Writers must write!
That's because when we're writing, we get to use our intellect and our intuition at the same time, and this makes us feel whole.
None of the other things we’re supposed to hustle to accomplish in gives us the profound feeling of belonging we get from being in relationship with our writing.
In the Story Course Intensive, you will emerge from being an “aspiring writer” and learn how to craft your work and show up as a professional.
After our semester of learning and practice, you’ll feel confident about your skills as a writer, be clear about your own voice and strengths, and have a dynamite first draft you’re proud to share and publish.
You’ll finally see yourself as a real writer, and others will see it, too.
Stories are our witnesses, healers, teachers, and friends. They teach us how to stay curious. They hold us when our dilemma is unresolvable. They show us how to be human.
From Baba Yaga to Shakespeare to the Simpsons, stories are all around us. They’re like the mycelium network in our cultural soil, signalling what’s possible. What’s normal. What’s beautiful. What’s funny, mysterious, and true.
There is power and potential in our stories. It’s the reason we want to hear them, share them, and write them well.
It's also the reason we take ourselves so seriously, even when we're trying to write a first draft.
Our logical minds help us thrive as adults in the workplace, but they can fray our relationship to our own creativity. The Story Course Intensive helps you reclaim and revalue that relationship for yourself.
You will learn how to loosen your rationalizing mind so you can connect fluidly to source through the art of writing. Just being with your creative voice becomes its own reward.
At the same time, you’ll have the structure, support, and high-level training to turn your ideas into a finished, well-crafted story.
The Story Course Intensive gives you the intensity and intimacy of an MFA semester with more affordable tuition and careful feedback that builds you up as you learn craft and technique.
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You're nurtured by an eclectic circle of talent. You meet writers in an inclusive professional network. You receive meaningful, directional feedback. And you have what you need to finish your story.
Taking the Story Course Intensive is like giving your writing a super-vitamin.
ALL STORIES ARE WELCOMEOur focus is on creative short fiction, however the container of the Intensive has been valuable to memoirists, novelists, and poets alike. The creative techniques we teach are suitable to any genre.
ALL PATHS ARE HONOUREDOur Intensive writers are a diverse group: authors, communications professionals, lawyers, high school grads, recovering academics. Some are published novelists, some haven’t written creatively for years, or ever.
ALL SKILLS ARE LEVELED UPBeginners, seasoned writers, and rusty artists all benefit from the Intensive’s holistic coursework. It’s extremely thorough writing study — including deep reading — that ratchets up your skills quickly.
Your writing is valuable. It gets to be the love of your life. Unconditional. Reliable. Trustworthy. But still mysterious. Alive. When your writing knows you will show up, it rewards you with endless surprises.
Intensive stories are as unique as each writer. Study is rigorous, but rubrics are few. We simply want you to finish a story that teaches you something true about life, and leaps you forward on your artistic path. Those are our standards.
Wherever you’re at, we sharpen your toolset. Creative writing can be taught. You’ll have fun nerding-out, spotting technique in everything you read; and then, you’ll learn to let go and trust your new skills as pen meets page, without spoiling the mystery.
It’s not just about page count, it’s about the quality of your words. Your heart, body, and psyche are cared for in this program. You’ll get used to moving emotion through your body and onto the page, using all five senses, so the truth of what you write is deeply felt.
Every writer is different, but many of our struggles are the same. Solidarity with other writers is vital in this beautiful and unreasonable life we choose. You’ll walk out of the Intensive knowing how to centre writing in your life, without it being an existential crisis.
*BONUS*
The sooner you sign up for the Intensive, the sooner you get to enjoy your free Centered membership!
You now belong to a writing group of 6-8 people. No bigger than when I first taught the Intensive in my living room! And unlike campus, you will not be randomly shuffled.
I carefully pore over your intake form. I put students and teachers together because I believe they will deeply benefit from each others’ interests, hopes, and experiences.
I want you to join a circle where it’s safe to share the first sparks of your new work, knowing your classmates will do a careful review and let you know what works and why.
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One of the goals of this program is to take away barriers to learning and make it feel easeful and nourishing for you to share your experience. If you would like to be in a BIPOC-only or LGBTQ+-only class, let me know. With enough participants (6 per class), we can make this happen.
Our Teachers are all incredibly talented, working authors who bring their own brilliance to the coursework. They are here to make sure you are doing the exercises and trying out new techniques, while helping you develop your story, voice, and style.
Want to choose your teacher?
While not all teachers will be teaching every session, we may be able to accommodate your preferences. Reach out to us if you have a specific teacher request.
Approximately every other week, your class comes together for a live Zoom call to check in and support each other. Every teacher may choose to lead their calls differently, but above all this is your opportunity to get to know your class, share your progress, and see where you need more support.
