Who is this class for?

This nonfiction writing workshop is for personal essay and memoir writers who want to experiment and take risks. Whether you're curious about how effective essays are structured, looking for inspiration, or appreciate the motivation of deadlines, this class welcomes all levels.

What to expect:

How do you decide what structure is right for the story you want to tell? There are many surprising shapes and structures an essay can take, from traditional narrative arcs to experimental forms such as lyric, braided, and hermit crab essays. In this online writing class, you'll examine what makes the best essays successful, discuss how structure impacts reader experience, and experiment with new structures in your own writing.

This four-week asynchronous workshop will equip you with weekly video lectures, form-bending readings, writing prompts, and the opportunity to receive written instructor feedback on one essay of up to ten pages. You'll read published essay examples by Melissa Febos, Lidia Yuknavitch, Samantha Irby, T Kira Madden, Kristen Arnett, and more. By the end of this creative writing course, you'll have a clear understanding of the wide-ranging possibilities within the essay genre, one full essay draft, pages of new ideas, and resources for revision and publication.

What are the writing goals?

In this course, students will generate one essay of up to ten double-spaced pages and receive detailed written instructor feedback. Students will also leave with pages of new ideas sparked by weekly writing prompts and form-bending readings.

Readings

Readings will be provided by the instructor and may include essay examples by Melissa Febos, Lidia Yuknavitch, Samantha Irby, T Kira Madden, Kristen Arnett, and others.

COURSE OUTLINE

Week One: Introduction to traditional narrative structure and how to break out of it. Read examples of essays written in traditional and nontraditional structures. Discuss strategies to keep an essay moving forward and the benefits and constraints of different structures.

Week Two: Introduction to braided and fragmented essays. Read and discuss essays that weave multiple threads and make use of gaps and white space. Study what mood each form creates and what effect it has on the reader.

Week Three: Introduction to hermit crab essays and identifying the right structure for your story. Read and discuss essays that take the form of a non-literary text. Students will also share and discuss ideas for the essay they plan to submit for feedback.

Week Four: 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:

• Discover the wide-ranging possibilities within the essay form
• Understand how structure impacts reader experience
• Read and analyze form-bending essay examples from leading nonfiction writers
• Experiment with new structures—braided, fragmented, hermit crab, and more—in your own work
• Generate one full essay draft of up to ten pages
• Receive detailed written instructor feedback with strategies for revision and publication

TESTIMONIALS:

"The feedback that Lizzie provided was really detailed, constructive, and thorough. You can tell she really cared about making us better writers." — Former Student

"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 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 Lizzie 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 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 is most compelling and/or useful for them. Lizzie 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.

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.

• Instructor: Lizzie Lawson
• Begins Monday, September 7, 2026
• This is a 4-week asynchronous course hosted on the Wet Ink classroom platform.
• Tuition is $330 USD.