Begins Wednesday, September 2, 2026

Live Seminar via Zoom from 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM ET

🌍 Class Times by Time Zone: Los Angeles (PDT): 3:00 PM – 5:00 PM / Chicago (CDT): 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM / New York (EDT): 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM 

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

Instructor Bio

Instructor Ethan Joella is the author of the novels A Little Hope (Scribner, 2021), which was a Read with Jenna Bonus Selection, A Quiet Life (Scribner, 2022), The Same Bright Stars (Scribner, 2024), and The Top of the World (Scribner, 2026). His books have been featured in The New York Times, People, and Good Housekeeping. Ethan teaches English and psychology at the University of Delaware and specializes in community writing workshops. He lives in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, with his family.

Who is this class for?

This seminar is for writers at all levels and across all genres—fiction, poetry, and nonfiction—who want to discover and harness the stories waiting inside their own lives. Whether you're just beginning to explore personal material or looking for new ways to draw from lived experience, this welcoming online writing class will help you find your unique voice.

What to expect:

Every writer carries a reservoir of personal experience, but knowing how to access that material—and shape it into compelling work—is a craft in itself. In this two-hour Zoom writing seminar, bestselling novelist Ethan Joella will guide you through a dynamic exploration of who you are, what you have to say, and what it all means on the page.

You'll study how accomplished authors draw from their personal lives in inventive, surprising ways, examining techniques that turn autobiography into art across fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. Through a series of small, generative exercises, you'll investigate your own experiences and discover which storytelling structures and formats best complement your personal material.

This is an interactive, hands-on creative writing workshop where you'll leave not only with new writing but with a clearer sense of direction for the stories only you can tell.

What are the writing goals?

In this seminar, students will complete multiple short generative exercises designed to uncover personal material and test different storytelling formats. Students will explore structure, voice, and form as they relate to autobiographical content and leave with new drafts and strategies they can apply to their current and future writing projects.

COURSE OUTLINE

Session: Exploring Your Life for Story

• Examine authors who draw from personal experience in unique and compelling ways
• Discuss how different genres (fiction, poetry, nonfiction) transform lived experience
• Complete small generative exercises to mine your personal history
• Explore which structures and storytelling formats best suit your material
• Share and discuss work in a supportive environment

COURSE TAKEAWAYS:

• A deeper understanding of how to access and shape personal experience into compelling writing
• Familiarity with techniques used by published authors who draw from their own lives
• Multiple new pieces of generative writing based on personal material
• Clarity on which storytelling structures and genres best complement your experiences
• Strategies for transforming autobiography into art across fiction, poetry, and nonfiction

PAYMENT OPTIONS:

Tuition is $99 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: Ethan Joella
• Wednesday, September 2, 2026
• Live Seminar via Zoom from 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM ET
• Tuition is $99 USD.