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Class Catalog
Heroine Course Catalog

Spells and Incantations: Building Poetry Ritual

with Tanya Young

Explore poetry as spellwork in this two-week class. Write incantatory poems, design personal rituals, and build a sacred, sustainable writing practice rooted in magic and self-trust.

generative, craft

2 Sessions
Wednesdays, October 21-28, 2026
5:00-7:00 pm PT Online Poetry Introductory

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How to Make Plot Your Friend

with Steve Almond

A great premise and interesting characters won’t save a snoozefest. In this 3-hour intensive, learn what actually makes a story feel urgent and alive. We’ll study great works that do it well and borrow their lessons in rising action, pacing, suspense, and character decision-making.

generative, craft, close reading

1 Session
Thursday, October 22, 2026
5:00-8:00 pm PT Online Fiction

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The Craft and Business of Blogging

with Rachel Werner

Ready to start a blog or make more of the one you have? Learn how to find your niche, reach your audience, create engaging content, and grow your readership while exploring ways blogging can lead to paid writing and new professional opportunities.

generative, workshop, professional development

4 Sessions
Thursdays, October 22 - November 12, 2026
10:00-12:00 pm PT Online Fiction Intermediate

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Real Life Humor Writing

with Kimberly Dark

How does funny serve good writing? Learn to use pattern, rhythm, expectation, and surprise to create humor that reveals character, builds intimacy, subverts assumptions, and opens unexpected avenues into difficult material.

generative, craft

1 Session
Saturday, October 24, 2026
10:00-1:00 pm PT Online Nonfiction

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Writing in Fragments

with Mayur Chauhan

Discover the freedom of writing in fragments: tiny scenes, flashes of memory, stray sentences, and other pieces that can carry surprising emotional weight. Play with juxtaposition, arrangement, and silence as you explore what fragments can reveal without explaining everything.

generative

1 Session
Saturday, October 24, 2026
10:00-1:00 pm PT Online Nonfiction

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Place, Presence, Pen: Embodied Nature Writing

with Jessica Gigot

Explore your connection to the natural world through writing rooted in presence and sensory experience. This generative class invites you to slow down, pay attention, and shape what you notice into language that blooms on the page.

generative, personal growth

4 Sessions
Mondays, October 26 - November 23, 2026
7:10-9:10 pm PT Online Fiction Intermediate

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Poetry I (ASYNCHRONOUS)

with Michelle Peñaloza

A poem is made of many moving parts. Explore the essential elements of poetic craft—from image and metaphor to sound, syntax, and lineation—through weekly lessons, prompts, and feedback you can complete at your own pace.

generative, craft, close reading

6 Sessions
October 26 - December 11, 2026
 Online Asynchronous Poetry Introductory

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Memoir I

with Minda Honey

Ready to write your life story? Learn the fundamentals of memoir while exploring contemporary voices, generating fresh writing, and building the confidence to share your work.

generative, craft, close reading

6 Sessions
Tuesdays, October 27 - December 8, 2026
10:00-12:00 pm PT Online Nonfiction Introductory

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Reading Across Cultures: Many Stories: Reading Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

with Michele Simms-Burton

History is never a single story. Through Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s critically acclaimed novel Half of a Yellow Sun, we’ll explore African storytelling traditions in which understanding, meaning, and narrative emerge from the accumulation of many lives and perspectives.

close reading

6 Sessions
Tuesdays, October 27 - November 17, 2026
5:00-7:00 pm PT Online Fiction

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Publishing Fundamentals I: Pathways for Your Book

with Elise McHugh

Curious about how publishing works and what path is right for you? Explore your options, clarify your goals, and build a strategy that supports your creative vision in this five-week introduction to the publishing industry.

professional development, publishing

6 Sessions
Tuesdays, October 27 - December 8, 2026
7:10-9:10 pm PT In Person Fiction

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The Art of the Personal Essay

with Kate Carmody

Explore how personal narratives take shape through voice, memory, and emotional resonance in this six-week class. We’ll study master works for craft, then put our own stories down on the page.

generative, craft

6 Sessions
Wednesdays, October 28 - December 9, 2026
5:00-7:30 pm PT Online Nonfiction

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How to Write Riveting Scenes

with Steve Almond

What does it take to keep readers on the edges of their seats? We’ll dissect some of the best scenes ever written and look at how master writers raise stakes, calibrate tension, and keep their readers thinking, “Just one more page…”

craft, close reading

1 Session
Thursday, October 29, 2026
5:00-8:00 pm PT Online Fiction

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SLIDING SCALE: The Perpetual Prose Generator: Ideas for Fiction and Nonfiction Writers

with Beth Slattery

Never stare at a blank page the same way again. Learn to find promising material in memory, observation, conversation, place, character, and curiosity while building a personalized idea bank you can return to whenever the well runs dry.

