Courses in Creative Writing
Courtney E. Morgan teaches at Lighthouse Writers Workshop nonprofit literary center and also leads classes with the homeless population in Denver and with school-aged kids. She has taught fiction workshops at the University of Colorado, Boulder, where she received her MFA in Creative Writing.
Place, Setting, + World-Building at Lighthouse Writers
Thursdays July 12 - Aug 2 10am-12pm
It is easy to take place for granted, to think of it only as a backdrop against which the action of a story occurs, but there is so much more setting can do! It can carry mood and tone, function as a mode of conflict, or even act as a character. And if a sense of time or place is integral to your piece or if you’re building a new world entirely, finding ways of weaving in world building is a crucial technique to master. Whether you’re working in speculative, historical fiction, memoir, or fiction with a strong relationship to place, this class will help generate ideas and hone skills for flawless creation of setting.
Lighthouse Lit Fest Craft Seminar: The Fantastic
Surrealism, Magical Realism + Speculative Fiction Friday June 8, 2:00-4:00 pm
In this seminar, we’ll let go of our stranglehold on “objective reality.” We’ll look at examples of speculative fiction and discuss differences between surrealism, fantasy, sci-fi, and magical realism, and in dissecting them, come to understand both why and how they do what they do. Finally, we’ll all try our hands at our own forays out of realism (or do deeper explorations, if you’re already familiar with the territory).
Reading as a Writer: Octavia Butler's Lilith's Brood at Lighthouse
Weds Feb 7-28 6:30-8:30
Nebula and Hugo Award-winning author Octavia Butler (also the first sci-fi writer to win the MacArthur "Genius" Grant), masterfully utilized speculative fiction to explore issues of race, gender, “otherness,” and hierarchy—she used the fantastic to reveal the deepest truths of our humanity. Through reading her work, we'll discover how we can use the irreal in our own ways to expose whatever truths drive us.
Lighthouse Lit Fest Craft Seminar: Writing Sex
The Craft of Erotic Encounters Friday June 15, 2:00-4:00 pm
In this quick-and-dirty workshop, we’ll look at examples of sex writing in fiction and nonfiction—and we’ll practice the mechanics and craft of including sexual and intimate scenes (explicit or not) in our narratives, determining who, when, how, and how much. We'll explore pacing and repetition, language and imagery, word choice and voice and the way each of these elements affect the way the scene plays.
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Intermediate Short Story Workshop at Lighthouse Writers
Thurs Mar 22-May 10 6:30-8:30
Building on the foundations of Intro to Writing the Short Story, this class will consist primarily of workshopping short story drafts. In addition, we’ll use writing exercises and published short stories as launching points for generating new material and discussing aspects of the short story craft, such as narrative scope, narrator reliability, structure, building tension, and developing plot.
Impulse: A Writing Course on Creative + Sexual Empowerment
Get in Touch with Creative and Sexual Power Online Course, Beginning Soon
In this course we’ll consider the creative and sexual impulse as one thing—one singular drive that leads us to (pro)create and birth works of art, relationships and connections, or yes, offspring—and we’ll explore ways of tapping this particular energy and using it to inspire and deepen our writing, our art, and our libido. With online modules, you will explore your relationship with your creative and sexual drives, at your own pace.
Draft a Novel Chapter 4-week Workshop at Lighthouse Writers
Thurs April 19-May 10 4:00-6:00
This four-week writing intensive course will focus on the most important elements of writing a chapter of your novel while keeping you on deadline. We’ll start at the beginning (how to open a chapter), then discuss narrative arc, your story's characters, and how to this chapter ties into your novel as a whole. We'll cover outlines and think about how everything fits together. Whether you're on your first chapter or final!
Independent and individualized writing courses on: creativity + sexuality, speculative fiction, social justice and feminism in literature, myths + fairytales, the shadow + horror, writing sex, the body, and more!
Past courses include: Speculative Fiction: Exploring Fabulism in All its Forms, Writing the Shadow: Monsters, Horror + the Repressed Self, Beyond Freytag's Triangle: Experimenting with Form and Structure, Advanced Short Story Workshop, Intermediate Short Story Workshop, and Draft a Short Story Chapter in 4 Weeks. Contact me or follow the newsletter to see when these may run again.
And more courses coming down the pipeline...
- Storying (Our)Selves: A Course on Healing + Personal Narrative
- Myths + Fairytales: Using Archetypes in Writing + Self-Expression
- Body Language: A Course of Writing + Movement.