Sackett Street Writers

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

6-wk IN-PERSON Writing Sprints: A Generative Class (fiction & nonfiction) – begins 7.19.23 – Park Slope

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Instructor: coming soon
Dates: begins July 19, 2023, Wed 7-9pm
Location: Park Slope, Brooklyn |273 Prospect Park West
Fee: $500

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

20-wk VIRTUAL Manuscript Generator II*: a generative class open to novelists, memoirists, and writers working on story and essay collections – begins 7.12.23

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Begins: July 12, 2023
Instructor: Heather Aimee O’Neill
Location: Meetings via video every other Wednesday 7-9pm EST
Fee: $1650.00

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) 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 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.

6-week ONLINE Master Fiction Intensive – begins 7.12.23 – taught by founder & director Julia Fierro

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Instructor: Julia Fierro
Dates: begins July 12th 2023
Location: Online (weekly video meet-up Wednesdays 7-9:30pm ET)
Fee: $900

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

Our 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.
This special Master level Fiction Intensive includes three opportunities for writers to submit work to be critiqued (6,250 words max each time). Two submissions will be read and discussed by the class; the third read and critiqued in depth by the instructor.
Also included are online craft lessons and a virtual classroom space, a 1-hour private conference with the instructor and detailed line edits by the instructor on all pages submitted (up to 75 pages for each writer) as well as a critique letter.

Julia Fierro is the author of the novels The Gypsy Moth Summer and Cutting Teeth. She is one half of Cassidy Lucas, pen name of writing duo Julia Fierro and Caeli Wolfson Widger. Santa Monica, their first book together, was published by Harper in October 2020. Their second novel, The Last Party, set in Topanga Canyon on the westside of Los Angeles, was published in April 2022.

A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, Julia founded The Sackett Street Writers’ Workshop in 2002, now a creative home to over 10,000 writers and named “New York City’s best writing class” by Time Out New York, the L Magazine, and Brooklyn Magazine; and a “Top Alternative to MFA programs” by Poets & Writers. Workshops are offered throughout NYC and online. Her work has been published in The New York Times, Poets & Writers, Buzzfeed, Glamour, Psychology Today, and other publications, and she has been profiled in The Observer and The Economist.

Julia has been an editor and writing coach since 2003, providing in-depth developmental feedback for authors of literary and commercial fiction. Books that she has worked on include books published by Penguin Random House, Riverhead, Simon and Schuster, Viking, Scribner, Harper Collins, Little A, Houghton Mifflin and more. She has traveled nationwide to give talks about writing, the teaching of writing, crafting creative communities, and publishing. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, two children, and her father/gardening partner. She is at work on her fifth novel, a literary genre-bender set in Southern Italy during the WWII liberation.

6-week ONLINE Writing Sprints: A Generative Class (fiction & nonfiction) – begins week of 7.18.23

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Begins: week of July 18, 2023
Instructor: coming soon
Location: Online (weekly video meet-up weeknight tbd 7-9pm EST)
Fee: $450 

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

2-week Ace Your MFA Application Class – meets 7.24 & 7.31 7-9pm ET

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Instructor: Gabriel Packard
Dates: July 24th & 31st
Location: Online (weekly video meet-up MONDAYS 7-9pm ET)
Fee: $125

A writing sample is not required (but welcome) for this class. Please fill out an application with your contact info and a 3-5 page sample of your writing if available.

By the end of this two-week master class, students will have (1) a first draft of their MFA application, or a more polished draft, if they’ve already begun, (2) a personalized shortlist of MFA programs to apply to, and (3) strong insights into what MFA programs are looking for and how to deliver this.
Topics will include:
*Inside the mind of the MFA gatekeepers. Who are they? What are they looking for? How do you find out?
*How to be a good applicant (beyond the application form).
*How to select which (and how many) MFA programs to apply to.
*How to approach and write the personal statement.
*How to select, edit & order your writing samples.
*Resumes, GREs, etc. Do they matter?
*What to do when you receive an offer, or multiple offers.
*How financial aid works.
Session 1 will include a checklist of action items to help you write a solid first draft of your application or polish an MFA application you’ve already begun, before Session 2.
Session 2 will include a dedicated Q&A where students and ask for advice about the action items.
This class is intended for writers who are applying to (or considering applying to) MFA graduate programs in creative writing.
Gabriel Packard was Hunter College MFA’s Associate Director for 10+ years. His writing been published in The New Yorker; his novel, The Painted Ocean, was published by Little, Brown; and he wrote a chapter in The Poets & Writers Guide to MFA Programs. He has guest lectured at colleges and universities including Yale, Cornell, U. Penn, Princeton, Dartmouth, NYU, Oxford and Cambridge. And he previously worked as a researcher for Jonathan Franzen and E.L. Doctorow.

12-wk VIRTUAL Manuscript Generator I* : a generative class open to novelists, memoirists, and writers working on story and essay collections – begins 9.13.23 (this is a virtual class & video meetings are held every other week

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Begins: September 13, 2023
Instructor: Heather Aimee O’Neill
Location: Meetings via video every other Wednesday 7-9pm EST
Fee: $1050.00

*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) 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 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 MFA Application Prep Workshop (open to fiction & nonfiction writers) – begins week of 9.18.23

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Instructor: Jensen Beach
Dates: begins week of September 18, 2023
Location: Online (weekly video meet-up weeknight tbd 7:30-9:30pm EST)
Fee: $600

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 11.29.23

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Begins: November 29, 2023
Instructor: Heather Aimee O’Neill
Location: Meetings via video every other Wednesday 7-9pm EST
Fee: $1650.00

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) 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 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.

6-week Advanced Personal Essay & Memoir – begins 7.20.23 – Union Square

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Instructor: coming soon
Dates: begins May 25, 2023, meets THURSDAYS 7-9pm EST
Location: Union Square
Fee: $500

A private conference with the instructor is included.

A writing sample is required for this class. Please fill out an application with your contact info and a 3-5 page sample.

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 should have both writing and workshopping experience.

APPLY NOW

8-week ONLINE Intermediate & Advanced Fiction – begins 9.14.23

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Instructor: Elizabeth Weiss
Dates: begins September 14, 2023
Location: Online (weekly video meet-up Thursdays 7:30-9:30pm EST)
Fee: $625

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

Our Advanced 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.

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.