Begins Thursday, March 4, 2027

Class will meet weekly via Zoom on Thursdays, 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM ET

🌍 Class Times by Time Zone: Los Angeles: 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM / Chicago: 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM / New York: 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM / London: 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM / Berlin: 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM

Please note: Because the U.S. and Europe change clocks two weeks apart, the March 18 and March 25 sessions meet one hour earlier in Europe — London: 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM / Berlin: 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM. All U.S. times remain the same for every session. A recording will be provided if you cannot attend live.

Now Enrolling! Any questions about this class? Use the Chat Button to talk with us.

Instructor Arielle Burgdorf is a UK-based writer and literary translator from French. They are the author of the novel Prétend (End of the Line Press, 2024) and the UK edition, Jeanne (Moist Books, 2025). Their fiction, reviews, and translations have been published in Lambda Literary, Electric Literature, Worms Magazine, Amsterdam Review, Full Stop, and elsewhere.

Who is this class for?

This online writing workshop is for fiction writers who have an in-progress draft of a short story or novel excerpt they want to restructure or organize more clearly. You will leave with several options for arranging your story as you revise, along with a strong sense of your major themes and how to communicate them going forward. This creative writing course is open to all levels.

What to expect:

This workshop is designed for writers in the middle of a fiction draft that feels unwieldy or overwhelming. Part of being a writer is daydreaming and getting it out on the page, but another important piece is molding your creative work into a coherent and readable shape. Reordering your existing writing can feel intimidating, but it doesn't have to stay that way.

Together, we will explore fun ways to organize, tighten, and structure your writing, and to write with purpose and clarity moving forward. Instead of a one-size-fits-all approach, you will learn to identify the methods and strategies that work best for you. We will look at how to leave behind what you don't need, and how to enhance existing work so that it embodies your personal spirit as a writer.

This class is deliberately not built around traditional plotting formulas. Instructor Arielle Burgdorf offers a variety of perspectives on structure, allowing you to choose what works for your project and adapt those strategies to future work. Organization here is treated as a way to get more creative, not less. Each week of this Zoom writing class includes dedicated time in smaller breakout groups, where you will give and receive constructive feedback from your classmates while the instructor circulates to offer live feedback on your work.

Please come to this course with an in-progress manuscript — either a short story or novel excerpt of at least 10 pages — that you would like to revise. All reading materials will be provided.

What are the writing goals?

In this course, students will work directly on an existing manuscript of at least 10 pages, restructuring and reorganizing it over six weeks. You will map the themes and patterns already present in your draft, test different arrangements of your existing material, identify and fill plot holes, and determine what to cut and what to expand. You will leave with a reorganized draft, a clear sense of your project's central themes, and a set of revision strategies you can carry into future work.

Feedback in this class is live and verbal. Each week you will share writing in small breakout groups and receive peer feedback from your classmates, with the instructor circulating among the groups to offer feedback in real time.

Readings

Readings may include excerpts from: Syllabus by Lynda Barry, Steering the Craft by Ursula K. Le Guin, and About Writing by Samuel Delany.

COURSE OUTLINE

Week 1: Introduction — How do we make a story? Why is it important to organize our writing?
Week 2: Identifying the main themes and patterns in your story
Week 3: Organizing your story
Week 4: Identifying (and filling in) plot holes in your story
Week 5: Revising your story
Week 6: More to Explore — Where to take your story in the future

COURSE TAKEAWAYS:

• Develop strategies for organizing your writing so that it feels manageable and enjoyable
• Explore tools for arranging your writing such as outlines, index cards (zettelkasten), maps, grids, and online applications
• Understand the true themes and goals of your writing project
• Identify areas to add to or cut from your writing, and potential questions your reader may have
• Dedicated time in class to share work in smaller groups, to give and receive constructive feedback from your classmates and your instructor, and to build community

TESTIMONIALS:

"Arielle ensured that they created a relationship with the students in class, taking time to remember names, anecdotes, and details about all of us. It really encouraged me to participate and get to know my classmates. They are an amazing instructor and I wish we had more time together!"
— Former Student

"Arielle Burgdorf was one of the best instructors I have had so far at UCSC."
— Former Student

"Arielle's section was honestly one of the best I've had. They were extremely kind and created an environment which made me feel comfortable enough to participate in even though I tend to have a difficult time speaking in public. Arielle makes sure that all students understand the subjects discussed in lecture before moving on to the next subject, and their instruction was clear and creative as they often utilized activities relating to poetry. I really appreciate that they would send out weekly emails regarding the assignments due as it kept me on track and addressed concerns that I had at times."
— Former Student

"Arielle was great, I really enjoyed the writing exercises that we did, they were very creative."
— Former Student

PAYMENT OPTIONS:

Tuition is $445 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: Arielle Burgdorf
• Begins Thursday, March 4, 2027
• Class will meet weekly via Zoom on Thursdays, 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM ET
• A recording will be provided if you cannot attend live.
• Tuition is $445 USD.