Some say good writing can’t be taught. We disagree. While instruction alone won’t make you a great writer, it will take you a long way in that direction. At the heart of our mission is a firm commitment to quality creative writing instruction that encourages you to become more thoughtful and proficient as you explore your passion for the written word.
49 Writers offers workshops and courses for emerging and established writers outside the constraints of university tuition and academic credit. We offer no easy answers or gimmicks. Rather, we aim to deliver student-centered teaching structured around meaningful outcomes. We want you to delve deep into the mysteries of language, discovery, and expression. Good teaching, like good writing, develops through a life-long process of learning that includes evaluating our work, sharing ideas, and stretching ourselves – sometimes beyond our comfort zones.
We offer affordable creative writing classes across genres to writers at all levels—beginning, intermediate, and advanced. Whether you’re just starting out or have already published, you will find a topic on the 49 Writers schedule that meets your needs.
Course topics cover the gamut from craft, to serious revision, to special topics like spiritual writing or the literary uses of humor. We also offer practical training on the path to publication, promotion, social media, and more.
Some classes are offered as single three hour long short courses, while others meeting weekly for an extended period of time. Many of our classes are face to face, and some are taught online.
Our course offerings fit (more or less; we like to stay flexible) into one of three categories:
Elements Courses
These are generally 6 to 8 hours long. Elements courses include cross-genre topics like character, voice, narrative structure, point of view, description, beginnings, revision, and narrative time.
Genre-based Workshops
These typically run 12 to 15 hours. Workshops are by genre, alternating between fundamentals workshops for emerging writers (Fundamentals of Fiction, for example) and workshops exploring advanced techniques (such as Advanced Poetry Techniques). In workshops, students draft and revise within their genres.
Special Topics
These are normally covered in a single session of 2 or 3 hours. While we hope all of our courses are feisty and fun, our special topics courses are intended to be especially so, with an exploratory bent. We strive to balance our course offerings each term with regard to length, type, and genre
Evening and weekend scheduling is a top priority, and our students tend to prefer classes that last less than six weeks. In Anchorage, we’re likely to schedule two of each type (Elements, workshop, and special topics) per term, leaving room to add an impromptu course or two with visiting writers as opportunities arise.
Special course offerings: We supplement our regular instructional schedule with clinics by visiting writers. We regularly partner with groups bringing authors to Alaska; please contact us if you’re aware of a partnering opportunity. Courses taught by special arrangement with visiting writers do not go through our regular proposal selection process.