*Recordings Included
The Story Course Intensive requires time and commitment. That’s the intense part: it’s not a light and frothy course, and it does matter that you show up. The good news is you do the work when it works for you, in your timezone, in our beautiful, easy-to-use online platform.
Rest gives your brain time to digest what you’re learning and quietly find solutions to writing craft puzzles. Making time for not-writing boosts your creativity and your capacity to learn new skills, and it makes the time you do spend writing much more productive and satisfying. During our rest and digest weeks, your creative mind is free to play and invent. You’ll experience new insights and creative aha moments, and come back to class feeling clear and excited to make creative decisions.
August 26, 2024 – January 10, 2025
Rest + Digest: October 7 to 13
Rest + Digest: December 16 to 29
10 TO 15 HOURS PER WEEK
On Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays students spend one hour engaging in their classroom discussion forum, and one additional hour on reading and writing. You’re also expected to do 10-minute daily exercises (as often as you possibly can!) and have the opportunity to dive deeper into our treasure trove of course content.
This is the part where you take time off work, shut down all distractions, and just write for a full week. Get your autoresponder ready. Finally, you have a good excuse. And you’re bursting with creativity from all the training you’ve done so far. You’re ready to write your story.
As an Intensive writer, you have the opportunity to book one-on-one calls with me at a special rate.
Bring me your curious characters, your tricky plot points, and all of your writing questions. I’m excited to meet you on Zoom, talk about your writing, and help you reframe anything that’s getting in your way.
The Story Course Intensive is a committed, rigorous, and high-touch semester of working through my signature lesson plan, The Story Course.* It’s a powerful 7-lesson course full of skillful techniques and creative rituals you’ll use in your writing forever. In the Intensive, you’ll spend 1-2 weeks moving through each lesson with your class. At the end you’ll have a feeling of transformation and respect for the writer you’ve become.
*Lifetime Access
As soon as you enroll, you’ll receive free access to our private writer’s forum, Centered. As a Centered member, you’re invited to attend monthly Co-Writing and Conversation sessions with me, attend live workshops with our monthly guest mentors, and attend our regular Read Like a Writer Book Club and Reading Series.
Within this space, you belong to a group of people as committed to the writing life as you are. Continue as a Centered member to stay in touch and continue to share your work long after the Intensive is complete.
If you know you want to take the Story Course Intensive this year, you might as well sign up now and benefit from all the excellent Centered programming in the meantime!
(If you're already in Centered, you'll get complimentary membership as soon as you register.)
A Series of Talks on Process & Technique
Full Recording Library
Francesca Lia Block, Eden Robinson, Karen Joy Fowler, George Saunders, and Ann Patchett are just a few of the writers who’ve taught Intensive students over the years. You’ll have access to the entire library of over a dozen deep dive conversations and interviews.
Skillful feedback is useful to both the giver and the receiver. When you start the Intensive, you practice “spark catching”. We focus only on what’s working for us — what sparkles — so that early ideas have the strength to grow into brilliant stories. Towards the end, you consider constructive critique to tune up your story and make it sing.
It’s surprising how much magic can come from this small daily writing habit. It could be initially uncomfortable, but the more you unfasten your logical mind, the more you’ll learn to trust your intuition as you write. It only takes ten minutes a day to build up your connection with that inner creator, so you can write your first drafts better — the first time.
Go ahead. Bury your nose in your books. It’s for your Intensive! More importantly, it’s what writers do. As you move through the course’s fiction anthology companion (ready to print at your local shop or view on any device) you’ll learn to read with a writer's eye and integrate your influences intentionally, without being derivative.
Our team comes together to make sure this ecosystem stays healthy.
We live in a traumatizing world. It hasn’t always been safe for many of us to express freely, particularly if we have one or more marginalized identities. Somatic therapy can help us heal and regulate our nervous systems, so we can reclaim our creative ground.
I’ve brought in my friend and colleague, Trauma-Aware Somatic Coach Annie Bray to develop the guided audio practices you’ll find in each Story Course lesson. They’re here to help you feel more resourced as you write deep scenes.
You’re receiving the newest version of my flagship curriculum, the Story Course, including updated videos, readings, and content. Together with your Intensive class, you’ll work through all seven lessons over the course of the semester, resulting in an excellent finished first draft.
Are you a beginner?
Are you more advanced?
You’ll learn why writing is one of the most difficult creative arts to master, and that struggling to write doesn’t mean you aren’t a talented writer — it’s challenging because of the way we’ve been conditioned to use language and meaning all our lives.
You’ll also learn how to start unlearning that conditioning.
You’ll look at your writing as a relationship, and learn how to nourish it. You’ll prepare for the upcoming lessons by setting up your space, establishing new habits and rituals, and creating a workflow that works for you.
This lesson sets the stage for the magic to begin.
