Establishing a Creative Writing Practice

The benefits of creativity are enormous. Engaging in creative activity lightens our hearts, sharpens our senses, and helps us make peace with our experiences. But all too often we don’t prioritize creative activity, either because we have internalized messages that we aren’t good enough or because life’s demands have gotten in the way. The good news is that it is easy to build a creative habit; creative writing requires no special equipment and can be done almost anytime, anywhere, by anyone, and throughout your life. This course will combine daily writing prompts with inspiring information about why and how to make creativity a part of your solitary time, your family life, and your work life. You will be encouraged to try fiction, nonfiction, and poetry and will get to play with craft in each genre. On the process side, you will learn about growth mindsets, embracing mistakes, and the reasons neuroscience urges us to give up perfectionism. You will leave the course with a portfolio of fresh pieces of writing and a plan for expanding at least one of them into a finished work, as well as the skills, techniques, and habits of mind needed to maintain a regular creative writing practice.

Maybe you’ve taken a generative prompt class and now wish to embark on a more extended creative writing project than that course allowed. Or maybe you’ve been writing independently and feel ready for a structured learning environment that encourages creativity in a fun and supportive setting. This course will teach the fundamentals of narrative structure without judgment, allowing you to conceive and craft a short story or essay of up to 3,000 words, written sequentially over four weeks. You will write approximately 400-750 words per week, progressing from initial ideas to unfolding action, creating immersive scenes leading up to an impactful conclusion. By the end of this course, through guided sessions and prompts tailored to teach the elements of narrative craft, students will have created a "zero draft," the initial, unedited version preceding the first draft. For inspiration, we'll explore works by authors like Grace Paley and Justin Torres. Although this course will primarily focus on generating content rather than workshop critique, students may optionally share their writing with a small group for constructive peer feedback as their stories take shape. The instructor will also provide brief, encouraging comments on 400-750 words of new student writing weekly.

Check Stanford Continuing Studies or contact me for the next course dates.

Stanford Online Certificate Program in Novel Writing Courses

Ammi teaches for Stanford’s Online Certificate Program in Novel Writing Program. These classes are only available to members of the two-year program, with applications due each April for the cohort to begin in the Fall.

Want to discuss a class, workshop or retreat for a writing group, organization or company? Get in touch!