This workshop is sold out.

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SUMMARY:

• This 8-week online workshop starts on January 16, 2023

• Registration is $250.

• Participation is limited to 12 people and every participant will workshop two 1000-word (or shorter) works of creative nonfiction.

How the Workshop Will Work

Mini lessons will be posted weekly on Sunday evenings. Individual work will be posted every week by 10am EST Monday mornings (a schedule will be sent out before the class starts), and each participant posts their comments to that week’s discussion board, where discourse grows during the course of the week. At the same time, there are ongoing discussions on other boards where students can ask questions about craft and publishing.

All Experience Levels Welcome!

This workshop is open to writers at any and every experience level, with feedback that meets you where your work is—from building blocks to high-level fine tuning. All feedback will be *positive*, and we’ll discuss how to give thoughtful, supportive feedback in the first week of the workshop!

Hannah Grieco

Hannah Grieco is a writer, editor, and teacher in Washington, DC. Her work can be found in a wide variety of publications, both literary and freelance, and she edits novels, prose collections, and anthologies. She is an editor at Alan Squire Publishing, where her new anthology ALREADY GONE will be out in September of 2023. Her anthology AND IF THAT MOCKINGBIRD DON’T SING came out in January of 2022 from Alternating Current Press. She teaches writing at American University, Catapult, The Writer’s Center, and Barrelhouse, and is on the editorial staff at Pidgeonholes, JMWW, and Porcupine Literary. Find her at http://hgrieco.com and on Twitter @writesloud

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ARE THERE RULES?

Should we kill our darlings? Must we show but not tell? Does it matter if setting is a character? Which of the received rules of writing fiction really do hold up (as some of them undoubtedly do) and which are merely words?

HOW THE WORKSHOP WILL WORK

In this 8-week generative fiction workshop beginning October 24, we’ll spend half of the time talking about published stories that follow (or don’t), an established rule. We’ll encounter each work with an open mind and democratically figure out what’s working and where the lessons may lie. (Authors to be discussed: Suzanne Rivecca, Nafissa Thompson-Spires, John Berger, Mariana Enriquez and more).

In the second half of each class we’ll workshop our own stories, with a special eye to what each author was trying to accomplish and what rules they set for themselves as they wrote.

This course meets synchronously over Zoom on Sundays from 1:00-3:00 p.m. EST.

Participation is limited to 12 people and every participant will have a chance to receive detailed feedback on their work. All writing levels are welcome, so long as you care about fiction & read fiction as well as write it.

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ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR

John Cotter is the author of the forthcoming memoir Losing Music (Milkweed, 2023) and the novella Under the Small Lights (Miami University Press). His essays and fiction have appeared in Raritan, Guernica, Electric Literature’s Recommended Reading, Washington Square, Georgia Review, Literary Review, and Commonweal. In January of 2022 he'll be a resident fellow at the James Merrill House in Stonington, Connecticut.

NOTE: This workshop is sold out. If you’d like to be on the wait list, send an email to yobarrelhouse at gmail dot com with the subject line “Dave Housley workshop.” Thanks!

SUMMARY:

• 8 weeks starting on April 11, 2021

• $250

• Limited to 12

• Every participant will have a chance to workshop 2 stories. 

HOW DOES IT WORK? 

These are online workshops, so, you know, everything is online and asynchronous. Participants log in to the workshop space throughout the week, whenever convenient for them. We’ve had workshop participants from all over the world.

Work is generally posted every week, and each participant posts their comments to that week’s discussion board. Discourse grows during the course of the week, ideally very similar to a face-to-face workshop. At the same time, we frequently have a number of discussions happening on various topics, including general writing-related and publishing issues and questions, to very specific elements of craft. The workshops are run using the Canvas learning management system. 

REVIEWS OF PREVIOUS WORKSHOP:  

From previous workshop evaluations with Dave: 

"Comments on stories were generally very thoughtful and constructive. Comments from the workshop leader were thoughtful and constructive, but also in-depth and detailed, carefully deconstructing the story and making precise suggestions for improvement. Workshops always depend on the quality of the participants and the leader and in this case, both were excellent. I also thought the discussion boards on craft were helpful and the many links to articles were very useful. Limiting the workshop to 12 participants made it manageable in terms of reading and feedback, and gave each participant the chance to present 2 stories. That is good value for the fee." 

