Paid subscribers can watch the full conversation above.

(Not a subscriber and want to try it out? Drop us a line at academy@narratively.com and we’ll give you a free week’s access so you can watch this and our entire archive of Open Book videos.)

Watch more Open Book episodes from Lee Gutkind and Narratively Academy:

• Jane Friedman on Finding Balance in the Writing Business

• Kim Cross on How to Write Great Dialogue in Nonfiction Stories

• Dinty W. Moore on What the Heck is a Flash Essay?

And if you’re new to Narratively Academy—or if you’re not!—a quick reminder that tomorrow is Writers’ Room, a virtual session we facilitate each Wednesday morning — at 8 a.m. on both the East and West coasts — in which writers of all genres gather to write together. We share what we plan to work on at the top, spend a majority of the time typing away and then check back in at the end to share how it all went. If you’re looking for accountability, inspiration or some semblance of a writing routine, this might be just the thing for you.

Click here to join for either session!

(If you are asked for a passcode, enter: 824784)

Want to receive text message alerts each week when we’re about to begin Writers’ Room, or add this weekly event to your calendar?

8 a.m. ET Writers’ Room: head here to (very easily) sign up for text alerts, and here to add the 8 a.m. ET Writers’ Room to your calendar.

8 a.m. PT Writers’ Room: head here to sign up for text alerts and here to add the 8 a.m. PT Writers’ Room to your cal.

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For our next Open Book live video conversation, Lee Gutkind will be chatting with Michael Rosenwald, a staff writer on the obituary desk at The New York Times. Lee will talk with Michael about the craft of obituary writing—how he decides what to include, what to leave out, and how this work shapes the way we think about narrative, memory, and meaning. This should be a fascinating conversation for anyone working on profiles or really any type of detail-rich nonfiction writing.

I hope you’ll join us on Monday, May 4 at 1pm ET.

This conversation will be held live on Zoom. (Passcode: 382657)

RSVP Here

Lee asked Michael to pick three particular obits that demonstrate great storytelling and we’ll be discussing these during the live session. Gift links below so you can check them all out.

• Amanda Feilding, Eccentric Countess Who Backed Psychedelic Meds, Dies at 82: She was ridiculed for drilling a hole in her skull to increase blood flow. But her foundation’s research into the therapeutic use of counterculture drugs proved visionary.

• Hessy Levinsons Taft, Jewish Baby on Cover of Nazi Magazine, Dies at 91 Without her parents’ knowledge, her portrait was entered as a prank in a contest in 1935 to represent the ideal Aryan infant — and she won.

• Jay J. Armes, Private Eye With a Superhero Story, Dies at 92: With steel hooks for hands and a flamboyant personality, Mr. Armes captured the attention, and scrutiny, of reporters across the nation.

  • PS: If you’re as obsessed with this last one as we are, don’t miss our own Narratively Deep Dive on Jay J. Armes: America’s Most Flamboyant Private Eye and the 8,000-Mile Manhunt.

See you Monday!

Before you head into the weekend, don’t forget to head over to the Narratively Academy chat to share your #WeeklyWin.

Street Photography Workshop

Whether you write memoir or reported stories, you know writers are increasingly relied on to take our own photos. But there’s a huge difference between a quick snap and a thoughtful, composed photo. That’s why we are so thrilled to offer our first-ever photography class. Award-winning photojournalist Ben Fractenberg has shot for The New York Times, Daily News and THE CITY, among other outlets. In this three-session hands-on workshop held in New York City, you’ll spend time out in the city shooting, then come back together to review, refine, and push your work further. Whether you’re brand new to street photography or looking to get more intentional about your practice, this class is about learning to see—and capture—the moments most people miss.

Learn More + Sign Up

From Journal to Memoir: How to Turn Your Side Scrawls Into Literary Gold

You’ve been writing your whole life—but how do you turn all those dog-eared notebooks into something you can publish? This class is for anyone with journals, Google Docs, or years of scattered material who’s ready to start shaping it into something bigger. Led by memoirist, essayist and poet Rebecca Evans, you’ll learn how to identify the throughline in your work, structure a compelling memoir, and begin turning fragments into a cohesive, book-length project.

Learn More + Sign Up

Nonfiction Book Development Bootcamp

If you’re ready to take on a full-length nonfiction book—memoir, narrative nonfiction, or something in between—but you’re not totally sure how it takes shape, this intensive two-day bootcamp will help you clarify your idea, define your structure, and start building a project with real momentum. Led by an acclaimed nonfiction author and instructor Melissa Petro, who has helped hundreds of writers develop their concepts—you’ll transform your idea into a structured, strategic vision you can confidently pitch, write and publish.

Learn More + Sign Up

Writing About Religious Trauma

In this intimate six-week workshop, author and scholar Sara Moslener will guide writers through the complex process of writing about religious trauma. You’ll explore the emerging language of religious trauma studies, read writers who have navigated this terrain, and begin shaping your own experiences into work that is both truthful and compassionate. The class includes group discussion, workshop opportunities, and instructor feedback. This is a space for serious reflection—and serious craft.

