Writing About Relationships in Personal Essays and Memoir — 4-Week Online Nonfiction Workshop with Lizzie Lawson Starts Sunday, August 1st, 2027
Writing About Relationships: Personal Essay Workshop | Aug 2027
Writing About Relationships in Personal Essays and Memoir: A 4-Week Online Nonfiction Workshop with Lizzie Lawson
Begins Sunday, August 1, 2027
This is a 4-week asynchronous online writing workshop via the Wet Ink classroom.
Class size is capped at 12 students.
Now Enrolling!
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Instructor Lizzie Lawson is a writer and teaching artist from Minneapolis, MN. Her essays have been published in Slate, Electric Literature, HuffPost, Business Insider, The Florida Review, The Sun, The Rumpus, Passages North, and more. She earned a BA in marketing from the University of St. Thomas and an MFA in creative writing from The Ohio State University. She's currently working on a memoir in essays about coming of age in, and leaving, the Catholic Church. She writes the Substack, Work in Progress, and can be found at lizzielawson.com.
Who is this class for?
This online writing workshop is for creative nonfiction writers who want to explore messy, complicated, and illuminating relationships on the page. Whether you're interested in building complex characters, curious about the ethics of representing real people, or looking for inspiration and feedback, this class welcomes all levels. Enrollment is limited to 12 writers.
What to expect:
Personal essays and memoir are famously about the writer, but because humans are social creatures, it's near impossible to write our own stories without also including other people. In this asynchronous nonfiction workshop, relationships and characters will be at the center as you untangle stories about parents, friendships, romantic partners, siblings, sworn enemies, and more. You'll identify techniques that bring complex characters to life, discuss the ethics of writing about real people, generate new writing and ideas, and polish a full draft.
This four-week online writing class will equip you with weekly video lectures, creative and craft readings, writing prompts, and the opportunity to receive written instructor feedback on one essay of up to ten pages. Participants can expect to read published work by acclaimed writers like Carmen Maria Machado, T Kira Madden, Sarah Gerard, Minda Honey, Jo Ann Beard, and more. By the end of the course, you'll have a host of new writing approaches, one full essay draft, pages of new ideas, and resources for revision and publication.
With the cohort capped at 12, every writer gets close attention from Lizzie and a small, focused group of readers in the Wet Ink classroom.
What are the writing goals?
In this course, students will:
- Discover techniques that bring characters to life
- Discuss the ethics of writing about real people
- Read published essay examples from acclaimed nonfiction writers
- Generate one full essay of up to ten pages
- Receive written instructor feedback on their draft
Readings
Readings may include published essays by Carmen Maria Machado, T Kira Madden, Sarah Gerard, Minda Honey, Jo Ann Beard, and others.
COURSE OUTLINE
Week 1: Writing about friendship and creating compelling characters. We'll explore essays about friendships that span many years and the ones from childhood that still occupy our memory. We'll identify techniques to create dynamic characters and complete a generative writing exercise.
Week 2: Writing about family and handling multiple characters on the page. We'll turn to nonfiction about mothers, fathers, and other close family members. We'll examine techniques for encapsulating shared histories and handling multiple characters without confusion and complete a generative writing exercise.
Week 3: Writing about romantic partners and the ethics of writing about real people. We'll discuss essays about romantic partners, from brief Tinder dates to a married spouse. We'll also dig deep into the ethical question of representing others with readings from published authors. Participants will do another writing exercise and also share ideas for their workshop essay.
Week 4: Essay feedback and revision techniques. Students will receive written feedback on up to 10 double-spaced pages as well as strategies for revision and publication.
COURSE TAKEAWAYS:
- Techniques for creating dynamic, complex characters drawn from real life
- Strategies for handling multiple characters on the page without confusion
- A deeper understanding of the ethics of writing about real people
- One full essay draft of up to ten pages with written instructor feedback
- Pages of new generative writing and ideas from weekly exercises
- Resources and strategies for revision and publication
TESTIMONIALS:
"Lizzie made class feel like a chill, yet super informed writing workshop. She made everyone feel welcomed and included. Her knowledge helped my writing tenfold. If you get the chance to take a class with her I 100% recommend!"
— Hannah Backman
"The readings were excellent: I've been introduced to new writers and developed obsessions with a few. I've also written an essay (probably the best thing I've ever written) that I've been wanting to write for about six months, but needed a pop culture vehicle to tell the story through. Anyway, thought it was fabulous."
— Former Student
"Lizzie exposed us to so many unique voices/perspectives and always generated a comfortable environment to share our work in. The essay selection was phenomenal."
— Former Student
"My favorite quote from Lizzie was 'you don't have to tell a story only once.' I can't explain it well, but it opened a door somewhere in my writer's mind. I don't have to be scared I'll mess up a piece and that memory will be wasted. I can simply start again."
— Former Student
"I was offered feedback on a very personal essay I wrote for this class: Lizzie was gentle, practical, and helpful in her approach to helping me write and edit this piece. Her advice on other students' writing also provided a great perspective for a broad range of pieces."
— Former Student
ONLINE COURSE STRUCTURE:
This class is asynchronous, meaning you complete the weekly assignments on your own schedule. There are no set meeting times to allow for greater participation; your cohort will consist of writers from different time zones, which allows for a wonderful diversity of voices.
Along with your weekly deadlines, there is plenty of interaction with the instructor and your peers within Wet Ink, our dedicated online classroom. Craft materials, lectures, reading assignments, and writing prompts are all available through the online classroom. Students also post work and provide and receive feedback in the online classroom.
You can finish the work as you see fit, week to week, which is perfect for any schedule. There are discussion questions each week inspired by the assigned readings and topics in the lecture notes. Students are encouraged to take these wherever they find most compelling and/or useful. The instructor engages with these discussions throughout the week, and you will receive feedback on all assigned writing activities.
HOW DOES WET INK WORK?
Wet Ink was built and designed specifically for online writing classes. Wet Ink is private, easy to use, and very interactive.
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.