"I thought it was as strong of a class as other independent workshops I've taken, and better than undergraduate workshops I have taken in the past. People were committed, intelligent, and knew what they were talking about. The feedback was varied and in-depth, and the related conversations about plot, revision, submitting, etc. were also very valuable. If someone were interested in taking the workshop, I would emphasize the value: The price is the fraction of the cost of even an affordable college class, but the experience was much better, in my mind. Eight weeks for two hundred dollars is incredibly cost-effective."

ABOUT DAVE HOUSLEY

Dave Housley is one of the Founding Editors of Barrelhouse. He has published two novels, Howard and Charles at the Factory and This Darkness Got to Give. His fourth collection of short fiction, Massive Cleansing Fire, was published in 2017 by Outpost 19 books. His other books are If I Knew the Way, I Would Take You Home (Dzanc Books), Commercial Fiction (Outpost 19), and Ryan Seacrest is Famous (Impetus Press, Dzanc Books eBook Reprint Series). His work has appeared in Hobart, McSweeneys, Mid-American Review, Quarterly West, Wigleaf, and some other places. A few links to stories are included below. He's also one of the co-founders and the organizer of our conference, Conversations and Connections, which is held in DC in the Spring and Pittsburgh in the Fall. He lives in State College, PA and works as the Director of Web Strategy and Management at Penn State Outreach and Online Education. 

A FEW STORIES YOU CAN CHECK OUT ONLINE: 

Lawn Man at Little Fiction

What We Talk About When We Talk About Aliens at Split Lip. 

Rockabye in Redux (originally published in Hobart; okay, Dave has published a lot of stuff in Hobart ;-)

State Farm at Hobart

McDonalds at Hobart

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REFUND POLICY

Since spots are limited to 12, we need to be kind of strict about cancellations and refunds. Here’s the deal:

You can cancel and receive a full refund up to two weeks before the workshop start date.

After that, we’re locked in and can’t provide a refund.

Note: This workshop is sold out.

If you’d like to be on the waitlist in case a spot opens up, or to get an early heads up for the next Lilly workshop, email yobarrelhouse at gmail dot com and put “Lilly Dancyger March 1 workshop waitlist” in the subject line.

Summary

• This 8-week online workshop starts on March 1, 2021.

• Registration is $250.

• Participation is limited to 12 people and every participant will workshop two 4,000-word (or shorter) personal essays or memoir excerpts.
  

HOW WILL OUR WORKSHOP WORK?

Work is posted every week by 10am EST Monday mornings (a schedule will be sent out before the class starts), and each participant posts their comments to that week’s discussion board, where discourse grows during the course of the week. At the same time, there are ongoing discussions on other boards where students can ask questions about craft issues like building scenes or the revision process, as well as publishing questions like how to write a good pitch letter and where to send different kinds of work.

This workshop is open to writers at any and every experience level, with feedback that meets you where your work is—from building blocks to high-level fine tuning. Bring in essays you drafted just for this class, or memoir chapters you've labored over for years—bring whatever you want to work on, as long as you also bring an open mind and excitement to read and comment on other writers' work.

WHAT’S THE WORKSHOP EXPERIENCE LIKE?

The workshops are run using the Canvas learning management system, a user-friendly, cloud-based education forum, which means, this is a virtual space. You can check in and out according to what works for your schedule within the parameters of the course.

Participants don’t have to be in a certain place at a certain time. They log in to the workshop space throughout the week, whenever it's convenient for them. We’ve had workshop participants from all over the world.

WHO IS LILLY DANCYGER?

Lilly Dancyger is an assistant editor at Barrelhouse Books, and contributing editor at Catapult. She's the author of Negative Space, a reported and illustrated memoir forthcoming from the Santa Fe Writers Project in 2021; and the editor of Burn It Down, an anthology of essays on women's anger from Seal Press. Her writing has been published by Longreads, The Washington Post, Glamour, Playboy, Rolling Stone, and more. Lilly lives in New York City, and she spends way too much time on twitter (where you can find her at @lillydancyger).

“What an amazing treat to be able to study with such a fantastic teacher with such expertise on writing and publishing for such a reasonable price. Thank you so much!”

— Workshop Participant, January 2019

REFUND POLICY

Since spots are limited to 12, we need to be kind of strict about cancellations and refunds. Here’s the deal:

You can cancel and receive a full refund up to two weeks before the workshop start date.