Learn More + Sign Up

Theater Camp for Memoir Writers

What can memoir writers learn from actors? A lot, it turns out.

This playful, deeply practical class helps you unlock voice, embodiment, dialogue, and scene by hearing part of your first-person story read out loud. It’s about getting out of your head and into the lived, physical reality of your story—so your writing feels as alive on the page as it does in memory. Also: it’s going to be a lot of fun.

This is the first time we’re offering this class and there are only 10 seats available so if you’d like to join, be sure to sign up ASAP.

Learn More + Sign Up

It’s no secret that Writers’ Room is one of our favorite times of the week — we gush about it during pretty much every session. But we’re not the only ones… At the start of a recent West Coast Writers’ Room, one attendee wrote that they just finished a draft of their book, and another that they turned in their thesis — both said they “couldn’t have done it without Writers’ Room.” So, if you’re working on a big project you need some motivation to finish up — or if you just feel like writing in community this week, won’t you come join us?

If you’ve never been and aren’t familiar, Writers’ Room is a virtual session we facilitate each Wednesday morning — at 8 a.m. on both the East and West coasts — in which writers of all genres gather to write together. We share what we plan to work on at the top, spend a majority of the time typing away and then check back in at the end to share how it all went. If you’re looking for accountability, inspiration or some semblance of a writing routine, this might be just the thing for you.

Click here to join for either session!

(If you are asked for a passcode, enter: 824784)

PLUS, for paying subscribers, on the last Wednesday of each month, we stay for an additional half hour following each session for what we call “Extra Help.” Come armed with questions about a piece you’re struggling with, or ones about craft, voice, how to deal with rejection, or whatever writing issues have been coming up for you, and we’ll (do our best to!) answer them. Specifically, executive editor Jesse Sposato will answer them from 9-9:30 ET, and editorial director Brendan Spiegel from 9-9:30 PT.

So, join us to write, and stay late for extra help like it’s the end of the school day. 😉 We hope to see you!

Want to receive text message alerts each week when we’re about to begin Writers’ Room, or add this weekly event to your calendar?

8 a.m. ET Writers’ Room: head here to (very easily) sign up for text alerts, and here to add the 8 a.m. ET Writers’ Room to your calendar.

8 a.m. PT Writers’ Room: head here to sign up for text alerts and here to add the 8 a.m. PT Writers’ Room to your cal.

P.S. Not interested in Writers’ Room and would rather not get emails about it? Go to your settings and unselect “Writers’ Room” in the notifications section.

Finding Your Writing Rhythm is a six-week course built around observation-based exercises designed to keep you in a writing frame of mind more often—so that when you do sit down to write, you can find and sustain your rhythm more easily.

Instructor Josh Krigman has taught in a wide variety of settings, with a focus on accessibility and building a generative, sustainable writing practice. In this intimate class, Josh will guide writers through a curriculum designed to make your relationship to writing both more productive and more enjoyable.

Class starts this Thursday, April 30 and is strictly limited to 10 writers—only 3 seats are left so if you want to get your writing rhythm going, sign up now.

Learn More + Sign Up

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P.S. Just a reminder that all of our live videos are free, and the recorded versions of them are available to all paying members. Learn how to become one below!

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Instead — and this is the heart of his six-week Socratic AI Intensive, beginning May 18 — Jay will help you train a chatbot like Claude to be your 24/7 personal sounding board, writing coach and thinking partner.

Learn More & Sign Up

Over the course of an hour on Wednesday, the questions from the crowd were sharp and Jay’s responses were insightful, thoughtful and surprising. Watch the full recording below.

If it resonates and you want to put these ideas into practice, Jay’s Socratic AI Intensive is designed to help you finish your writing project that matters most — with Jay guiding you every step of the way.

Early-bird pricing is available through Monday, with an additional 20 percent off for Narratively Academy members, as alwa…

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I used to lead an after-school writing club for middle school students. Even though they’d all signed up because they liked to write, there were still some days (I’m sure you know them well) when it was hard to get them motivated. One time, on a day when no one was up to it, I led them through a theatre exercise I’d learned in college. I told them I was thinking of a story (I wasn’t) and had them ask yes/no questions about it. Whatever they asked, I answered ‘no’ to the first two questions and ‘yes’ to the third.

“Is it about kids?” “Nope.”
“Is there magic?” “No.”
“Does it happen in New York” “Yes!”

Soon they were all talking over each other, guessing where the story was heading. The entire mood had shifted. Instead of completing an assignment, they were playing a game.

A few years later I found the same game in Keith Johnstone’s Impro, a great book of improvisational theatre exercises that work just as well for your writing (or any creative practice). He talks about the panic most people feel when they’re asked to invent something from scratch and how reframing the approach can offer a way to arrive at the same results more comfortably.

