Latest News

Learn more

Get 12 Free Writing Lessons

Join our email newsletter and get a free 12-lesson course in narrative writing, from story ideas, drafting, editing, to how to get happily published.

Join Now

Writing Classes with The Writer’s Workshop

Seattle writing classes discuss best story openings.

Narrative Writing Classes

Have a compelling story? Want to learn the craft of narrative writing? Dr. Nick O’Connell teaches time-honored principles with a relaxed style in a sequence of four enjoyable Seattle writing courses, from nut graph to structure, from lead to climax.

Preview our Narrative Writing Classes

Travel writing classes in Provence.

Travel Writing in Europe

This course uses all of an author’s skills—ranging from dramatic scenes, character sketches, concrete detail, point of view, and scene by scene construction—to compose compelling, engaging travel narratives.

Preview our Travel Writing Classes

Online travel writing classes are ideal for the fast-paced contemporary world.

Online Writing Classes

Have you always wanted to write but needing a refresher course on the nuts and bolts of creative writing? Would you like to extend and enhance your writing techniques? If so, these online writing classes will help you communicate clearly and effectively in email, reports, letters, essays as wells as learning the art and craft of fiction and nonfiction narrative.

Preview our Online Writing Classes

Reviews from Past Students

Nick O’Connell’s teaching in his Seattle writing class was of great help in improving my writing and editing skills. The personal essay I did for the class on my whitewater rapids trip was published in Newsweek’s “My Turn” column. He helped me clarify my language and eliminate excess verbiage. He also showed me how to craft a compelling lead paragraph, one that transports the reader into the landscape of the story from the first word.

Judy Gelber is a freelance writer from Boca Raton, Florida.

GUESS WHAT!!!! Equus has accepted my article! OK, so they are only paying me $50, but I really don’t care about that. Thank you so much for helping me, Nick. I have really enjoyed and benefited tremendously from working through the writing process with you in this online writing class. Your comments and assignments kept me inspired and enabled me to write an article I had been thinking about for a long time. I don’t think that I could have done this without you. This is amazing! Just wanted to share the news!

Katharine Maccornack, Ph.D. is a writer from Summit, New Jersey.

Nick O’Connell, founder of The Writer’s Workshop, helped me with the concept for my book, Colors of the West, published in 2017 by Mountaineers Books. We worked together for six months on one of the chapters. Nick gave me valuable assistance with four drafts, which he read with care, offering detailed suggestions for crafting a lively non-fiction narrative. My book would not have gotten off the ground without his insights and experience!

Molly Hashimoto is a widely published artist and author of Colors of the West.

Nick O’Connell’s Seattle writing classes really opened up my eyes to using fictional techniques (dialogue, telling detail, characterization) in my nonfiction writing. Writing assignments I produced for Creative Nonfiction were later incorporated into Inside the Pike Place Market (1999). I highly recommend Nick’s classes to other writers looking for direction and inspiration.

Braiden Rex-Johnson is a food, wine and travel writer and author of the best-selling Pike Place Market Cookbook (2003).

The essay I wrote with your help is in this week’s issue of Newsweek. It is quite exciting – thanks for your help and encouragement in your online writing class. There is very little change from the original, so we must have done good!

John Hare whose personal essay “Tough Enough to Give up Snuff” appeared in Newsweek. He lives in Yuba City, California.

Thanks to your guidance in the Seattle writing class, my head is spinning with oodles of ways to express myself using the personal essay style. I attended a conference for text and academic authoring in Minnesota a few weeks ago, where three of us actually composed a personal essay on napkins at a reception with a well-stocked bar. I credited you as my inspiration.

Karen Hoelscher, Ph.D. writes from Bellingham, Washington.

I can’t thank you enough for all that I learned from you about crafting a narrative, scene, and character portraits in your Seattle writing classes. Also, your tips for using strong verbs, rich descriptors, and setting up the framework for the book have proven invaluable. I could never have completed the book without the tools and skills you helped me acquire.

Angela Day is the author of Red Light to Starboard: Recalling the Exxon Valdez Disaster

I really appreciate all of your great feedback in the online writing class, particularly the fact that you went through my writing very carefully. Although I learned a lot in the Writers Digest Fiction course it was mostly through my efforts – instructor feedback was usually limited to two or three sentences of general comments that were not particularly helpful.  I will stick with you, Jessica Murphy and Scott Driscoll in the future.

Bob Sproule is a freelance writer from Klamath Falls, Oregon.

Read more reviews

The Storms of Denali: Book Trailer with Nicholas O’Connell

Email or Call Today: (206) 284-7121

Have you always wanted to write but haven’t known where to start?

Have you written in the past but need a refresher? Are you an experienced author who wants to perfect and extend your technique?

We offer a wide variety of writing classes, including Seattle writing classes, travel writing classes and online writing classes to meet the needs of a wide range of writers. All of our instructors have extensive teaching and professional writing experience, allowing them to guide you through the sometimes bewildering world of newspaper, magazine and book publication. We provide expert, constructive criticism to help you master the art and craft of writing.

Find the writing class that’s perfect for you >

Meet your writing instructor Nicholas O’Connell

Hello & welcome!

Learn the secrets of narrative writing in my writing classes and:

I look forward to working with you!

Yours,

Nicholas O’Connell, M.F.A., Ph.D.
Send me an email
(206) 284-7121

Nicholas O'Connell, founder of The Writer's Workshop.

Writing classes help writers tell compelling stories.

Reach a wide audience and satisfy some of your deepest yearnings for pattern, mystery, and coherence in your life.

Narrative writing allows for great scope and ambition, but it requires commitment to the habit of art to succeed. Our writing classes will help you develop your own habit of art, mastering the art and craft of narrative writing essential to creating fiction and nonfiction stories.

We teach Seattle writing classestravel writing classes and a wide range of online writing classes.

Reedsy Best Writing Classes 2023