Short Fiction and Book Country. She is a current fellow at the Kimbilio Center for African American Fiction and an Instructor and Advisory Board member of Writers in Baltimore School. Originally from Philadelphia, she lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.  She is at work on a novel and collection of short stories.

8-week Online Fiction Writing Workshop – begins 9.13.22

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8-week ONLINE Fiction Writing I/II
Begins: September 13, 2022
Instructor: Leslie-Ann Murray
Location: Online (weekly video meet-up Tuesdays 7-9pm ET)
Fee: $575

A private conference with the instructor is included.

A writing sample is not required (but recommended) for this course.

Please fill out an application with name, contact info, writing/writing class experience, and a brief writing sample.

In this workshop, writers will learn how to manipulate the tools of fiction-writing (point-of-view, plot, characterizing detail, tone, etc.) to craft complete and unique stories that engage the reader. In-class critiques and exercises, as well as lectures and feedback from the instructor, are used to help students further develop their writing. This course is intended for writers with some writing experience who are looking to learn more about what makes a story, “a story.”

Leslie-Ann Murray a fiction writer from Trinidad & Tobago. She created Brown Girl Book Lover, a social media platform where she interviews diverse writers and reviews books that should be at the forefront of our imagination. She also produces a monthly newsletter, Come Get Your Diversity. Leslie-Ann  is currently working on her first novel, This Has Made Us Beautiful. Leslie-Ann has been published in Poets & Writers, Zone 3, Ploughshares, Brittle Paper, Obsidian Literary Magazine, and Salamander Literary Magazine.  Leslie-Ann has taught creative writing in France, Trinidad and Tobago, South Africa, China, and New York City.

8-week Online MFA Application Prep Workshop (open to fiction & nonfiction writers) – begins week of 9.12.22

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Instructor: Jensen Beach
Dates: week of September 12, 2022
Location: Online (weekly video meet-up weeknight tbd 7:30-9:30pm EST)
Fee: $575

A writing sample is required for this class. Please fill out an application with your contact info and a sample of your writing.

The workshop in intended for writers who are applying to (or considering applying to) MFA graduate programs in creative writing and uses in-class discussion, handouts and instructor advice to help students decide what programs are a good fit. Additionally, the course features plenty of advice on the personal essay, recommendation letters, choosing work for manuscripts, and discussion of the pros and cons of various programs. The stories/essays/excerpts students intend on including in their applications will be workshopped, and feedback from the instructor and class participants will help polish application manuscripts. This course is open to story-writers, novelists and nonfiction writers.

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Jensen Beach is the author of two story collections, the forthcoming SWALLOWED BY THE COLD (Graywolf), and FOR OUT OF THE HEART PROCEED (Dzanc Books 2012, 2nd Edition; 1st Edition: Dark Sky Books). He holds an MFA in fiction from the Program for Poets and Writers at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, as well as an MA and BA in English from Stockholm University. He teaches in the BFA program at Johnson State College, where he also is the fiction editor of Green Mountains Review. He’s also a faculty member in the MFA Program in Writing & Publishing at VCFA. His writing has appeared recently in A Public Space, Cincinnati Review, Fifty-Two Stories, Ninth Letter, Sou’wester, Witness, and The New Yorker, and online at Tin House, N+1, Kenyon Review, and American Short Fiction, among others. He’s received scholarships from the Napa and Sewanee Writers’ conferences, and is one of the webeditors at Hobart. He lives in Vermont.

20-wk VIRTUAL Manuscript Generator II*: a generative class open to novelists, memoirists, and writers working on story and essay collections – begins 9.14.22

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Begins: September 14, 2022
Instructor: Heather Aimee O’Neill
Location: Meetings via video every other Wednesday 7-9pm EST
Fee: $1450.00

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.

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 not required but recommended for this class.

A private conference with the instructor is included.

APPLY NOW

Heather Aimee O’Neill has worked with hundreds of writers in Sackett Street’s popular Manuscript Intensive Workshop (online and in Brooklyn). 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.

8-week Online WRITING SPRINTS: A Generative Class (fiction & nonfiction) – begins 9.15.22

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Begins: September 15, 2022
Instructor: Elizabeth Weiss
Location: Online (weekly video meet-up Thursdays 7:30-9:30pm EST)
Fee: $550 

A writing sample is not required (but welcome) for this class. Please fill out an application with your contact info. 

Writing Sprints is an exercise-intensive course designed to “unstick” writers struggling to start or continue new projects, boosting writing productivity.  The course relies heavily on writing exercises (for both fiction & nonfiction writers).  Students will produce a ton of new work in this class, and receive feedback on that work from the instructor and his or her classmates. This class is for writers of all levels looking for inspiration and motivation.

This workshop is open to writers working in all genres, and writers at all levels of skill and experience are welcome to join.

APPLY NOW

Elizabeth Weiss‘s debut novel, The Sisters Sweet, was published by The Dial Press in November 2021. She earned an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where she was a Truman Capote Fellow. Her nonfiction has been published in The New Yorker online. She has taught for the University of Iowa, the Iowa Young Writers’ Studio, and the Sackett Street Writers’ Workshop, and is a mentor for the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop. She lives in Minneapolis with her spouse, daughter, and dog.