That reframe can be a way to avoid feeling responsible for your own imagination (as it does with guessing the contents of someone else’s story) or it can be a way to add guidelines that make the blank page feel less intimidating and more like a game you’ve been invited to play. One of my favorite prompts, also from Impro, is one of those games.

“If I say ‘Make up a story’, then most people are paralysed. If I say ‘describe a routine and then interrupt it’, people see no problem.”

Describe a routine and then interrupt it. So simple! But also, I think, a prompt that leads to stranger and perhaps more interesting and organic stories than if you plotted one out the way we’re all taught to think we’re supposed to.

Routine: Dan always drives to work. Interruption: One morning he finds his car up on blocks and a flyer for an evangelical church wedged beneath his wiper.

Routine: Ellen is an artist who has only ever dated other artists. Interruption: Despite herself, Ellen realizes she’s falling in love with her downstairs neighbor, the tax attorney.

Routine: The horses at Big Hank’s Dude Ranch have always been friendly to visitors. Interruption: One Sunday morning, the horses decide they’ve had enough.

You can use this idea of interrupting a routine for a new scene, for a structure to a new story, or as a way to revise an existing project that’s gone stale. What are the routines you’ve already established? An action, a relationship dynamic, a way of life. A routine can be anything. So can the interruption.

This idea applies to more than just narrative and performance. Kent Rogowski has a lovely and disorienting series where he combines different puzzle sets that have pieces with the same shape, turning two otherwise commonplace images — a horse, a bouquet of flowers — into something entirely new. The routine of looking at a horse is interrupted and we’re invited to experience it with fresh eyes.

Beyond these routines in our work, there are also the routines in how we make our work. Maybe you only try to write at a certain time of day, or in certain conditions. Or maybe you think writing is supposed to be hard, or serious, or labored over for hours at a time in silent isolation.

By noticing these routines, we give ourselves the opportunity to interrupt them, to shift our experience from completing an assignment to playing a game, and, in the process, make it all a little more fun.

Once you identify which routines work for you, you can use them to find your writing rhythm and build a sustainable, enjoyable practice.

Want to learn more? Josh’s upcoming “Finding Your Writing Rhythm” class is all about building a writing practice that actually sticks. Through structure, prompts, and accountability, you’ll develop a rhythm that works for your life—and keeps you moving forward, even when motivation dips. This is a great entry point if you’ve been trying (and not quite succeeding) to build a sustainable writing habit on your own.

Learn More + Sign Up

Of course, there are exceptions and ways to make a go of it that work. Fortunately, freelance writer extraordinaire — whose work has appeared on/in The New York Times’ T Brand Studio, NPR, Travel + Leisure, Lonely Planet, Parents, Gloria and so much more — has agreed to let us pick her brain about how she’s managed to create a successful freelance writing career. We’ll ask her about how she…gets coveted, interesting assignments; became a regular travel writer; finds and tracks all her assignments; the pros and cons of starting an S Corp, and so much more.

In short, Amelia has a successful freelance career in a day and age when that can be a difficult achievement. We want to know how she does it. Come join us this Thursday at 2 p.m. ET via Substack Live to find out.

RSVP + Add to Your Cal

Our live sessions are free to all — to receive a recording, and view our entire archive of live videos, become a paid subscriber today. And to make sure you never miss an Open Book, add this entire series to your calendar.

A reminder, too, that we’ve got Writers’ Room this Wednesday morning!

If you’re new to it, at the midpoint of each week, members of our community meet up to share a virtual space and write together. Writers’ Room is held at both at 8 a.m. ET and again at 8 a.m. PT every Wednesday. You can choose to join whichever time works better for you — or even for both.

Click on this Zoom link to join!

Click this Zoom link to join us for either session on Wednesday.

(If you are asked for a passcode, enter: 824784)

We hope to see you at one or both of these happenings this week!

One more thing before you go. If you are also a subscriber to our sister site, , you may have seen the live video we posted over the weekend, but ICYMI… We hosted our first-ever virtual “live” party last week to celebrate the winning essay of the 2025 Narratively Memoir Prize contest, and the writer behind it. We shared the recording here. If you were unable to attend, click through to hear , the winner, read an excerpt from his riveting essay and answer questions about it. Enjoy! (Again, just a reminder that to check out our recordings, you do need to be a subscriber. If you only have a Narratively Academy subscription but would like to view this vid, feel free to reach out to us to get a free link to watch this video, our treat.)

Narratively

Watch: Our 2025 Memoir Prize Party!

