11 Best Creative Writing Classes in Philadelphia

You have your Hero's Journey, but what about everyone else? Take your story to the next level by learning how to enhance theme, increase characterization, and flesh out the journey with subplots. We will look at general plotting and subplotting techniques, analyze structure of popular subplots, and weave these subplots into your current hero's journey. Don't forget the Post-it notes!

Prerequisites: No prerequisites

Location: Philadelphia

Categories: Fiction

Level: Intermediate

Course length: 6 sessions (2 hours)

Class size: Limited

Price: $450.00

Start date: June, 2023

Website: https://www.rosemont.edu/academics/graduate/creative-writ...

Self-publishing has become more prevalent than traditional publishing. This course will guide you in a step-by-step fashion how to take a manuscript and turn it into a book. We will cover all the bases from editing to formatting to self-marketing. Open to Beginner and Intermediate Levels

Prerequisites: No prerequisites

Location: Philadelphia

Categories: Publishing

Level: Beginner

Course length: 6 sessions (2 hours)

Class size: Limited

Price: $450.00

Start date: June, 2023

Website: https://www.rosemont.edu/academics/graduate/creative-writ...

Do think your manuscript is ready for the next step? In this course, the instructor will walk you through the process of querying agents. We will read first pages, research agencies, and write query letters. In addition, the instructor will share what happens after the book deal.

Prerequisites: No prerequisites

Location: Philadelphia

Categories: Fiction

Level: Intermediate

Course length: 6 sessions (2 hours)

Class size: Limited

Price: $450.00

Start date: June, 2023

Website: https://www.rosemont.edu/academics/graduate/creative-writ...

Anyone participating in Greater Philadelphia Wordshop Studio wordshops has a desire to write, and the wordshops will respect and honor that desire. Writing can be a much more fun and satisfying activity than we often make it, but as it is always an act that makes one vulnerable, the wordshops will deal carefully and thoughtfully with fears and blocks to the creative process.

Prerequisites: No prerequisites

Location: Philadelphia

Categories: Book, Fiction, Essay, Poetry, Nonfiction, Short Story, Book

Level: Any

Course length: 10 sessions (3 hours)

Class size: 12

Price: $440.00

Start date: Open all year round

Website: https://www.philawordshop.com/wordshop.html

In this class, we will explore how to write a good sex scene. We will read and discuss excerpts from short stories, novels, and nonfiction, so this class will be of use to those writing in any genre. This class will be playful, joyful, and experimental; we'll strive to stay away from shame, and to overcome embarrassment.

Prerequisites: No prerequisites

Location: Philadelphia

Categories: Fiction, Book

Level: Any

Course length: 4 sessions (2 hours)

Class size: Unlimited

Price: $250.00

Start date: Open all year round

Website: https://www.bluestoop.org/classes/eloise-lindblom-writing...

This seminar will draw primarily from the work of environmental and eco-justice poets. This class will beg the question: how has the natural poem evolved over time and during societal and ecological crisis? Students will generate poetry that reveals the complexity of our relationship with the natural world.

Prerequisites: No prerequisites

Location: Philadelphia

Categories: Poetry

Level: Any

Course length: 4 sessions (2 hours)

Class size: Unlimited

Price: $250.00

Start date: July, 2023

Website: https://www.bluestoop.org/classes/ashia-ajani-writing-nat...

This series of classes delve into the practices of bookmaking and collaging as a ritual. Throughout the exploration of these practices, students will learn how to build their own journals. The theme of this series is cultivating your own utopia. We will experiment with visuals that curate our ideologies around joy, glory, Black paradise, and more.

Prerequisites: No prerequisites

Location: Philadelphia

Categories: Essay, Nonfiction

Level: Any

Course length: 4 sessions (2 hours)

Class size: Unlimited

Price: $250.00

Start date: January, 2023

Website: https://www.bluestoop.org/classes/doriana-diaz-bookmaking...

The publishing process can often feel like a mystery. But there is a list of steps writers can take to draft, polish, submit, and get their manuscript published. This course will outline these steps, while also talking about what happens after the book is published.

Prerequisites: No prerequisites

Location: Philadelphia

Categories: Book, Fiction, Adult, Publishing

Level: Any

Course length: 4 sessions (2 hours)

Class size: Unlimited

Price: $200.00

Start date: Open all year round

Website: https://anovelideaphilly.com/classes/

What do you want to say about money in your poetry? What's holding you back? In this three-hour workshop, we'll discuss the strange and sometimes laughable relationship between poetry and profit, the potential hang-ups around writing about income or economics, and what forms we might use to access this charged aspect of our humanity in our creative work.

Prerequisites: No prerequisites

Location: Philadelphia

Categories: Poetry

Level: Any

Course length: 1 session (3 hours)

Class size: Unlimited

Price: $65.00

Start date: Open all year round

Website: https://www.bluestoop.org/classes/alexa-smith-writing-poe...

This experiential studio class is designed to help students develop a deeper understanding of the self in context with the world around them, cultivating the skills necessary to relate—and act—with others across differences. Through writing and sharing stories, we’ll learn to build community and work towards a more equitable world.

Prerequisites: No prerequisites

Location: Philadelphia

Categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Free

Level: Any

Course length: 1 session (1.5 hours)

Class size: Limited

Price: Free

Start date: Open all year round

Website: https://www.writersroomdrexel.org/courses

The Green Street Poetry Workshop is the heart and soul of our organization. The goal of the workshop is simple - we hope that through collaboration, honest critiques, and persistent encouragement, we can help each other achieve whatever writing goals we've set for ourselves.

Prerequisites: 10 copies of the poem you want workshopped.

Location: Philadelphia

Categories: Poetry, Free

Level: Any

Course length: 1 session (3 hours)

Class size: Unlimited

Price: Free

Start date: Open all year round

Website: https://www.greenstreetpoetry.com/workshop