After that, we’re locked in and can’t provide a refund.

SIGN UP!

THIS WORKSHOP IS SOLD OUT.

If you’d like to be on the waiting list, email yobarrelhouse at gmail dot com and put “Tara Campbell waiting list January 2021” in the subject line.

Summary:

• 8 weeks, January 11 – March 8, 2021

• 10 Participants

• $250

The organizing principles of this eight-week generative writing class are curiosity and inspiration. You’ll write to weekly prompts based on topics that spark your and your classmates’ curiosities, and there will be two opportunities to workshop your creations. Whether you work in poetry or prose—or cartooning, or music, or another creative medium—you’ll finish the class with a dozen new pieces to develop, and a treasure trove of interesting topics to inspire future work.

How it works:

Each week, two class participants will post a couple things that they are obsessed with—could be hobbies or areas of study, or something they are merely curious about. The posts could be something they created, or someone else created (properly attributed).

For example, I’m obsessed with plants and dinosaurs. Am I a botanist or paleontologist? No! But I love learning and writing about plants and dinos! So for my week, I would post one thing about each obsession—for example, I might post a story I wrote about sentient trees, along a fascinating article I found about dinosaurs.

Then all of us will choose one topic from each classmate and create a story/poem/essay inspired by it, resulting in two new pieces of creative work per week. Workshop opportunities will occur halfway through and again at the end.

About Tara

Tara Campbell (www.taracampbell.com) is a writer, teacher, Kimbilio Fellow, and fiction editor at Barrelhouse. She received her MFA from American University in 2019. Previous publication credits include SmokeLong Quarterly, Masters Review, Jellyfish Review, Booth, Strange Horizons, and CRAFT Literary. She's the author of a novel, TreeVolution, and three collections: Circe's Bicycle, Midnight at the Organporium, and Political AF: A Rage Collection.

This workshop is sold out.

If you’d like to be on the waiting list, email yobarrelhouse at gmail dot com and put “Lilly Dancyger waiting list January 2021” in the subject line.

SUMMARY:

• This 8-week online workshop starts on January 4, 2021.

• Registration is $250.

• Participation is limited to 12 people and every participant will workshop two 4,000-word (or shorter) personal essays or memoir excerpts.

HOW WILL OUR WORKSHOP WORK?

Work is posted every week by 10am EST Monday mornings (a schedule will be sent out before the class starts), and each participant posts their comments to that week’s discussion board, where discourse grows during the course of the week. At the same time, there are ongoing discussions on other boards where students can ask questions about craft issues like building scenes or the revision process, as well as publishing questions like how to write a good pitch letter and where to send different kinds of work.

This workshop is open to writers at any and every experience level, with feedback that meets you where your work is—from building blocks to high-level fine tuning. Bring in essays you drafted just for this class, or memoir chapters you've labored over for years—bring whatever you want to work on, as long as you also bring an open mind and excitement to read and comment on other writers' work.

WHAT’S THE WORKSHOP EXPERIENCE LIKE?

The workshops are run using the Canvas learning management system, a user-friendly, cloud-based education forum, which means, this is a virtual space. You can check in and out according to what works for your schedule within the parameters of the course.

Participants don’t have to be in a certain place at a certain time. They log in to the workshop space throughout the week, whenever it's convenient for them. We’ve had workshop participants from all over the world.

WHO IS LILLY DANCYGER?

Lilly Dancyger is an assistant editor at Barrelhouse Books, and contributing editor at Catapult. She's the author of Negative Space, a reported and illustrated memoir forthcoming from the Santa Fe Writers Project in 2021; and the editor of Burn It Down, an anthology of essays on women's anger from Seal Press. Her writing has been published by Longreads, The Washington Post, Glamour, Playboy, Rolling Stone, and more. Lilly lives in New York City, and she spends way too much time on twitter (where you can find her at @lillydancyger).

“What an amazing treat to be able to study with such a fantastic teacher with such expertise on writing and publishing for such a reasonable price. Thank you so much!”

— Workshop Participant, January 2019

REFUND POLICY

Since spots are limited to 12, we need to be kind of strict about cancellations and refunds. Here’s the deal:

You can cancel and receive a full refund up to two weeks before the workshop start date.

After that, we’re locked in and can’t provide a refund.

SIGN UP!