Last year, when a friend of the site casually mentioned they were surprised we didn’t do anything more celebratory to commemorate our memoir prizes — which, let’s face it, are a big deal! — we got the message loud and clear. So, we decided to host a party the Narratively way: with an author reading, a Q&A and a surprise flash essay contest at the end, of course. And what a success…

Listen now

16 days ago · 13 likes · Jesse Sposato and Andrew Printer

Every Friday, we celebrate writing wins large and small — whatever you did that moved your work forward this week. They can be tiny wins, like a new sentence or a paragraph or a rough draft you love, or big ones, like ’s $50,000 book grant she recently shared as a #WeeklyWin!

Share Your Win on the Chat

Yvonne, by the way, is one of the writers who has taken ’s class, The Insider’s Guide to Writing Personal Statements and Applying for Grants & Residencies, and we have a new session of that one starting this weekend. If you’ve applied for writing grants and residencies in the past but haven’t heard back, this class is for you. It has room for just 8 students, so everyone gets the time to workshop their personal statement and materials with Abeer, who has won fellowships, grants and reside…

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Help us celebrate this win — and chat with us about the art of personal essay writing — by joining us for a virtual live party this Thursday, April 16, at 7 p.m. ET.

Andrew will read an excerpt from his essay aloud, there will be a Q&A with the Narratively team and an opportunity to be published on Narratively via a very special flash contest for participants.

RSVP here

The party will be hosted on Zoom, and you can join on Thursday here (passcode: 001294). We hope to see you there!

And be sure to give Andrew’s very fun story a read when you can!

Narratively

My Absolutely Chaotic Adventures at Sea During the Summer of 1984

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24 days ago · 49 likes · 6 comments · Andrew Printer

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“I want to know more about your writing process. How did you go about compiling, discerning what to include, and how to structure your book?” the moderator, Austenne Grey, asked me and Mark Stieler, my fellow panelist at the Southern Festival of Books.

I was there to talk about my new co-authored book, Go Back and Fetch It, while Mark was speaking about his newest Johnny Cash book, The Complete Johnny Cash: Lyrics from a Lifetime of Songwriting. We had both already shared stories about why we wrote these books and how our previous books had left us with unanswered questions—questions we hoped these books could answer.

When Austenne asked us about process, I immediately thought about structure—because I think about structure a lot.

“I often remember something that one of my mentors told me,” I said. “Chronology is your friend.” In nonfiction, we are dealing with the truth, with real events, and it is often simply easiest to move from the earliest thing that happened to the most recent. Both Mark and I had structured the books we were discussing this way.

What I didn’t say was that sometimes chronology is your friend—but you need something else, too. In writing, people often talk about the narrative arc—developing the story, the rising tension, the climax, the release. As classic as it is, I love Jane Alison’s take on this structure: “But something that swells and tautens until climax, then collapses? Bit masculo-sexual, no?”

Even though Alison’s book Meander, Spiral, Explode analyzes structure in fiction, her ideas about different structures work for nonfiction, too. This basic arc isn’t how our lives work. They’re filled with ups and downs, times that seem to plateau, and maybe even a spiral or two—and they don’t end when the book ends. It would be surprising if we could make every nonfiction book follow an arc.

I believe that nonfiction books strive to answer a question (or questions), and we have to figure out how to formulate that answer.

In the opening to Beth Macy’s new book, Paper Girl: A Memoir of Home and Family in a Fractured America, she writes: “Something was happening to our beloved hometown that didn’t quite fit the pat explanations offered by economists and sociologists… How does a community lose contact with its faith in schools? And what happens when it does? … What happens when the middle class vanishes…?”

Her book is chronological in a way; she spends a year back in her hometown from 2023 to 2024, trying to understand the community there. But to answer her questions, she braids together three strands: her childhood and the opportunity education gave her; her current relationship with her siblings and the people she grew up with; and the story of a recent high school graduate, Silas, whom she considers to be the 2025 version of herself. Tensions come and go, but the story isn’t built to move to a single point and then resolve (everyone’s lives will go on after the end of the book, after all).

Instead, the weaving creates the meaning. We see how Silas is both different from and similar to Macy, and how her conversations with her siblings and friends—and her research—explain why and how things have changed since she left her hometown in the 1980s. Through this braiding, we understand what happens when a community loses faith in schools and the impact of that on the middle class in America.

Memoirs that deal with internal questions and personal discovery might be better suited to a spiral, where we travel farther inward until an answer is revealed. If we are writing an essay with many facets, perhaps we meander toward the answer(s). Maybe tension and relief happen again and again as we struggle with the same problem in wavelets. Or perhaps we build ideas like blocks over the course of a piece so that the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts.

And that’s the thing—there are so many ways to structure a piece that are not a narrative arc, and often they serve our story better.

Want to go deeper?

In Kristina’s Advanced Craft Workshop: Finding Your Structure, you’ll explore a range of alternative story frameworks—from braiding and spirals to modular and collage-style forms—and apply them directly to your own work. Whether you’re stuck in a draft or starting something new, this class will help you unlock the structure your story actually needs.

Learn More + Sign Up

Welcome to finishing school.