You’ll learn the subtle art of moment to moment awareness and feel true presence while you write, so you can trust your intuition and write without judgment.
You’ll learn what “show don't tell” really means, and how to actually do it. You’ll have a chance to experience the flow state, write with more ease, and learn how to find and hold the energy in your line.
Learning how to access this powerful energy will be the foundation for all of your writing, no matter what genre.
Do you feel excited to write something new? Does a blank page make you anxious?
In this lesson you’ll learn how to feel confident when you create something from nothing. You’ll understand what makes an idea worth following, and learn techniques that show you how to write a powerful beginning.
You’ll learn how to trust what sparkles, and how to write it before it slips away from you. You’ll also learn about the key relationship between memory and imagination, and how to use this to your advantage in your writing.
You’ll feel surprised and liberated as you write compelling scenes with ease.
Whether you’re writing fiction or nonfiction, I’ll teach you the art of writing characters who feel real and multi-faceted, and how to stay open and feel grounded while you do it.
You’ll practice writing composite characters, unlikeable characters, and characters who astonish you. You’ll understand how to move your reader’s heart, and how to make your characters a conduit for empathy.
You’ll learn how to connect to your characters with integrity, so you’ll avoid pitfalls like stereotypes, clichés, and unbelievable plot twists. Your stories will feel alive and the conflicts and transformations you write will feel real.
Alot of writers think they are bad at writing dialogue. I’ve been teaching this lesson for years, and it always turns people around! Writing compelling conversation is a learnable skill, and you are going to find out exactly how to do it.
You’ll understand subtext — what it is, and how to work with it — and learn practical, foolproof ways to weave gold threads of sparkling dialogue into your scenes. You’re going to crack your scenes open and let the light shine in.
You’ll explore a variety of scenes and stories to see how conversation can be sculpted in different ways, and learn levels of intimacy, voice, and subtext. You’ll practice balancing your dialogue with exposition, and you’ll learn how to avoid being too “on-point.”
This is a really fun lesson, with a lot of play and experimentation! Once you learn how to love writing dialogue, your writing practice really starts to feel joyful.
This is my favourite lesson! All of the tools and techniques you’ve learned in this course so far have prepared you for the unpredictable process of writing a plot. You’ll learn how to let go of story writing formulas that restrict your characters, and navigate the unknown with skill.
You’ll train yourself to trust what you don’t yet understand, so you can write a story intuitively, using first thoughts, deep noticing, interconnectedness, presence, and craft. This will feel delightful and mysterious, and your scenes will vibrate and glow with freshness.
In your practice, you’ll develop the skills you need to create a plot that feels organic, surprising, and so much better than you thought was possible.
They say point of view (POV) is the most important decision you make when you write, and in this lesson, I show you why that's true.
You’re going to look at a variety of different points of view, study good examples, and learn what POV can offer in different contexts, so you know how to use them deliberately, for effect and impact.
You’ll learn how to narrate your story in a way that makes sense for the story, so your writing feels purposeful, artful, and saturated with truth and power.
I will teach you a no-fail way to use your intuition with your technique. This is a dramatic shortcut to story writing that has astonished too many of us to count! I use this technique all the time — it changes everything.
Be prepared: you will create magic.
In this lesson, you’ll read for motivation and inspiration, and learn how to articulate what you learn from other writers.
You’ll be able to recognize and define your personal writing style, and I’ll give you a personalized list of authors and titles that will continue to support and deepen your own work.
You’ll learn what questions you should ask if you’re writing about cultures and people who are different from you, and how to check in with yourself to make sure you’re writing with empathy and respect, so your stories aren’t unintentionally oppressive or harmful.
Finally, this lesson teaches you how to make and protect your writing time. You’re going to create a writing retreat for yourself — either at home or away — to finish your final assignment!
Your tuition includes access to all of our school’s signature offerings,
including the Story Course, Centered, and Daily Prompts!
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| The Story Course |
Centered |
Daily Prompts |
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A Handpicked Class of 6-8. Work together closely over the course of four months. You can trust this group with your writing, your heart, your wackiest glimmers.
A Devoted Teacher Offers Feedback, Guidance, and Accountability. Our teachers are all published writers and often Intensive graduates, here to make sure you integrate the work.
Twelve Live Check-In Calls With Your Class and Teacher. Approximately every other week, get to know your class, share your progress and see where you need more support.
A Virtual Classroom Gives You Flexibility & Structure. Show up three days a week in our beautiful, easy-to-use online classroom for study and discussion. You do it on your time.
Two Group Mentoring Calls with Sarah Selecky. I’m excited to meet you on Zoom, talk about your writing together, and help reframe anything that’s getting in your way.
The Story Course Curriculum to Develop Your Craft. A powerful 8-Lesson Course full of artful techniques and creative rituals you’ll use in your writing forever.
