Who is this class for?

This online writing workshop is for writers working in fiction, memoir, or hybrid forms who want to deepen their narrative voice and make more intentional choices around point of view. It is open to all levels and especially suited for writers who feel stuck in a default voice and are ready to experiment to find the emotional center of their work.

What to expect:

Voice as Compass: Finding the Center of the Story is a 4-week online writing workshop focused on cultivating an authentic narrative voice and using point of view as an emotional tool rather than a technical constraint. Through short readings, craft discussion, and generative exercises, you will explore how voice guides a story's choices — what it notices, withholds, circles, and insists on.

Writers will experiment with first, second, and third person, shifting distance and perspective to discover where the story feels most alive. This creative writing course is designed for writers working in fiction, memoir, or hybrid forms who want to write with greater clarity, confidence, and emotional precision.

Students will receive first-blush feedback from the instructor on their work throughout the course.

What are the writing goals?

In this course, students will generate new short work each week through guided exercises focused on voice and point of view. Students can expect to write frequently, experiment across perspectives, and leave with a portfolio of exploratory work, as well as practical tools for making voice-driven craft decisions in future projects.

Readings

Readings may include excerpts from Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner, Playworld by Adam Ross, and additional selections (TBD).

COURSE OUTLINE

Week 1: Voice as Orientation

We will examine what "voice" actually is — beyond tone or style — and how it emerges from attention, rhythm, and stance. Writers will draft short scenes in their default voice, then disrupt it to notice what changes when control loosens.

Week 2: Point of View and Distance

A deep dive into POV as an emotional decision. We will experiment with first person, close third, and second person, testing how intimacy, authority, and vulnerability shift with perspective.

Week 3: Friction, Pressure, and Withholding

Voice under stress: How narrative voice behaves when something is unsaid, resisted, or unstable. Writers will revise an existing piece by adjusting distance, tense, or access to interiority.

Week 4: Finding the Center

We will focus on listening for the version of the story that feels most true. Writers will refine one piece, choosing the POV and voice that best supports its emotional core, and reflect on how to carry these tools forward.

COURSE TAKEAWAYS:

• Develop a more intentional narrative voice by understanding how voice emerges from attention, rhythm, and point of view rather than style alone.
• Experiment confidently with POV and narrative distance, learning how shifts in perspective shape emotional impact and reader intimacy.
• Generate a substantial body of exploratory writing, including multiple drafts and variations that test different voices, stances, and approaches to the same material.
• Learn practical revision strategies that use voice and perspective as tools for deepening clarity, tension, and emotional truth.
• Build a transferable craft toolkit applicable to future fiction, memoir, or hybrid projects, helping you move past default choices and toward more purposeful storytelling.