I’ve spent years developing my Socratic AI method, turning Claude and ChatGPT into tailor-made thought partners for writers around the world. In my upcoming Socratic AI Intensive, you get six weeks to put this approach to work on your own project with the support you need to get it done: me coaching you in real time, a cohort of serious fellow writers keeping you accountable, and a complete system built around one goal: finally finishing your writing project.

Most writers leave a workshop fired up… and then life happens again. You hear a lot of helpful ideas you’re excited to implement, but you never carve out the time to actually apply what you’ve learned. Over time, the inspiration fades. The project goes back in the drawer.

The Socratic AI Intensive is designed to close that gap — and six weeks from now you’ll have something real to show for it.

Reserve Your Spot Now

How It Works

This is six weeks of learning, writing, community, and getting sh*t done. You bring your writing project. You work on it every day on your own and once a week in live, two-hour sessions with Jay (also available asynchronously) and a cohort of serious writers.

You set your own ambitious but realistic goal on day one: write your book proposal, draft the first three chapters of your memoir or novel, finish a screenplay, polish an essay for submission — and that’s what we build toward, together.

What You’ll Learn

Your Complete Project Blueprint: In week one, you and Jay map out your entire project together, breaking it into weekly milestones and daily writing assignments, so you never sit down wondering what to work on next.

Daily Writing Assignments + Accountability: Every day you get a specific, achievable task (”today: write the opening three paragraphs of section 2, rough draft, doesn’t have to be perfect”). You show up and do it.

Socratic Interviewing: Go far beyond basic prompting. You’ll master multi-step interview sequences that pull out your best ideas, memories, and stories, so when you sit down to write, you know exactly what you want to say.

Iterative Revision, Draft After Draft: Learn Jay’s full editorial feedback system — how to get specific, useful critique from AI at every stage, how to evaluate that feedback, what to take and what to ignore, and how to move from rough draft to something you’re genuinely proud of.

Unblocking in Real Time: When you get stuck, you’ll have Jay and the cohort there to help you work through it live, plus AI workflows to diagnose what’s blocking you and figure out where to go next.

The Full Toolkit: Master the advanced prompting sequences, custom workflows, and practical setups that let AI read and access your actual project documents, in real time, as a seamless part of your writing process.

Enroll Now

What You’ll Walk Away With

• A significant milestone on your writing project — a finished draft, a complete proposal, the first three chapters, whatever ambitious goal you set at the start

• The complete Socratic AI system, not just the highlights — so you can use it to plan, execute, and finish any creative project for the rest of your career

• The confidence that comes from knowing your work is authentically yours, just better and faster than you could have done alone

• You’ll shift from being someone who’s “working on a writing project” to being a writer who actually finishes things

Key Details

Format: 5 live sessions, 7-9pm ET each (also available asynchronously) + private community + small group feedback
Cost: $795 (As always, paid Narratively Academy members also get 20% off. Subscribe here and then scroll beneath the paywall at the bottom of this page for your discount code)
When: Monday, May 18, through June 22 (class will not meet on Memorial Day, May 25, but we will host optional office hours that day via Slack).

Enroll Now

About Jay Dixit

Jay is the founder of Socratic AI, a former writing professor at Yale, and OpenAI’s first Head of the Community for Writers. He’s written for The New York Times, Rolling Stone, and Psychology Today. His approach to AI and creativity has been adopted by educators at Harvard, Wharton, and universities nationwide. At PopTech, his sold-out AI session, “Tools for Thinking,” was called “by far the best presentation I’ve seen on how to actually use this stuff.”

What Writers Are Saying

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Frequently Asked Questions

What if I miss a live session? Life happens—that’s exactly why this course is designed with built-in flexibility. Every live session is recorded and uploaded to our private community hub within 24 hours. You can watch the replay, complete the exercises on your own time, and still get your questions answered and share your progress in the community forum.

Do I need to be a tech expert to take this course? Not at all. If you know how to type into a chat box, you have all the technical skills you need. We will cover exactly how to set up your workflows, step-by-step. The focus is entirely on the thinking and the writing, not on coding or complex software.

Which AI tool will we use? Ideally Claude. Claude is currently the strongest model and it’s what the course is built around. You can also grant Claude access to your filesystem, which makes it easy to work directly with your project files as you write and revise. ChatGPT or Gemini will also work. You’ll need a paid tier — $20/month for Claude, and a bit less if you pay annually — which gives you the horsepower you’ll need for the kind of deep, iterative work we do in the course.

Will using AI make my writing sound generic or robotic? Absolutely not. We are not using AI to generate text or ghostwrite for you. We’re using it as a sounding board and thinking partner to draw out your ideas and give you feedback on the words you write. Your writing will be 100% authentically yours since you’ll have written every word yourself.

