Instructor Samantha Mann is a Brooklyn-based writer covering queer life, popular culture, mental health, and motherhood. She is a contributing writer for Vogue and The Cut. She has written for the New York Times, Elle, Today Show, Huffington Post, Bon Appetit, Bustle, Washington Post Magazine, Romper, BUST, and others. Her essay, "The Orgasm Gap and DJ Khaled," was featured in Roxane Gays newsletter, The Audacity. Samantha is the author of the essay collection, Putting Out: Essays on Otherness. In 2023 Putting Out was added to CLMPS recommended reading list for Women's History Month. Samantha edited and curated the anthology, I Feel Love: Notes on Queer Joy. And Buzzfeed Book review said, "This is the perfect collection for readers looking to appreciate and celebrate the many talented writers within the LGBTQIA+ community." Her sophomore collection, Dyke Delusions, debuts June 2025 with Read Furiously. 

Who is this class for?

This course is for writers at all levels who are ready to push beyond "likable" narratives and explore the messier truths of their lives. Whether you're working on essays for publication, building a collection, or looking to deepen your voice on the page, this class will help you write what feels risky—with craft and confidence.

What to expect:

What are we not supposed to say—and why? In this 4-week online nonfiction workshop, we'll explore how to write into the uncomfortable, the stigmatized, and the culturally "off-limits." From desire and addiction to resentment, violence, family secrets, and moral ambiguity, taboo subjects often hold the most electric narrative potential. Through close readings of boundary-pushing essayists and guided writing exercises, you'll learn how to approach difficult material with clarity, control, and intention—transforming risk into powerful, publishable work.

Each week combines discussion with generative exercises designed to help you locate your personal "edge" as a writer and work there deliberately. You'll draft multiple essays (or substantial outlines), each engaging a different dimension of taboo, and revise one piece with an eye toward publication. We'll also address how to write about real people responsibly, how to avoid reductive arcs (trauma-to-redemption), and how to position taboo work in today's literary landscape.

This creative writing workshop is craft-driven but permissive: we create a space where nothing is off-limits, but everything is shaped with intention. The goal isn't to shock—it's to deepen. By the end of the course, you'll leave with new work, a clearer understanding of your voice under pressure, and practical revision strategies for transforming risky material into compelling, resonant essays. This course matters because the stories we're told not to tell are often the ones that most urgently need form.

What are the writing goals?

In this course, students will produce three essay drafts or detailed outlines, each centered on a different taboo subject (e.g., desire, family dynamics, shame, or moral ambiguity), and one fully revised essay—workshopped and refined with attention to structure, voice, and ethical framing—ready for submission or further development. Students will also leave with a personalized revision plan for expanding one or more pieces beyond the course and a toolkit of craft strategies (narrative distance, scene-building, managing disclosure, writing about real people) to apply to future work. Feedback includes weekly live feedback on shared work, plus one full edit of an essay submitted at the end of Week 4.

Readings

Readings may include excerpts from Melissa Febos, "The Heart-Work: Writing About Trauma as a Subversive Act" (from Body Work); Lidia Yuknavitch, The Chronology of Water; Audre Lorde, "Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power"; Roxane Gay, "What We Hunger For"; Jaquira Díaz, Ordinary Girls; Kiese Laymon, How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America; CJ Hauser, "The Crane Wife"; and Carmen Maria Machado, "The Husband Stitch" (or an essay from In the Dream House).

COURSE OUTLINE

Week 1: Naming the Unsayable Reading: Melissa Febos, "The Heart-Work: Writing About Trauma as a Subversive Act" + an excerpt from Lidia Yuknavitch's The Chronology of Water Focus: We begin by identifying what feels taboo in your own life. What have you been told not to say? What have you internalized as "too much"? We'll discuss the difference between confession and craft, and how to write difficult material with intention rather than impulse. Exercise: Generate a list of "forbidden" topics and begin a draft rooted in one of them, focusing on specificity over explanation.

Week 2: Shame, Desire, and the Gaze Reading: Audre Lorde, "Uses of the Erotic" + Roxane Gay, "What We Hunger For" Focus: This week examines how shame is constructed—and how desire (sexual, emotional, intellectual) is often policed, particularly for women and queer people. We'll explore writing that reclaims the gaze and complicates narratives of victimhood, pleasure, and agency. Exercise: Write about a moment of desire or shame that felt culturally "illegible" or unacceptable. Focus on resisting easy moral framing.

Week 3: Family, Violence, and Inherited Silence Reading: A personal essay (e.g., Zadie Smith) + an excerpt from Jaquira Díaz's Ordinary Girls + an excerpt from Kiese Laymon's How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America Focus: Many taboos live within the family—addiction, abuse, resentment, betrayal. This week we'll explore how to write about others ethically while still telling the truth. We'll also examine how race, class, and culture shape what is allowed to be spoken. Exercise: Draft an essay centered on a family dynamic or inherited silence. Identify what has been left out of the "official" story.

Week 4: Risk, Form, and Publishing the Taboo Reading: CJ Hauser, "The Crane Wife" + a selected short essay by Alexander Chee or Carmen Maria Machado Focus: What does it mean to take a risk on the page? This week we'll look at essays that push formal and emotional boundaries, and discuss how taboo writing functions in the current publishing landscape. You'll revise one of your drafts and share it for live feedback. We'll also cover pitching, framing, and where taboo essays can find a home. Exercise: Revise one essay with an emphasis on structure, control, and audience. Consider what to reveal, what to withhold, and why.

COURSE TAKEAWAYS:

• Three essay drafts or detailed outlines, each engaging a different dimension of taboo
• One fully revised, workshopped essay ready for submission or further development
• A personalized revision plan for continuing to expand your work beyond the course
• A toolkit of craft strategies: narrative distance, scene-building, managing disclosure, and writing about real people
• Greater clarity about your "edge" as a writer—what you're drawn to explore, and how to do so with intention

PAYMENT OPTIONS:

Tuition is $330 USD. You can pay for the course in full or use Shop Pay or Affirm to pay over time with equal Monthly Payments. Both options are available at checkout.

ONLINE COURSE STRUCTURE:

• Instructor: Samantha Mann
• Begins Tuesday, October 13, 2026
• Class will meet weekly via Zoom on Tuesdays, 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM ET
• Tuition is $330 USD.