Here's What's Happening

for Story Makers

Craft FunĀ Spring 2024

2-for-1Ā Story SessionĀ 

The 10-weekĀ Spring 2024 Session starts March 27, but if you sign up now, you getĀ March 20 for free!

Craft FUN is a writing adventure. We take on different craft topicsā€“aspects of dialog, character, story development, setting, scene, and moreā€“and explore how they workā€“how they dazzle, convince, impact usā€“in published examples. With these as models, we turn to our own materialā€“our own stories, invented or remembered, and write. In an atmosphere of warm, sometimes riotous creativity and joy, we get words on the page, share them with curiosity, and without apology, and produce some of our best work ever.

Itā€™s a party; itā€™s a writing par course; itā€™s a journey, an adventure ā€¦ Come play!

Class meets every single Wednesday 5 ā€“ 6 pm PT/ 8 ā€“ 9 pm ET, plus youā€™ll have access to recordings, the lively chat, a craft archive of classes, handouts, and bonuses.Ā 

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Craft Fun One Payment

Sign Up here to register for SPRINGĀ 2024Ā Craft Fun for one payment of $375! You'll be able to add one guest for free for the WHOLE term!

Sign Me Up!

Berkeley Block Schedule

Tuesday 5:30 - 8 PM In person, Berkeley, CA

SOLD OUT

Wednesday Morning

9 ā€“ 10:30 AM PT OnlineĀ 

SOLD OUT

Wednesday Noon

12 ā€“ 1:30 PM PT Online

SOLD OUT

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Thursday Ā  Day

12:30 ā€“ 2 PM PT Ā Online

SOLD OUTĀ 

Here's What People Have to Say About Our Classes

Nina Schulyer, author ofĀ AFTERWORD

What a treat! You get to do the work in the company of fine writers and under the inspiring, insightful and generous tutelage of Elizabeth. After class, Iā€™ve stretched and risked and feel, surprisingly, replenished.

Christine Oā€™Brien,Ā Author of Crave

"Zero in on brush strokes, in the way an art student might examine, and therefore learn from, an impressionistic painting: what blending of light and dark was done for this slipper? for this bit of shoreline? Each week we study and imitate a published paragraph, classic author or contemporary, short story anthology or novel, and take a look at what is being done. How two characters in the midst of an argument might react to a third person entering the room, how memory might inform a decision, the point of resolution, what elements come into play when a character finds illumination. We write for a few minutes, then read our own paragraphs aloud to Elizabethā€™s razor sharp (and very supportive) feedback. Even if I donā€™t write all week, I am ā€˜forcedā€™ to write Monday and find that regardless of what kind of project I am currently working on, the words I get on paper in class contribute. Some of us are writing short stories, others novels, others nothing in particular. There are no rules, just illumination and exploration!ā€

Janet Thornburg, author ofĀ Rhubarb Pie

Iā€™ve been surprised and delighted by the amount of new writing I generate in every session of the craft class. Ā The model passages are evocative, the writing of fellow workshop participants is stimulating, and Elizabeth gives amazing feedback on the spot. Ā Her insight into the work is fabulous, and her suggestions about how to take the new discoveries further are vastly helpful.

Jacqueline Luckett, author ofĀ Searching for Tina TurnerĀ andĀ Passing Love

"Using excerpts from short stories and novels to guide our writing, each Writing Craft Class educates and reinforces a different aspect of craft. Ā Iā€™m not sure if itā€™s the excerpts, the timed freewrites, or the immediate and concentrated focusā€”Iā€™ve come away from each class with ideas and scenes that I want to expand. The excerpts are guides, rather than roadmaps, for each writer to follow (or not). Ā I feel the freedom to practice, to experiment, to play with characters, emotions, descriptions and scenes without the burden of judgment or a self-imposed editor/critic. I wish that I could be this inspired all the time."