How much time do I need to commit each week? Ideally, about an hour a day for your writing assignments, plus the two-hour live session each week — so roughly seven hours total. Some days you’ll finish in 40 minutes; others, especially during revision or deep Socratic interview sessions, you might go longer. If you can’t hit an hour every day, that’s OK — you’ll still make progress, you just might not get as far by week six. The daily assignments are designed to be specific and contained enough to fit into a real life with a job and other commitments. You sit down, you know exactly what the task is, and you do it.

What stage does my project need to be at? Any stage. Whether you have nothing but a vague idea and a blank page, a messy outline, or a rough draft that you’ve been stuck on for six months, this system works. On day one, we will assess exactly where you are and map out a realistic, achievable finish line for week six.

What kinds of writing projects work best for this intensive? Almost anything that requires deep thought and sustained effort. Book proposals, essay collections, newsletters, novel chapters, screenplays, and long-form journalism. If it’s a writing project that you want to finally finish, this framework will get you there.

Stop putting your best ideas back in the drawer.

You already have the talent, the ideas, and the stories. What you need is the system, the accountability, and the deadline to finally get it out of your head and onto the page. Let’s build your system, do the work, and get you to the finish line.

Your project has waited long enough.

Enroll Now

Registration Details: Seats in this class are available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Prior to the start of your class you’ll receive an invitation to access the virtual classroom and view all class materials.

Cancellation Policy:

• Full refund when canceling 7 or more days before the class start date.

• 50% refund when canceling less than 7 days before the class start date.

• No cancellations after the class start date.

Scholarships: A limited number of sliding-scale, income-based scholarships are made available when possible. Apply for a scholarship here.

Questions? Email us at academy@narratively.com.

Enroll Now

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Cost: $495

Class size limit: 10

Writing is the craft that can free us from the hauntings, but it often means turning around and staring the ghouls in the face.

Sara Moslener is the author of two books on evangelical purity culture and has been teaching university courses for over fifteen years that focus on the religious roots of racism, misogyny, and authoritarianism. In this intimate six-week workshop class, Sara will guide writers through telling personal experiences and trauma related to religion, and you’ll start to share your own story with an instructor and peers who appreciate the unique nature of religious trauma and can help you represent it with accuracy and compassion.

The work of writing is hard enough and the complications of religious trauma can sink us into despair or they can be composted into creative fuel. This workshop will offer raw materials for cultivating the latter. We will spend time reading and discussing theories of religious trauma (a new field in both trauma and religious studies) in order to learn and use its language. We will read creative writers who have navigated this terrain in their fiction, creative non-fiction, and poetry. Each participant will also have the opportunity to workshop a piece of their own writing during one of the class sessions.

This is the right class for you if…

• You are navigating religious trauma and are seeking strategies for using those experiences as a creative resource.

• You are seeking a creative community where the study of religion and the harm it can cause is taken seriously.

After this class you’ll have…

• Resources for understanding the nature of religious trauma.

• A vocabulary that offers genuine compassion and insight into religious-based harm.

• A project that has been workshopped in a community dedicated to building resilience for the creative writer.

This class takes place on Thursdays from 7-9, starting on June 11, 2026 and ending on July 23, 2026 (taking a break on July 2). All Narratively Academy classes are conducted online and accessible to students anywhere in the world. Sessions of this class will be recorded and shared with all enrolled students in case there are any you have to miss, but live attendance at a majority of sessions is required.

Students will be asked to purchase one text ($23)—all other course materials are freely available.

Sign Up

Instructor Bio: Sara Moslener, PhD. holds degrees in theological and religious studies. She has been teaching university courses for over fifteen years that focus on the religious roots of racism, misogyny, and authoritarianism. She is the author of two books on evangelical purity culture, including Virgin Nation: Sexual Purity and American Adolescence (Oxford University Press, 2015) and After Purity: Race, Sex, and Religion in White Christian America (Beacon Press, 2025) which was supported by the Luce Project on Religion and Sexual Abuse. She and her work have been featured in The Guardian, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Cosmopolitan Magazine, Sojourners Magazine, Jezebel, Religion Dispatches, Religion & Politics, Religion News Service, and The Baffler. She has appeared on numerous podcasts and in 2023 released her own series Pure White: Sexual Purity and White Supremacy with Axis Mundi Media.

Sign Up

Registration Details: Seats in this class are limited and available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Prior to the start of your class you’ll receive an invitation to access the virtual classroom and view all class materials.

Cancellation Policy:

• Full refund when canceling 7 or more days before the class start date.

• 50% refund when canceling less than 7 days before the class start date.

• No cancellations after the class start date.

Scholarships: A limited number of sliding-scale, income-based scholarships are made available when possible. Apply for a scholarship here.

Questions? Email us at academy@narratively.com.

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Cost: $95

Class Size Limit: 10

If you’re a memoir writer and you still know the words to every song from your theater camp — or if you’ve always wished you got to go to theater camp — this one’s is for you.

