Classes & Workshops
Inspired by the NYC writers’ groups where Emily honed her skills, our online writing classes offer both aspiring and professional writers the opportunity to deepen their skills through thoughtful prompts, readings, workshops, and community discussions.
Depending on your goals and availability, we offer lighter weekly classes and immersive month-long courses. We also occasionally partner with other writers to create weekend writing workshops and one-off classes.
“These sessions have greatly influenced my writing and my approach to my novel. I'm also just more excited about writing than I have been in a very long time. I love working with and learning from Emily and Katie and the groups [they] bring together.”
— Alyssa Farquhar
Story Lab: A Craft Course in the Short Story w/ David Samuel Levinson
$699
Crafty: A 2-Month Intensive on Writing Compelling Scenes
$800 *Sold out*
The short story is one of the most demanding and rewarding forms in fiction — a world that must be built, populated, and resolved in the space of a few thousand words, with no room for waste and nowhere to hide. This course offers a firm grounding in the essential elements of fiction craft while guiding you through the process of writing a complete short story of 2,500 words. Through lectures, targeted writing exercises, and two rounds of workshop, you will learn to make deliberate choices about every aspect of your work: how to find and develop a character whose desire drives the narrative forward, how to construct a plot that asks and answers a central dramatic question, how to use point of view, setting, dialogue, and pacing as active tools rather than background elements, and how to locate and sustain a voice that is distinctly your own.
The short story rewards compression. What a novel can afford to build slowly — character, atmosphere, theme — the short story must earn quickly, often in a single scene, a single exchange, a single image that does the work of many pages. This course treats that constraint not as a limitation but as a discipline, one that sharpens your instincts as a writer and teaches you to trust the reader. By the end of six weeks, you will have a completed draft of a short story, a clearer sense of your own aesthetic, and the craft vocabulary to revise with intention.
The deadline to sign up is September 6th, 2026.
What you’ll get
Lectures on craft elements, with close readings of published work
Writing exercises targeting the skill introduced each wee
Workshop: each student presents their work in progress to the group
Details
Price: $699 total
Dates: October 6th - November 10th
Time: Tuesdays, 6:30 - 8:00 pm ET
Location: Zoom (calendar invites with links sent ahead of class)
About the instructor
David Samuel Levinson is the author of the novels Tell Me How This Ends Well and Antonia Lively Breaks the Silence. His essay “How ‘Heated Rivalry’ Thawed the Chill Between My Father and Me” appeared in Modern Love in The New York Times in February 2026, and his fiction and nonfiction have appeared in Hobart, Prairie Schooner, Post Road, West Branch, and other publications. A recipient of a Fulbright-Mach Award, he recently returned from a Fulbright Fellowship in Vienna, Austria, where he researched and revised a new novel. He has taught creative writing at New York University, Emory University, Texas A&M University, and elsewhere.
Join Emily Stone and Katie O’Donnell for Crafty, a two-month Zoom workshop designed to help you transform and sharpen your ideas into realized, propulsive narrative. Through a sequence of focused, craft-driven lectures, you’ll learn how to build compelling scenes that move your writing forward with momentum and emotional depth.
Each week features an engaging lecture followed by a craft-centered prompt. For homework each week, you’ll write 5–10 double-spaced pages and prepare a five-minute reading. After each 20-minute lecture, three writers will be workshopped, receiving thoughtful, actionable feedback from both peers and instructors. Pages will be circulated in advance so every participant has time to read the full piece, ensuring generous, focused discussions. With enrollment capped at six writers, the class offers an intimate and supportive environment where every voice is heard. Whether you’re just beginning a project or deep in revision, Crafty is designed to meet you where you are—and help you move your work forward with clarity, confidence, and momentum.
The deadline to sign up is April 1, 2026.
What you’ll get
2 months of structured craft lectures on setting, room tone, conflict, character, Scene & Sequel, and core wound (lectures will be recorded)
Weekly prompts that help spark ideas
A complete read-through of your 5–10 page piece (double-spaced) with a five-minute class reading followed by a workshop
A supportive, collaborative community with focused peer and instructor feedback
An accountability/writing buddy to meet with weekly and share your pages
Clear, actionable guidance from Emily and Katie
Details
Price: $800 total ($400 per month)
Dates: April 16th – June 18th
Time: Thursdays, 1:30 pm – 3:00 pm ET
Location: Zoom (calendar invites with links sent ahead of class)
Workshop format: After each 20–30 minute lecture, three writers from the cohort will be workshopped on the prompt from the previous week’s class
Submission: Workshop pages sent in advance; read-aloud length limited to five minutes
About the instructors
Emily Stone and Katie O’Donnell bring a wealth of experience in craft-focused instruction, helping writers sculpt scenes, stories, and books into cohesive, compelling narratives. Their approach blends rigorous technique with supportive, collaborative feedback to elevate your writing. Plus, the classes are fun and include a lot of great book recs for your TBR!
Who should join
Writers seeking to deepen their understanding of scene construction
Participants who enjoy structured feedback and a reliable weekly writing routine
Any writer looking to transform rough ideas into fully formed narrative pieces
Anyone looking for a writing community or accountability partner
14-Day Writer’s Retreat
An email writing class
Free
Every writer benefits from a writer's retreat — even if it's from their living room. Join us for Rest & Reboot: A 14-Day Digital Writer's Retreat, a free email micro-course designed to give you a taste of what you can expect in other Downtown Writers Workshop classes. Each week, you'll receive an email with craft tips, recommended reading, and a creative writing prompt to complete on your own time. Set a word count goal daily or do it all on the weekend — this writer's retreat is designed with busy lives in mind.
Other Writing Classes & Workshops
Pricing varies
Sometimes, we partner with other writers to create writing workshops and classes both online and in New York City. Check back here for regular updates or — better yet — subscribe to our newsletter to hear when we sign on to new events.