194 Best Fiction Writing Classes in 2026

A ten-month in-person course at the Writers Studio's Bronte studio in Sydney, built to get a complete first draft of a novel or screenplay finished by people who work full time. Fee is $4,495 AUD including GST, or $965 registration plus nine monthly payments of $400. You meet one Saturday a month, 10am to 6pm, plus one full weekend intensive, with founders Roland and Kathleen teaching and further tutors supporting between sessions. The structure breaks the draft into weekly tasks rather than leaving you to pace it yourself.

Weekly writing workshops that facilitate creative exploration in various genres, including literary fiction, poetry, and non-fiction. Participants can attend the first session at no cost as a guest. The workshops use the Amherst Writers & Artists method to encourage artistic growth.

In-person retreat mornings in Cincinnati, $100, at the Clifton Cultural Arts Center. Four standalone Saturday dates - 19 September, 10 October, 14 November and 5 December 2026 - each running 10:00am-12:30pm, ages 18+. Each date is a self-contained half-day retreat rather than a sequence, so you can book a single morning without committing to a term. Need-based scholarships of up to $100 are available for any CCAC class via a short application.

A two-day online event focused on getting published, with sessions on pitching, publishing avenues, and storytelling techniques. Includes personal critiques and optional one-on-one meetings with agents.

Weekly work-in-progress group at Emmanuel Church on Barlow Moor Road in Didsbury, Tuesdays 7.30pm to 9.30pm. Your first session is free, after which it is GBP 2.50 to cover the room hire and a coffee halfway through. Each week around six members read out what they have been working on for the rest of the group to comment on and question, with a different six the following week. The stated focus is getting published, so a typical evening might cover characterisation and dialogue one week and how to get a literary agent's attention the next. Mostly novels in progress, with short stories, poetry, memoir, science fiction, horror, children's fiction and the occasional play script. Contact them before turning up - there is sometimes a waiting list.

Monthly morning group at Withington Library, last Friday of the month at 10.30am, GBP 1 a session. Each meeting takes a theme - the group's example is 'write about what you know' - discusses it, then members read out work they have brought. Members are working on short stories, poetry and novels, and the group says it welcomes life writing, children's writing and articles too. Two things to know before booking: it runs through U3A, so you need to be a member, and U3A is aimed at people no longer in full-time work.

Free weekly workshop in Room 3.09 above the Manchester Poetry Library, Wednesdays 6.30pm to 8.30pm, run by Cultureword, which has been developing Black and Asian writers in Manchester and the north for over three decades. Open to Global Majority writers - African, Caribbean, South, Southeast and East Asian, Middle Eastern diaspora and Indigenous communities. These are proper critique sessions rather than drop-in writing time: you bring your own poem, story, novel extract or memoir, and there is a stated expectation that you both give and receive constructive feedback and return with revised work. Spoken word poetry and short fiction are the group's strongest suits. Join by emailing admin@cultureword.org.uk.

Free two-hour session at the Howson Branch library on Exposition Boulevard, 1pm to 3pm, led by author and writing coach Rosa Latimer. It runs monthly on a Monday afternoon and is open to adults at any level with no booking required. Be aware of the format before you go: this is a facilitated writing group rather than a taught course with a fixed syllabus - the group decides the direction of each session together, so you are expected to contribute rather than sit and take notes.

One-day in-person workshop on Saturday 7 November, 10am to 4pm, with Tim Ferguson. Runs at Writing NSW's home in Callan Park, Balmain Rd, Lilyfield. $225 AUD non-members, $170 AUD members, $145 AUD concession. This is comedy as writing craft, not performance: weaving humour into fiction and drama, comic characterisation, plot, and the mechanics of why a joke works on the page. Bring pen and paper or a charged device - there is writing throughout the day.

One-day in-person workshop on Saturday 31 October, 10am to 4pm, with Hayley Scrivenor, author of the bestselling crime novel Dirt Town. Runs at Writing NSW's home in Callan Park, Balmain Rd, Lilyfield. $225 AUD non-members, $170 AUD members, $145 AUD concession. A full day on the two decisions that shape everything else in a draft - who tells the story and how they sound - worked through practically rather than discussed in the abstract.

One-day in-person workshop on Saturday 24 October, 10am to 4pm, with Graeme Simsion, author of The Rosie Project and its sequels. Runs at Writing NSW's home in Callan Park, Balmain Rd, Lilyfield. $225 AUD non-members, $170 AUD members, $145 AUD concession. Simsion teaches novel writing as a structured, repeatable process drawn from creativity and design theory rather than as inspiration - story structure and project management for a book-length work. Note it runs the same day as the poetry workshop, so you cannot take both.

One-day in-person character workshop on Saturday 17 October, 10am to 4pm, led by Maame Blue, award-winning author of the novels Bad Love and Kissing the Coconut. Runs at Writing NSW's home in Callan Park, Balmain Rd, Lilyfield. $225 AUD non-members, $170 AUD members, $145 AUD concession. It is aimed specifically at difficult characters and difficult relationships - people who are hard to like and harder to write - rather than at character construction in general.