Welcome!
Whether you want to write your novel, perfect your screenplay, or craft your memoir, Writer’s Digest University can help you get your writing career underway. Our expert instructors will provide advice, specific instruction, real-world experience, expertise, and the motivation and drive to help you achieve your goals.
Upcoming Workshops
Let's get writing!
Our writing online workshops cover every aspect of writing, from how to get started all the way to getting your writing published. Writer’s Digest University features writing classes online for every skill level of writer and our professional instructors are dedicated to helping you achieve your writing goals.
Â
More About WDUDon't know where to get started? Â
These featured events and courses are starting soon!Â
Today's Key Book Publishing Paths
July 9
Jane Friedman discusses everything you need to know about how book publishing operates today, in plain English, to help you understand the pros and cons of every major publishing path available. She'll cover traditional publishing and what projects are well-suited to being represented by literary agents; the capabilities of mid-size publishers and independent publishers; how to evaluate small presses, micro-presses, and digital-only presses; what "hybrid" publishing is (or thinks it is) and how to evaluate such companies; and all forms of self-publishing and e-publishing practiced today. Â
Agent One-on-One: First 10 Pages Boot Camp
July 9 - 12
As many writers know, agents and editors won't give your work more than ten pages or so to make an impact. If you haven't got them hooked by then, it's a safe bet you won't be asked for more material. Make sure you've got the kind of opening they're looking for! In this invaluable event, you'll get to work with an agent to review and refine the first ten pages of your novel or non-fiction book. You'll learn what keeps an agent reading, what are the most common mistakes that make them stop, and the steps you need to take to correct them.
The Final Polish—Making Your Prose Serve Your Story
July 16
Even if your story is compelling, well paced and gripping, what sets a good book apart from a great one can be the prose itself. With concrete, specific examples, learn how to tighten up the flab of useless verbiage, unnecessary modifiers, dueling descriptions, spoon-feeding, and more to make your style as tight as your storytelling—and how to elevate your prose to serve and deepen the story. Plenty of specific examples help attendees see firsthand how to apply these techniques to their own WIPs.
The Soggy Middle: How to Keep Your Story From Sagging
July 9 - September 3
The midpoint of your story changes what the story is about on a fundamental level. It gives everything on the other side a reason to exist. Once you know how to find your midpoint, plan for it, and write toward it, the middle stops being an insurmountable problem. It becomes the fuel that keeps the entire story moving.
Submission Coaching: Everything You Need to Know to Get Published
July 9 - August 13
There is so much more to getting an agent or publishing deal than just writing a good book. This 5-week class will give you the tools you need and that agents and publishers are looking for when considering taking on an author.
Beginning Television Writing
July 9 -Â August 8
In this four-week course, an established executive producer/showrunner will give you an inside look at the world of dramatic, episodic television. You will explore—and practice—the actual process involved in successfully writing a spec episodic script that will open doors across Hollywood.Â
Stay in the loop!
Sign up to receive emails about our latest classes, live events, and other Writer's Digest news!