Writer and theater professional Chris Tebbetts is the co-author of the #1 New York Times bestselling “Middle School” series, and the founder of the Theater Camp for Writers creative retreat. In this craft-focused, developmental writing workshop with a theater overlay, an intimate group of 10 writers will get a taste of the TCFW experience and explore what acting, directing, and improv have to teach us as writers.

However close to home your own story might be, it is still likely populated with characters you are working to bring alive on the page, scenes meant to have impact, and emotional arcs that keep your reader interested and turning pages. During the workshop, we will bring writers’ material to life with readers (fellow writers in the workshop) playing the parts of one another’s characters and narrators, as a way of generating direct feedback for the author — and ultimately, sending participants home with a new lens on the writing process, and a collection of new tools they can use moving forward.

What’s that, you say…you’re too shy for this? No worries! This workshop is introvert- and extrovert-friendly. While we will be reading aloud together in this workshop, no theater or performance skills are required!

This is the right class for you if…

• You’re currently working on a memoir and want feedback from peers.

• You are curious about finding a new way of looking at your own work.

• You’re interested in the cross-germination between writing and other art forms.

This 2-hour online class takes place on Saturday, June 27 from 12pm to 2pm ET. All Narratively Academy classes are conducted online and accessible to students anywhere in the world. This class will be recorded and shared with all enrolled students, but live attendance and participation is required.

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Instructor Bio: Chris Tebbetts is the co-author of the #1 New York Times bestselling Middle School series, as well as the forthcoming middle grade adventure, Dr. Zeus, with James Patterson. He also co-authored the bestselling Stranded series with Jeff Probst from TV’s “Survivor.” Other projects include two YA novels: Me, Myself, and Him and M or F? (with Lisa Papademetriou); the bestselling adult thriller 1st Case; and the audio drama 10 Rules for the Perfect Murder, also with James Patterson. Chris came to publishing by way of theater, which was his primary creative outlet from age ten to thirty, including a decade as an NYC-based stage manager, director, choreographer, and producer—everything but acting. (Trust him, he is a terrible actor.)

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Registration Details: Seats in this class are limited and available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Prior to the start of your class you’ll receive an invitation to access the virtual classroom and view all class materials.

Cancellation Policy:

• Full refund when canceling 7 or more days before the class start date.

• 50% refund when canceling less than 7 days before the class start date.

• No cancellations after the class start date.

Scholarships: A limited number of sliding-scale, income-based scholarships are made available when possible. Apply for a scholarship here.

Questions? Email us at academy@narratively.com.

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Sign Up

Cost: $225

Class Size Limit: 15

If you have an idea for a nonfiction book but you’re not quite sure how it takes shape—or you’ve started writing but you want to make sure your concept is strong and marketable—this class is for you.

In this 2-day, hands-on intensive—led by an acclaimed nonfiction author and instructor Melissa Petro, who has helped hundreds of writers develop their concepts—you’ll transform your idea into a structured, strategic vision you can confidently pitch, write and publish.

Designed for writers of memoir, hybrid memoir, narrative nonfiction, and concept-driven nonfiction, this six-hour workshop focuses on the essential building blocks of a successful book:

• sharp premise

• defined audience

• strong market position

• cohesive chapter outline

Through guided exercises and expert feedback, you’ll refine your nonfiction book idea into a clear, compelling, creatively meaningful and market-ready project.

During this intensive, you will:

• Clarify your book’s core vision, including premise, thesis, and promise

• Define your primary and secondary audience and understand your book’s place in the market

• Identify 3–5 strong comparable titles to position your project effectively

• Better understand how to develop a detailed, logically structured chapter outline

• Practice pitching your book with real-time, expert feedback

This is the right class ideal for…

• Writers with a nonfiction book idea at any stage—whether you’re just beginning or feeling stuck—who are ready to move forward with clarity, structure, and a strategic plan.

After this class, you’ll be able to…

• Articulate your book idea clearly in a single compelling sentence

• Confidently describe your audience and the value your book delivers

• Position your project within traditional, hybrid, or self-publishing pathways

• Build and refine a chapter-by-chapter roadmap for your manuscript

• Pitch your book with clarity, confidence, and industry awareness

This is a 2-session intensive held on June 10 and 17, 2026 from 6pm to 9pm ET. All Narratively Academy classes are conducted online and are accessible to students anywhere in the world. The session will be recorded and shared with all enrolled students, though live participation is strongly encouraged.

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Instructor Bio: Melissa Petro is a freelance writer and author of Shame on You: How to Be a Woman in the Age of Mortification, published by Putnam Books, a division of Penguin Random House. As a book coach and workshop facilitator, she’s helped hundreds of people push through fear, write, share, and even publish their most vulnerable stories in national publications such as The New York Times, The Guardian, The Nation, Salon, The Washington Post, and elsewhere, and has helped still more individuals re-envision their lives by making meaning of their past and transcending traumatic experiences. She was affiliate faculty at Goddard College and holds an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from the New School.

