Begins Monday, July 6, 2026

Class meets asynchronously via Wet Ink

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

Instructor Jack Christian's reviews and personal essays appear in periodicals including ArtForum, Bennington Review, Cleveland Review of Books, Los Angeles Review of Books, Off Assignment, and Slate. He is the author of the poetry collections Family System, winner of the Colorado Poetry Prize, published by Colorado State University's Center for Literary Publishing, and Domestic Yoga, published by Groundhog Poetry Press. Jack holds an MFA in poetry from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Since moving to Minneapolis in 2024, he has been publishing "ambiance reviews" on his Substack, Day Dates.

Who is this class for?

This online writing class is for writers who want to craft voice-driven reviews of books, visual media, music, food, and more — blending personal writing with critical insight and cultural commentary. It is open to writers at all levels.

What to expect:

What makes a great review more than a summary and a score? In this 6-week online writing workshop, you'll explore the review essay as its own literary art form — one that blends first-person perspective, close reading, and vivid storytelling. Working from contemporary models by writers such as Hanif Abdurraqib, Helen Rosner, Tejal Rao, John Green, and Kevin Killian, you'll discover how the best review writers transform their subjects into occasions for something larger: a meditation, a portrait, an act of witness.

The course is structured to take you through the complete drafting process: generating and pitching ideas, writing and revising, and ultimately polishing a complete review essay ready for publication. You'll receive personalized feedback from Jack at each stage — from early proposal through final draft — with special attention to voice, structure, and the unique opportunities the review form offers for storytelling and cultural commentary. Peer feedback is also a central part of this creative writing workshop, with time built in for writers to respond to one another's drafts.

Because this is an asynchronous class on Wet Ink, you'll work at a pace that fits your schedule while staying connected to an active community of writers. The class concludes with a final session in which participants share their polished reviews and discuss strategies for submitting their work for publication.

What are the writing goals?

In this course, students will explore contemporary review writing across genres and media, drafting and revising a complete, polished review essay over the course of six weeks. Jack will offer feedback on review proposals and pitches, developmental suggestions on first drafts, and sentence-level feedback on second drafts. Students will also give and receive feedback from one another throughout the writing process. By the end of the workshop, students will have a publication-ready piece and a working knowledge of where and how to submit it.

Readings

Readings may include recent review essays and criticism by Hanif Abdurraqib, Helen Rosner, Tejal Rao, John Green, Ian Frazier, Lorrie Moore, Joy Williams, and Kevin Killian. Links and PDFs will be provided by the instructor.

COURSE OUTLINE

Week 1: Explore recent reviews. Generating ideas. Week 2: Further exploration. Drafting proposals/pitches. Week 3: Workshop pitches/proposals. Week 4: Workshop first drafts. Week 5: Workshop second drafts. Week 6: Share polished reviews. Discuss opportunities for publication.

COURSE TAKEAWAYS:

• Students will gain a deeper and more robust understanding of contemporary review writing across genres and media.
• Students will gain practical experience pitching ideas to potential editors.
• Students will write, revise, and polish a complete review essay ready for submission.

TESTIMONIALS:

"I wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed your class. Prior to this, I had given up all creative writing and thought I could only produce academic writing. I cannot thank you enough for all of the kind and helpful comments you have left on my experiments, and the confidence you have given me to start actually writing things that I am proud of. This has been my favorite class I have ever taken, and I am sad that I didn't take a class of yours earlier."

"This one of the best classes I've ever taken - seriously. I had never written creatively before, but your and class' encouragement, critique, and enthusiasm was unmatched. The types of assignments we had pushed all of us out of our boxes and let us learn a new skill/style."

"Jack has an amazing way of engaging conversations and my peers were immensely helpful with their feedback. I felt both encouraged/validated while also seeing the room for improvement within my pieces. I never felt discouraged after receiving feedback, and Jack fosters a great culture within his class."

"Jack's guidance, knowledge, and positive manner of instruction were remarkable. This class absolutely exceeded my expectations. Jack covered a lot in the time we had. He was very well prepared and had good pacing."

"I usually am not too crazy about the online (no zoom) classes, but his was very productive! The balance between didactic instruction and creative and interesting prompts helped me do productive writing. The way he mixed up the class and had us read each other's work and give feedback helped me as well. Jack did a wonderful job."

"This class exceeded my expectation! It was fantastic. The assignments pushed me to a realm of writing that I had not experienced previously. As a retired clinical academic physician, I had written extensively but only in a professional realm. The feedback from Jack Christian which was thorough and enlightened. There was an inquisitive nature that was supportive and encouraging. Feedback from fellow enrollees was also most helpful."

ONLINE COURSE STRUCTURE:

This class is entirely asynchronous which means you complete the weekly assignments on your own schedule. There are no set meeting times in order to allow for greater participation; your cohort will consist of writers from across different time zones, which allows for a wonderful diversity of voices.

Along with your weekly deadlines there is plenty of interaction with Jack 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 within the online classroom environment.

You can get the work done as you see fit week-to-week, so it 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 is most compelling and/or useful for them. Jack engages with these discussions throughout the week and you will receive feedback from 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. You can learn more about the Wet Ink platform by Watching a Class Demo.