Mind Share Sessions with Remarkable Writers. Karen Joy Fowler, Francesca Lia Block, Margaret Atwood, George Saunders, Eden Robinson, and Ann Patchett are just a few of the writers teaching in this library.
Skillful Feedback that Builds You Up & Makes You Better. We practice skillful feedback focuses on what works, so that your early ideas have the strength to become brilliant stories.
Membership in Centered. Receive free access to our private writer’s forum, Centered.
Reading Assignments that Sharpen Your Writing. Move through the course’s fiction anthology, beautifully typeset and ready to print at your local shop or view on any device.
Daily Exercises to Unfasten Your Logical Mind. The more you unfasten your logical mind, the more you’ll trust your intuition on the page. This small daily habit works magic into your everyday.
If you would prefer a different payment plan option, please contact us at support@sarahselecky.com.
Story Course users:
|If you already have the Story Course, you receive a $475 discount on the Story Course Intensive. (Go to the “What’s Next” lesson in the Story Course to find your coupon code. To claim your discount, click the “Enroll” button, scroll to the “Your Payment” section, click the “Have a coupon code?” link, then enter your code.)
You can also choose to donate your discount towards a scholarship for a writer in our community. Get in touch.
It is intense! But it’s not inappropriate for beginners who are ready to commit to writing. You do not have to be familiar with the Story Course to register for the Story Intensive. In fact, the Story Intensive would be a beautiful way to introduce yourself to the Story Course: you’ll have a teacher guiding you through every lesson, and a dedicated class to support your practice. Read about the Story Course carefully before you decide if this is right for you; if the Story Course feels right, the Story Intensive will deepen your experience.
The Story Intensive emphasizes short story writing and reading. The curriculum is based entirely on the Story Course. But the course is designed to help all writers, including novelists, develop their writing practice by changing their writing habits (and their minds). Both of these programs will teach you how to write with immediacy, mindfulness, specificity, and integrity. You will learn how to be present as you write. You’re going to learn how to transfer an experience to a reader—and this is important for writers working in all genres.
Great question! The Story Course is the curriculum. It's a self-paced program with lessons you can do on your own. The Story Course Intensive is the guided version of this curriculum: a live semester that includes deadlines, accountability, and feedback on all of your assignments. In the Intensive, you'll learn faster, and you'll stay motivated! Check out this comparison chart to see all the differences in detail.
The Mind Share Sessions are made for graduates of the Story Intensive, and will only be available to them for the foreseeable future.
Intensive graduates are welcome to take the Story Intensive again. The curriculum has been recently revamped, but is based on the materials from previous years. We have added new MindShare Sessions, additional live calls, and sessions with our mental health consultant. And of course the live calls and personalized feedback during the semester will help you finish a brand new story, using the scaffolding and practice you know and love already. In addition, we give Intensive students free access to our membership community, Centered.
Each week of the Story Intensive is the equivalent of a three-hour class, but this class time is stretched over three days to accommodate different schedules and time zones. Give yourself at least an hour a day, for three days—sometime during Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday—to login to discuss the readings and lessons and to read and give feedback on other people’s assignments. The flexible part: you can login whenever you can fit an hour of focused discussion into those days. All students do not have to meet online at the same time for class discussion.
The Story Intensive is a bespoke writing program with a highly intuitive and personalized enrollment process. Unlike most other writing classes, ours are deeply interconnected: every change affects the whole cohort. This is what makes this program unique, and why it works as well as it does.
Your commitment to this program creates a mutual investment with your teachers and fellow writers. It is in that promise that the magic happens.
Of course, we understand that life happens, too: it can be unpredictable, even when we make a promise in good faith.
Please go here to view our full refund policy.
Now, that is a sweet question. That person is lucky to have you. Yes, of course. Simply click the checkbox next to “This product is for someone else” in the order form when you enroll and the system will guide you through the process.
I know. There is nothing more frustrating than fighting with technology. Despite what it might look like, I’m not a tech-loving person either. I’ve made it as simple and straightforward and intuitive as possible, for all users. I even tested it on my mom, who is “not at one with the computer” (her words), to make sure that it’s a smooth, easy process.
If you have a good high-speed connection, you’ll be set. You click on the links marked audio to listen, you click on the links that look like videos to watch. You click on the links that say download when you want to download lessons to your computer.
I also recommend printing out the lessons so you don’t have to work from your computer screen. The lessons are very pretty, even if you don’t print them in colour. And you should do all of your writing by hand, in a notebook. It all sounds easy because it really is easy! Promise.
We also have an extensive Help Page that walks you through the technological aspects of the program. Of course, if you are still having challenges, you can always reach out to us and we will help you get sorted.
Still have a question? Email us: support@sarahselecky.com
