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.
Our virtual offerings are designed to give you the distinct experience and caliber of a New York City writing class regardless of where you are.
“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
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.
Crafty
$799
Join Katie O’Donnell and Emily Stone for a two-week writing course designed for writers at any stage of the process who want to learn how to write killer scenes that cook.
Crafty is for anyone looking to deepen their understanding of the craft while generating material for an existing project— or discovering a new one. Each engaging hour-long Zoom session features a lecture paired with optional craft-centered prompts to inspire your writing and help you practice the skills covered in the lectures. These prompts are entirely flexible. You can complete them on your own schedule, or simply use them as inspiration. There is no required homework.
The deadline to sign up is September 15th, 2026.
What you’ll get
Dynamic lectures (two per class) covering elements like setting, room tone, conflict, character, Scene & Sequel, core wound, dark night of the soul, dialogue, and more (lectures will be recorded).
Twice-weekly optional writing prompts to practice new skills at your own pace.
Details
Price: $799
Dates: Tuesdays and Thursdays, September 29th - October 8th
Time: 1:30 - 2:30 pm ET
Location: Zoom (calendar invites with links sent ahead of class)
Format: Two 20 minute lectures with ten minutes between each for questions
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
Any writer looking to transform rough ideas into fully formed narrative pieces
Anyone looking for a writing community
Show Don’t Tell w/ Katie O’Donnell
$79
“Show, don’t tell” is one of the most common pieces of writing advice—but what does it really mean? In this focused one-day pop-up lecture, you’ll learn how to spot when you’re telling instead of showing, and how to use sensory details, action, desire, and dialogue to bring your scenes to life.
You’ll also discover how to engage readers emotionally by revealing character through experience, not exposition and walk away with clear, practical tools to make your writing vivid and compelling.
What you’ll learn:
How to identify “telling” moments in your writing— why does telling tell us nothing and showing show us everything?
Techniques for creating voicey, immersive, sensory-rich scenes that pop off the page
How to reveal character through action
Rather than simply informing readers what your characters think or feel, Show, Don’t Tell will teach you how to make your readers experience those emotions for themselves.
Details
Price: $79
Date: Tuesday October 20th
Time: 6:00-7:15 pm ET
Location: Zoom (calendar invite with link sent ahead of class)
Talk the Talk w/ Emily Stone
$79
Great dialogue does more than move a story forward— it reveals character, builds tension, and keeps readers…reading. In this dynamic, craft-focused pop-up, we’ll explore how to create distinct voices and weave conflict into every exchange. It’s called the core wound! Okay, maybe also the book wound, and the core secret, but more on these juicy underpinnings when we talk about how to make your dialogue sound less like a 1970s soap opera on a Tuesday— ie, recounting all the stuff readers already know— and imbue it with action. You’ll discover how to eliminate flat, expositional dialogue and replace it with scenes that crackle with emotion, conflict, humor, tension, and suspense.
Whether you’re writing fiction or memoir, you’ll leave this class with practical techniques for creating dialogue that sounds natural while raising the stakes, and bringing every character to life.
In this class, you’ll learn how to:
Create distinctive voices for each character
Build conflict into conversations to increase tension and momentum.
Use subtext to reveal what characters are thinking without saying it directly.
Balance dialogue with action (WANTS) and interior (CORE WOUND) for stronger scenes.
Avoid common dialogue pitfalls, including info-dumping and repetition.
Revise dialogue to make every line purposeful and emotionally charged.
You’ll also get optional writing prompts to practice these new skills at your own pace.
Details
Price: $79
Dates: Wednesday November 4th
Time: 6:00-7:15 pm ET
Location: Zoom (calendar invite with link sent ahead of class)
Writing Gym
Writing Gym is a monthly, virtual writing class that meets once a week. In each session, we focus on a brief excerpt from a novel or memoir, followed by a targeted writing prompt, a free-write, and a mini-workshop. We believe writing is a muscle and the more you exercise it, the better.
Returning Fall 2026
Join the waitlist:
Book Lab
Book Lab is an intimate, invitation-only workshop for writers who have completed Crafty, Scene Study, and/or Writing Gym and are ready to make meaningful progress on a well-developed, book-length project. This weekly, three-month intensive combines personalized feedback, consistent accountability, and the creative momentum of a dedicated writing community. Each week, you’ll write ten new pages. Every other week, you’ll workshop those pages with Emily, Katie, and a small cohort of fellow writers, receiving thoughtful developmental feedback to strengthen your manuscript. On the alternating weeks, you’ll exchange pages with a dedicated accountability partner, ensuring you stay connected to your work—and your writing practice—even when you’re not workshopping.
By the end of the program, you’ll have drafted and revised approximately 120 pages, along with a clearer understanding of your manuscript’s strengths, challenges, and next steps. Throughout the process, you’ll receive close guidance from two experienced instructors and fellow Book Labbers who will challenge your work, celebrate your progress, and help you maintain momentum. Book Lab isn’t for the faint of heart. It requires a commitment—to writing every week, reading your classmates’ work with care, meeting regularly with your accountability partner, and showing up fully for each workshop. The writers who thrive here are the ones willing to put in the work.
The payoff is substantial: significant progress on your manuscript, sharper craft, lasting creative friendships, and a community that will continue to support your writing long after the class ends. Many of ourformer Book Lab students are now in their own writing groups. Two Book Lab manuscripts have gone on to secure literary representation, and one has already been acquired for publication.
More than a workshop, Book Lab is a sustained creative practice—a place to deepen your craft, stay accountable, and make meaningful progress on the book you’re ready to write. Contact us for more info.
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.