Unbound: Teen Creative Writing is available in either a 4-week format (offered in NYC and on Zoom) or a 6-week format (offered in NYC, on Zoom, and fully online). Each course blends lectures with hands-on writing exercises and is open to students between the ages of 13 and 17. A full course syllabus is available to review below.
Unlock your voice as a writer while learning the craft from the inside out. You have the freedom to work in the genres and forms that interest you most, whether prose fiction or creative nonfiction, while gaining the discipline and technique that separates good writing from great writing.
There are no grades, no exams, and no wrong answers here. Just creative writing. Each class is led by an instructor with deep experience helping young writers find and develop their unique voices. The goal is to explore: to see the world through a writer's eyes, ignite ideas, build confidence, and experiment freely with both fiction and nonfiction.
Strong writing is one of the most powerful and transferable skills a student can develop. Better writers produce more compelling college application essays, and an extracurricular writing course is a distinctive addition to any student's profile.
This course guides students through fiction and a range of creative nonfiction forms, along with the techniques that bring each to life.
Course Components:
- Lectures
- Writing exercises
Online Class Structure
- Week 1
- OIL: The importance of enjoying the writing process. An exploration of the three cornerstones of creative writing: observation, imagination, and language.
- Week 2
- Show and Tell: Understanding the difference between showing and telling. Techniques for showing through sensory detail, specificity, and scene-building.
- Week 3
- Individuality: The power of a personal journal. Writing what you know. Write what you want to discover. Finding your individual voice.
- Week 4
- Fiction: The types and forms of fiction. Where ideas come from. The fundamentals of story: character, plot, and point of view.
- Week 5
- Nonfiction: Exploring three types of creative nonfiction: memoir, personal essay, and narrative nonfiction. Where to find nonfiction ideas.
- Week 6
- Getting Better: Building good habits, overcoming the blank page, revision strategies, reading as a writer, and finding lasting reasons to keep writing.
Note: Specific content may vary among individual classes and instructors.
About the Online Format:
- Online classes bring together students from across the globe to participate in one of New York City's most respected writing programs.
- Online classes are asynchronous, meaning participation is not required in real time. You can log in at any hour, day, or night. However, the course advances on a weekly schedule, and certain activities should be completed within each week-long window.
- You can take an online writing class from anywhere with an internet connection. The majority of our online students are US-based, but we draw participants from practically every country in the world.
- Technical support is available throughout the course.
- One additional advantage of the online format is that you have a permanent written record of everything covered in class, which you can revisit and reference as your writing continues to develop.
