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A Four Week Workshop on the Art & Craft of Writing Speculative Fiction

Daisuke Shen is leading a four week workshop on the art and craft of speculative fiction. Study innovative writers, hone your craft, and get extensive feedback on your writing.

  • Four weeks of in-depth lessons on the art and craft of fiction.

  • Four weeks of feedback on your writing from Daisuke Shen.

  • Personal guidance on the process of finding publication.

  • Access to live office hours with all of our instructors, even after the course has finished.

  • Full access to our private community of writers, so you can network with your fellow students.

Explore Innovative Fiction, Hone Your Craft, and Get Personal Feedback on Your Writing

Join writer and instructor Daisuke Shen for a month long workshop on the art and craft of writing speculative fiction, with a focus on weird fiction, science fiction, and magical realism.

Each week during this course, you’ll learn about a sub-genre of fiction, read wonderful examples from the genre, and get detailed feedback on a piece of your writing.

This course is perfect for anyone looking to hone their fiction writing in general, but will be especially useful to those who want to learn more about the modern literary landscape and how to get their work noticed by publishers looking for innovative, daring fiction.

You’ll study innovative writers such as Kelly Link, China Miéville, Charles Yu, and more — including examples from these authors that illuminate valuable craft lessons applicable to any style of writing.

Daisuke Shen – who is represented by Inkwell Management – has been published in a wide variety of literary journals and online publications. They are a passionate instructor, who cares deeply for their students.

This course comes out of Daisuke’s deep interest in exploring complex truths, bending genres, and building worlds – all of which is of interest to many publishers, literary journals, and readers.

During this course you will:

  • Get personal feedback on your writing every week, directly from the instructor
  • Study contemporary authors successfully publishing innovative fiction
  • Hone your craft through specific examples and thoughtful lessons
  • Get guidance on the publication process, including recommended literary journals that publish writing in each of the sub-genres presented in the course

 

The course starts on Monday, September 6th and goes until Friday, October 1st. Even after the course has finished, you will be welcome to attend office hours with all of our instructors.

You will also have a full six months to submit your work for feedback from the instructor.

Because of the intense level of personal feedback on your writing, this course is strictly limited to just 15 students.

If you are interested in joining this course, you are encouraged to sign up right away.

Enroll Now for $547 $447 (Early Bird Tuition)

About Daisuke Shen

Daisuke Shen is a writer, editor and teacher whose work has been published in numerous literary journals. In addition to working for Lookout Books, as well as The Asian American Literary review, Daisuke has taught creative writing at the university level.

Daisuke is currently represented by Michael Mungiello at Inkwell Management, and has been published in a wide variety of literary journals and online publications, including Autostraddle, SouthWest Review, Maudlin House, Hobart After Dark, Joyland Magazine, The Asian American Literary Review, and more.

As a teacher, Daisuke is known for the care and compassion given to students, in addition to their skilled insight into the craft of writing. 

Daisuke holds an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

Workshop Schedule

The course starts on Monday, September 6th and ends on Friday, October 1st. The course comes with daily lessons you can study on your own time, and interaction with Daisuke Shen. Everything is provided online, through the digital learning platform hosted by Thinkific.

Note that you will have up to six months after the course finishes to submit your writing for feedback. Also note that you will have access to office hours even after the course is complete.

  • Daily lessons, available to study any time on our online learning platform, hosted by Thinkific.

  • Personal feedback and discussion via email, our online discussion platform, or our private Facebook Group.

  • Weekly opportunities to submit your work for detailed feedback from the instructor.

Enroll Now

Enrollment is strictly limited to 15 students.
The early bird tuition is available until Monday, August 23rd .

Reviews of Authors Publish Workshops

5 star rating

A Writer's Haven

Christian Gutierrez

I want to simply state that this course is a kind of goldmine for any writer. I also want to gracefully thank both Emily and Daisuke for the wonderful work they do on behalf of all aspiring writers. It was a pleasure.

I want to simply state that this course is a kind of goldmine for any writer. I also want to gracefully thank both Emily and Daisuke for the wonderful work they do on behalf of all aspiring writers. It was a pleasure.

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5 star rating

Totally appropriate, and exactly what I needed.

Dee Knight

I loved this course. I only wish it could be longer. Every selection was interesting. The writing exercises were provocative and enjoyable. The feedback on my essay submissions were good and useful. I want more!! (That's because the essays I submi...

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I loved this course. I only wish it could be longer. Every selection was interesting. The writing exercises were provocative and enjoyable. The feedback on my essay submissions were good and useful. I want more!! (That's because the essays I submitted were early chapters of a book manuscript that is under review by a publisher. So any additional help could be very helpful to me.) While Marin's general concept of "the personal essay" doesn't always fit what I'm trying to do, everything she taught was useful to me, and very interesting. It there's a sequel, I would like to sign up!

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5 star rating

Inspiring and Instructive

Susan Cohen

Marin Sardy provides excellent examples and instruction on different essay writing techniques while encouraging writers to share their challenges and fears. Her feedback is tactful and clear, with a keen intuition on where a writer wants to go a...

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Marin Sardy provides excellent examples and instruction on different essay writing techniques while encouraging writers to share their challenges and fears. Her feedback is tactful and clear, with a keen intuition on where a writer wants to go and how to get there. Great class, highly recommended.

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5 star rating

Excellent Introduction to Different Types of Personal Essays

Mary Atkinson

Marin Sardy's Personal Essay Workshop covered so much in a short time. She provided great examples of different ways to approach personal essays along with her insightful comments about them. I especially appreciated her emphasis on each writer's ...

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Marin Sardy's Personal Essay Workshop covered so much in a short time. She provided great examples of different ways to approach personal essays along with her insightful comments about them. I especially appreciated her emphasis on each writer's personal process. We write to discover what we want to say and why and then dig deeper in revision. She is truly knowledgeable and passionate about the personal essay. I highly recommend her course!

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5 star rating

The Personal Essay with Marin Sardy

Isa De Quesada

Excellent...when I started I had no idea how to begin an essay and get it published. This course gave me the tools necessary to funnel my writing into an essay form. The structure of the course was incredibly helpful in organizing myself and my wr...

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Excellent...when I started I had no idea how to begin an essay and get it published. This course gave me the tools necessary to funnel my writing into an essay form. The structure of the course was incredibly helpful in organizing myself and my writing. I would love to take a level 2 Personal Essay Workshop with Marin.

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FAQ

  • What is the course schedule?

    The course starts on Monday, September 6th and ends on Friday, October 1st. Each week, we will release five lessons that you can study on your own time. These will be a mix of text-based lessons, recommended essays, and pre-recorded lectures. Each lesson comes with text-based discussion with the instructor and the class.

    At the end of each week, you will have the opportunity to submit an assignment to the instructor for in-depth feedback.

    There will also be two office hour sessions held via Zoom, which will be recorded for those who cannot attend live. They have not yet been scheduled.

    Note, that if you fall behind on the course, you will have a full six months to complete the course and submit your work for feedback from the instructor.

  • How much time will the course require?

    Overall, expect to spend around 30 minutes a day on the course. Some days will require less work, some days will require more.

    Lessons are released weekly, which gives you flexibility. Based on our experience with other courses, some students do the bulk of their work in one or two days each week, while others spend a little bit of time each day on our courses.

    Note, that if you fall behind, you will have a full six months to complete the course and submit your work for feedback from the instructor. You will also be welcome to attend live Zoom office hours after the course is officially over.

  • How many students will be allowed to enroll?

    Because of the personal feedback Daisuke is providing, the workshop is strictly limited to 15 students. Once we reach that number we will immediately close enrollment.