Note: This workshop is currently sold out. If you are interested in being on a wait list, email yobarrelhouse at gmail dot com with the subject line “Lilly Dancyger nonfiction workshop wait list.”

SUMMARY:

• This 8-week online workshop starts on August 10, 2020. .

• Registration is $250.

• Participation is limited to 12 people and every participant will workshop two 4,000-word (or shorter) personal essays or memoir excerpts.

HOW WILL OUR WORKSHOP WORK?

Work is posted every week by 10am EST Monday mornings (a schedule will be sent out before the class starts), and each participant posts their comments to that week’s discussion board, where discourse grows during the course of the week. At the same time, there are ongoing discussions on other boards where students can ask questions about craft issues like building scenes or the revision process, as well as publishing questions like how to write a good pitch letter and where to send different kinds of work.

This workshop is open to writers at any and every experience level, with feedback that meets you where your work is—from building blocks to high-level fine tuning. Bring in essays you drafted just for this class, or memoir chapters you've labored over for years—bring whatever you want to work on, as long as you also bring an open mind and excitement to read and comment on other writers' work.

WHAT’S THE WORKSHOP EXPERIENCE LIKE?

The workshops are run using the Canvas learning management system, a user-friendly, cloud-based education forum, which means, this is a virtual space. You can check in and out according to what works for your schedule within the parameters of the course.

Participants don’t have to be in a certain place at a certain time. They log in to the workshop space throughout the week, whenever it's convenient for them. We’ve had workshop participants from all over the world.

WHO IS LILLY DANCYGER?

Lilly Dancyger is a contributing editor at Catapult, and assistant editor at Barrelhouse Books. She's the editor of Burn it Down, an anthology of essays on women's anger from Seal Press; and the author of Negative Space, a reported and illustrated memoir forthcoming from the Santa Fe Writers Project in 2021. Her writing has been published by Longreads, The Washington Post, Glamour, Playboy, Rolling Stone, The Rumpus, and more. Lilly lives in New York City, and she spends way too much time on twitter (where you can find her at @lillydancyger)

“What an amazing treat to be able to study with such a fantastic teacher with such expertise on writing and publishing for such a reasonable price. Thank you so much!”

— Workshop Participant, January 2019

REFUND POLICY

Since spots are limited to 12, we need to be kind of strict about cancellations and refunds. Here’s the deal:

You can cancel and receive a full refund up to two weeks before the workshop start date.

After that, we’re locked in and can’t provide a refund.

SUMMARY

• Online short fiction workshop with Barrelhouse Editor and writer Dave Housley

• 8 week workshop starting June 28

• Participation is limited to 12 people

• Each participant will have a chance to workshop 2 stories 

• 100% online and asynchronous

Proceeds from this workshop will be donated to the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund.

HOW DOES IT WORK? 

These are online workshops, so, you know, everything is online. Participants don’t have to be in a certain place at a certain time. They log in to the workshop space throughout the week, whenever convenient for them. We’ve had workshop participants from all over the world.

Work is generally posted every week, and each participant posts their comments to that week’s discussion board. Discourse grows during the course of the week, ideally very similar to a face-to-face workshop. At the same time, we frequently have a number of discussions happening on various topics, including general writing-related and publishing issues and questions, to very specific elements of craft. The workshops are run using the Canvas learning management system, a state of the art, cloud-based solution for online education (we use the free version, because it is free ;-). 

REVIEWS OF PREVIOUS WORKSHOP:  

From the evaluations of previous online fiction workshop with Dave Housley: 

"Comments on stories were generally very thoughtful and constructive. Comments from the workshop leader were thoughtful and constructive, but also in-depth and detailed, carefully deconstructing the story and making precise suggestions for improvement. Workshops always depend on the quality of the participants and the leader and in this case, both were excellent. I also thought the discussion boards on craft were helpful and the many links to articles were very useful. Limiting the workshop to 12 participants made it manageable in terms of reading and feedback, and gave each participant the chance to present 2 stories. That is good value for the fee." 

"I thought it was as strong of a class as other independent workshops I've taken, and better than undergraduate workshops I have taken in the past. People were committed, intelligent, and knew what they were talking about. The feedback was varied and in-depth, and the related conversations about plot, revision, submitting, etc. were also very valuable. If someone were interested in taking the workshop, I would emphasize the value: The price is the fraction of the cost of even an affordable college class, but the experience was much better, in my mind. Eight weeks for two hundred dollars is incredibly cost-effective."