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Registration Details: Seats in this class are limited and available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Prior to the start of your class you’ll receive an invitation to access the virtual classroom and view all class materials.

Cancellation Policy:

• Full refund when canceling 7 or more days before the class start date.

• 50% refund when canceling less than 7 days before the class start date.

• No cancellations after the class start date.

Scholarships: A limited number of sliding-scale, income-based scholarships are made available when possible. Apply for a scholarship here.

Questions? Email us at academy@narratively.com.

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Sign Up

Cost: $235

Class Size Limit: 10

Smartphones have us all taking more photos than ever before—but there’s still a huge difference between a quick snap and a thoughtful, composed photo—especially if you’re shooting while on the move. Award-winning photojournalist Ben Fractenberg has shot for The New York Times, Daily News and THE CITY, among other outlets, and his street photography was recently featured in a solo show at Gallery 198 in New York.

In this three-part workshop (Narratively Academy’s first-ever in-person class!) Ben will guide you through the intricacies of shooting compelling street photography. If you’re a writer who wants to start taking photos for your own pieces—or you’re just interested in learning about the art of street photography—this class is for you.

Classes will take place at CUNY Journalism School, 219 West 40th Street in Manhattan.

We’ll study some of the great street photographers and discuss how they created their images, and we’ll navigate issues like: How and when do you approach strangers about taking their photo? What’s the best way to compose an image using available light? How do you find and capture moments that document the spirit of our time?

Then we’ll hit the streets, making our own photos to share and critique with the group.

This is the right class for you if…

• You’re a writer or reporter who wants to start capturing images to include with your stories.

• You want to learn how to create professional-looking images with a smartphone.

• You enjoy meeting like-minded artists and want to see the city in a new way.

After class you’ll have

• The confidence to take compelling street photos

• A new awareness of your environment

• An increased appreciation for well-composed photographs

This 3-week class takes place on Mondays from 6pm to 7pm ET, starting on June 1 and ending on June 15. All class sessions take place at CUNY Journalism School, 219 West 40th Street in Manhattan.

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Instructor Bio: Ben Fractenberg is a national award-winning photojournalist and editor living in Brooklyn. His street photography was recently featured in a solo show at Gallery 198. His photojournalism has been published in the New York Times, Curbed, Eater, New York Daily News and THE CITY, among other outlets.

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Registration Details: Seats in this class are limited and available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Prior to the start of your class you’ll receive an invitation to access the virtual classroom and view all class materials.

Cancellation Policy:

• Full refund when canceling 7 or more days before the class start date.

• 50% refund when canceling less than 7 days before the class start date.

• No cancellations after the class start date.

Scholarships: A limited number of sliding-scale, income-based scholarships are made available when possible. Apply for a scholarship here.

Questions? Email us at academy@narratively.com.

Read more

Each 2-day class has room for just 8 students, so everyone gets the time to workshop their personal statement and materials with Abeer, who has won fellowships, grants and residencies from NEA, the Fulbright Foundation, and many others.

The first four editions of this class all sold out, so we’ve added another on April 19 and 26.

If you’ve been putting together application materials for a grant, fellowship or residency — or if you’ve applied in the past and never heard back — this class is for you. There are just a few spots remaining, so if you’re interested, sign up now.

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I’ll admit, sometimes — despite my best efforts and intentions and all the systems I try to put into place — it can be hard to find time to write. My saving grace? Writers’ Room on Wednesday mornings, the one hour of the week I know I will spend writing no matter what. (No matter what!)

Writers’ Room, in case you’re new to the site, is a virtual weekly space dedicated to, well, writing. We check in at the beginning to disclose what we’re planning to get into and again at the end to share how it all went — and we spend the majority of the time working on our own stuff, from fiction to essays to hybrid memoirs.

Whatever your preferred genre, perhaps you also find it difficult to carve out writing time for yourself? If you’re nodding your head yes while reading, come join me tomorrow morning! Again, we host two Writers’ Rooms on Wednesday mornings — at 8 a.m. ET and PT — and tomorrow, I will be hosting both. So, set your alarm, sharpen your pencils and get ready to be held accountable and write.

Click on this Zoom link to join!

Click this Zoom link to join us for either session tomorrow.

(If you are asked for a passcode, enter: 824784)

We hope to see you!

Want to receive text message alerts each week when we’re about to begin Writers’ Room, or add this weekly event to your calendar?

8 a.m. ET Writers’ Room: head here to (very easily) sign up for text alerts, and here to add the 8 a.m. ET Writers’ Room to your calendar.

8 a.m. PT Writers’ Room: head here to sign up for text alerts and here to add the 8 a.m. PT Writers’ Room to your cal.

Not interested in Writers’ Room and would rather not get emails about it? Go to your settings and unselect “Writers’ Room” in the notifications section.