generative

1 Session
Saturday, October 31, 2026
10:00-1:00 pm PT Online Fiction

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Fiction I

with Anca Szilágyi

Every story starts with a few essential questions: Who is here? Where are they? What are they up against? Explore character, setting, and plot as you learn to build fiction from the inside out—and leave this beginner-friendly class with a solid short story draft of your own.

generative, craft, close reading

6 Sessions
Mondays, November 2 - December 7, 2026
10:00-12:00 pm PT Online Fiction Introductory

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Talking Points: Dialogue That Drives Story & Character

with Evan Ramzipoor

Great dialogue sounds natural, even as it’s doing more than you think. Learn to write conversations that reveal character, move the story forward, and feel alive on the page, then put those techniques to work in a dialogue-driven scene of your own.

craft, close reading

1 Session
Thursday, November 5, 2026
5:00-8:00 pm PT Online Fiction Advanced

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Go Ahead, Get Weird: Experimenting with Form and Structure

with Kate Carmody

What can your writing be? What lies beyond the familiar? Whether you’re a lifelong weirdo or itching to break the rules and surprise yourself, this class invites you to experiment with form, structure, and genre in pursuit of your most authentic writing.

 

generative, craft

6 Sessions
Mondays, November 9 - December 14, 2026
5:00-7:30 pm PT Online Fiction

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Prose Style: The Art of the Sentence

with Priscilla Long

Discover how sentences really work. Explore how syntax, style, and rhythm help you say what you mean while expanding your range as a writer through weekly practice and playful experimentation.

generative, craft, close reading

4 Sessions
Wednesdays, November 11 - December 9, 2026
5:00-7:00 pm PT In Person Fiction

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The Craft of Character Psychology

with Andrea Nelson

Approach character writing through the lens of human behavior. We’ll talk psychology, human complexity, and our own lived experiences and observations as we practice writing action that reveals motivation, emotion, relationships, and subtext.

generative, craft

2 Sessions
Saturdays, November 14-21, 2026
10:00-1:00 pm PT In Person Fiction

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SLIDING SCALE: Worth a Thousand Words: Writing Your Photo Album

with Sarah Campbell

Writing fills in everything the camera missed. Bring a collection of photographs—printed or digital—and write to surface their narrative shape, complete the stories beyond the frame, and weave words and images into a photobook that brings it all to life.

generative

1 Session
Saturday, December 5, 2026
10:00-12:00 pm PT Online Nonfiction

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Rebel Poetics: Breaking, Bending, and Inventing Form

with Anne Marie Wells

Forget everything you know about poetic form. In this fast and fun generative class, you’ll bend, glitch, and invent new forms—ones rooted in identity, resistance, and surprise. Arrive ready to write, and leave with tools no rulebook could’ve given you.

generative, craft, close reading

2 Sessions
Saturdays, December 5-12, 2026
10:00-12:00 pm PT Online Poetry Advanced

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Your Body is Made of Stories

with Arya Samuelson

The body remembers what the mind forgets. Learn how to tune into sensation to uncover stories that live beyond conscious memory and the analytical mind, then shape them into powerful, emotionally resonant writing.

generative, close reading

2 Sessions
Saturdays, December 5-12, 2026
10:00-1:00 pm PT Online Nonfiction

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What We Really Mean to Say: Using Poetic Techniques in Prose

with Joe Wilkins

Give your prose its music by borrowing from poetry. We’ll explore rhythm, tone, and sonic texture—and learn concrete techniques to make your sentences not only look good, but sound incredible on the page.

generative, craft, close reading

1 Session
Saturday, December 12, 2026
1:10-4:10 pm PT Online Fiction Advanced

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Fiction II

with Alma Garcia

Go beyond the fundamentals and explore the subtler craft choices that give fiction depth and resonance. Dig into structure, subtext, psychic distance, pacing, and implication while experimenting with new approaches and sharpening your creative instincts. Leave with a stronger sense of your storytelling voice.

craft, close reading, workshop

8 Sessions
Thursdays, January 14 - March 11, 2027
7:10-9:10 pm PT In Person Fiction Intermediate

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Poetry II

with Jeanine Walker

In this intermediate class, you’ll read, write, and workshop poems with a focus on image, metaphor, and musicality. You’ll practice giving, receiving, and integrating feedback in a workshop setting and develop a more intentional revision practice as you write and revise new work.

craft, close reading, workshop

8 Sessions
Wednesdays, January 20 - March 10, 2027
10:00-12:00 pm PT Online Poetry Intermediate

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