ABOUT DAVE HOUSLEY

Dave Housley is one of the Founding Editors of Barrelhouse. His has published two novels, Howard and Charles at the Factory and This Darkness Got to Give. His fourth collection of short fiction, Massive Cleansing Fire, was published in February 2017 by Outpost 19 books. His other books are If I Knew the Way, I Would Take You Home (Dzanc Books), Commercial Fiction (Outpost 19), and Ryan Seacrest is Famous (Impetus Press, Dzanc Books eBook Reprint Series). His work has appeared in Hobart, McSweeneys, Mid-American Review, Quarterly West, Wigleaf, and some other places. A few links to stories are included below. He's also one of the co-founders and the organizer of our conference, Conversations and Connections, which is held in DC in the Spring and Pittsburgh in the Fall. He lives in State College, PA and works as the Director for Web Strategy for Penn State Outreach and Online Education.

A FEW STORIES YOU CAN CHECK OUT ONLINE: 

Lawn Man at Little Fiction

What We Talk About When We Talk About Aliens at Split Lip. 

Rockabye in Redux (originally published in Hobart; okay, Dave has published a lot of stuff in Hobart ;-)

State Farm at Hobart

McDonalds at Hobart

SIGN UP HERE!

NOTE: This workshop is sold out. If you’d like to be on a wait list, email yobarrelhouse at gmail dot com and put “Tara Campbell workshop” in the subject line.

May 1-June 15, 2020

SUMMARY:

Have you noticed a splash of magic or a hint of the surreal worming its way into your work? Join us for a six-week introduction to science fiction, fantasy, and other ways of working with fantastical elements in fiction. This class does not center on warp drives or the clan structures of best-selling mythical empires. Instead, we’ll read and discuss an array of stories that demonstrate how authors are examining human lives and relationships through alternate realities. Works by women and POC will be highlighted. In each class we’ll discuss a published story and discuss its position in the realm of speculative fiction (sci-fi, fantasy, urban fantasy, supernatural, etc). Participants will write to weekly prompts and have the opportunity to workshop a story excerpt at the end of the course.

HOW WILL THIS WORK?

We’ll read and discuss an array of published sci-fi and fantasy fiction, and each week you’ll write from prompts or your own imagination to create your own tiny, new worlds.The workshop is completely asynchronous so you don’t have to be in any online place at any online time. We will use the Canvas learning management system, which is pretty simple and easy to figure out.

WHO IS TARA CAMPBELL?

Tara Campbell (www.taracampbell.com) is a writer, teacher, Kimbilio Fellow, and fiction editor at Barrelhouse. Prior publication credits include SmokeLong Quarterly, Masters Review, Jellyfish Review, Booth, and Strange Horizons. She's the author of a novel,TreeVolution, a hybrid fiction/poetry collection,Circe's Bicycle, and a short story collection,Midnight at the Organporium. She received her MFA from American University in 2019

SUMMARY:

• 4 week online flash fiction workshop with Barrelhouse Editor Tara Campbell

• Starts January 15, 2020

• Limited to 12 participants

• $125

WHAT IS THIS?

Ditch the post-holiday doldrums and make good on your resolution to write more. If you’ve dabbled in flash fiction, but need a spark of inspiration for new stories, this four-week course is for you. After a brief review of the techniques of flash, we’ll spend the bulk of the time writing to prompts, generating new ideas, and workshopping your stories. We’ll also discuss revision strategies and submission opportunities you can utilize after the course.

HOW WILL THIS WORK?

We’ll read and discuss an array of published flash fiction, and each week you’ll write from prompts or your own imagination to create your own tiny, new worlds.The workshop is completely asynchronous so you don’t have to be in any online place at any online time. We will use the Canvas learning management system, which is pretty simple and easy to figure out.

WHO IS TARA CAMPBELL?

Tara Campbell (www.taracampbell.com) is a writer, teacher, Kimbilio Fellow, and fiction editor at Barrelhouse. Prior publication credits include SmokeLong Quarterly, Masters Review, Jellyfish Review, Booth, and Strange Horizons. She's the author of a novel,TreeVolution, a hybrid fiction/poetry collection,Circe's Bicycle, and a short story collection,Midnight at the Organporium. She received her MFA from American University in 2019

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