8-week ONLINE Master Personal Essay & Memoir Writing – begins week of 9.12.22

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Begins: Week of September 12, 2022
Instructor: coming soon
Location: Online (weekly video meet-up weeknight tbd 7-9pm ET)
Fee: $575 

A private conference with the instructor is included.

A writing sample is required for this class. Please fill out an application.

Through group discussion of student work, plus that of published authors, writers in this workshop will examine the art and craft of creative nonfiction. The focus will be on learning to understand and use a full range of literary techniques in order to tell a truly compelling nonfiction story. Topics such as the use of dialogue, the creation of scene, attention to style and how to craft structure from true events will be discussed. Participants will also spend time talking about the particular responsibilities that come with writing creative nonfiction.

This workshop is open to writers working on memoir, personal essays or in-depth journalism, and students should have writing and writing class experience.

APPLY NOW

8-week ONLINE Personal Essay & Memoir Writing I/II – begins 9.13.22

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Begins: September 13, 2022
Instructor: Xeni Fragakis
Location: Online (weekly video meet-up Tuesdays 7:30-9:30pm EST)
Fee: $575

A private conference with the instructor is included

A writing sample is not required (but welcome) for this class. Please fill out an application with your contact info.

Through group discussion of student work, plus that of published authors, writers in this workshop will examine the art and craft of creative nonfiction. The focus will be on learning to understand and use a full range of literary techniques in order to tell a truly compelling nonfiction story. Topics such as the use of dialogue, the creation of scene, attention to style and how to craft structure from true events will be discussed. Participants will also spend time talking about the particular responsibilities that come with writing creative nonfiction. In-class writing prompts will be used to inspire and motivate students to produce new work.

This workshop is open to writers working on memoir and personal essays, and writers at all levels of skill and experience are welcome to join.

APPLY NOW

Xeni Fragakis received her BA in English from Yale University and her MFA in Nonfiction Writing from the University of Iowa. At Iowa, she was awarded an Iowa Arts Fellowship and taught Creative Nonfiction. Her work has appeared in The New York Times and Salon, and she is a winner of the Moth GrandSLAM Championship.

8-week Online Writing Speculative and Fantastical Fiction – begins week of 9.12.22

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Begins: wk of September 12, 2022 
Instructor: coming soon
Location: Online (weekly video meet-up wknight tbd 7-9pm EST)
Fee: $575

A writing sample is not required (but welcome) for this class. Please fill out an application with your contact info.

Through group discussion of student work plus that of published authors, writers in this workshop will examine the art and craft of speculative and fantastical fiction. We will focus on some of the classic sticking points of writing in this genre: effective worldbuilding, balancing character against plot, maintaining consistent story logic, and making sure all elements of the writing serve the story. This class seeks to dispel the myths of the so-called differences between “genre” fiction and literary fiction: every story one writes, whether it’s a realistic family drama or a saga set on a spaceship, should be built upon good prose, complex characters, empathy and specificity. Fantasy, sci-fi, speculative fiction, or whatever label you choose can and should be well-written literary work, and in this class we will seek to give you the tools do just that.

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8-week ONLINE Writing for Young Adult & Middle Grade – begins week of 9.12.22

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Begins: week of September 12, 2022
Instructor: coming soon
Location: Online (weekly video weeknight tbd 7:30-9:30pm EST)
Fee: $575

A writing sample is not required (but welcome) for this class. Please fill out an application with your contact info. 

Start, finish, or polish your YA or MG novel in this supportive, proactive workshop. Brief lectures, tailored to students’ needs and interests, cover topics such as character development, voice and tone, plot, world-building, dialogue, romance, pacing, scene structure, querying agents, the business of publishing, and time management for writers.

Students will have opportunities to workshop writing with the class and receive written feedback from the instructor and fellow students. This course is intended for students with some writing experience. All YA or MG genres are welcome.

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8-week ONLINE Writing Sprints: A Generative Class (fiction & nonfiction) – begins 9.28.22

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Begins: September 28, 2022
Instructor: Heidi Diehl
Location: Online (weekly video meet-up Wednesdays 7-9pm EST)
Fee: $550 

A writing sample is not required (but welcome) for this class. Please fill out an application with your contact info. 

Writing Sprints is an exercise-intensive course designed to “unstick” writers struggling to start or continue new projects, boosting writing productivity.  The course relies heavily on writing exercises (for both fiction & nonfiction writers).  Students will produce a ton of new work in this class, and receive feedback on that work from the instructor and his or her classmates. This class is for writers of all levels looking for inspiration and motivation.

This workshop is open to writers working in all genres, and writers at all levels of skill and experience are welcome to join.

APPLY NOW

Heidi Diehl’s debut novel, Lifelines, was published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in June 2019. Her short fiction has appeared in Crazyhorse, Indiana Review, Mississippi Review, StoryQuarterly, Witness,and elsewhere. She has received fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, Marble House Project, Norton Island/Eastern Frontier Foundation, Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts, and the Vermont Studio Center; she holds an MFA from Brooklyn College and a BA from Sarah Lawrence College. Since 2010, she has taught expository and creative writing at Brooklyn College, where she is also the assistant director of the freshman writing program.