Raleigh NC Writing Workshops: Improve Your Skills and Receive Feedback
Writing Workshops in Raleigh NC
Writing workshops are a great way to improve your writing skills and get feedback on your work. You can choose from a variety of workshops, including six-week classes and one-day intensives. These classes are in-depth courses that cover the “building blocks” of fiction writing.
Added 2024 CWW event feature: Add $69 for a critique of your query letter from a faculty member. This is a special event rate only for CWW attendees.
Redbud Writing Project
Although the Triangle area is known for its bookish charm, with a host of beloved bookstores and streets named after writers like Thoreau and Hemingway, there was one thing that remained missing — a space where writing-minded people could come together. But that changed in June when So & So Books and Redbud Writing Project teamed up to open a joint headquarters, where students take six-week courses and meet with instructors.
The writing school, co-founded by two graduates of the creative writing MFA program at NC State University, aims to bring a high-quality MFA education to adults. Its founders, Arshia Simkin and Emily Cataneo, believe that writing skills should be accessible to everyone.
Redbud offers a variety of courses, from an introduction to novel writing to a class that focuses on surrealism in poetry. It also offers one-day intensives that are tailored to specific topics and skills. Classes are held in community spaces around the Research Triangle and online, and include beginners who want to try out a new creative pursuit as well as advanced writers who want to sharpen their craft.
Burlington Writers Club
Whether you’re an experienced writer, or just beginning to explore your creativity, this group offers a welcoming community of writers. Members meet weekly to read and critique each others’ work. They also have special events and guest speakers. The membership fee is $20 a year for adults and $10 a year for Alamance County high school students.
This fun, instructive workshop invites participants to write from a prompt as a way of mining meaningful story material. Afterwards, everyone reads their efforts aloud for verbal responses and appreciation. Leave all self-doubt at the door!
This project will create a book of stories by Vermont women telling their first-person accounts of addiction and mental illness in prison. It will help reduce stigma and raise awareness of the needs of incarcerated women. It will also promote healing and recovery. Moreover, the book will be a tool for activists and advocates to use in campaigns to improve conditions for women incarcerated in our state.
Shut Up & Write! Raleigh / Cary
Whether you’re writing an essay, book, blog or script, Shut Up and Write! is a community of writers who can help you meet your writing goals. Membership costs $20 a year and includes access to special events, workshops about how to create narrative tension in novels, and presentations by local authors.
This type of group tends to work well if participants’ primary needs are accountability, support and community. It also helps if members are able to provide ongoing substantive feedback on each other’s writing. However, it can be ineffective if people don’t have the time to read other people’s work, or if they have other needs that aren’t met by the group.
SUAW sessions are typically two hours long, with structured intervals of writing and breaks. During the writing intervals, everyone keeps their audio muted and shutters their webcam. After the writing period is over, the group meets up in person or virtual, and everyone shares what they wrote about.
Charlotte Writers
Charlotte Writers is an organization of writers who meet at Plaza Midwood for critique groups, writing exercises and discussions. Members are encouraged to submit 10 pages of work for critique each meeting. The organization also hosts a three-day writing retreat and teaches craft classes. Members receive a weekly digital newsletter that details upcoming classes and special events.
The group is looking to recruit more young people by holding a student writing competition. Its goal is to give students the opportunity to participate in creative writing outside of school and get tutoring from an experienced writer. Applicants can enter poetry, memoirs and personal essays. The top ten winners will win a prize and free year-long membership into the club.
The organization offers workshops and master classes by local authors. For example, New York Times bestselling author Gail Z. Martin teaches Writing Prose and Poems from Family Photographs on Sept. 24. Also on Oct. 17, Charlotte Lit partners with Central Piedmont Community College to bring the United States poet laureate Joy Harjo to campus.