203 Best Fiction Writing Classes in 2026

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.

One-day in-person workshop on Saturday 10 October, 10am to 4pm, with Kavita Bedford, author of Friends & Dark Shapes. Runs at Writing NSW's home in Callan Park, Balmain Rd, Lilyfield. $225 AUD non-members, $170 AUD members, $145 AUD concession. The subject is the seam between memoir and fiction - how to draw on real people and real events while still writing a novel or story rather than a record. Useful if you have autobiographical material you have not worked out how to fictionalise.

Eight-week evening workshop at the QWF office on Atwater Avenue in Westmount, Montreal, Tuesdays 8-10pm from 6 October, led by Eva Crocker, author of the novels Back in the Land of the Living and All I Ask and the prize-winning collection Barrelling Forward. One element of craft per week - setting, character, dialogue, description, voice, theme, point of view, structure. You submit one full story of 2,500-3,000 words for group critique and must have it ready before the first session. Capped at 12; registrations default to in-person seats, with two virtual places available only on request. This autumn's intake is full and QWF is running a waitlist - fees are shown once places reopen.

Thirty-hour evening course on Dawson College's downtown Montreal campus, Tuesdays 6-9pm from 6 October to 8 December. Fee $250 CAD plus tax - by some distance the cheapest structured creative writing course in the city. No prerequisite, class capped at 20, and the teacher is listed as TBA. It moves across short fiction and poetry with peer critique as the core method: every participant must submit at least one story or two to three poems for the group to workshop. Registration closes 1 October.

Single-day workshop at the QWF office in Westmount, Montreal, Saturday 17 October, 10.30am to 4.30pm, with Stephanie Merulla. Fee $120 CAD for non-members, $105 CAD for QWF members, $60 CAD students. Capped at 12 participants and in-person by default - the two virtual seats have to be requested and confirmed before you register. A one-day entry point if you want to try immersive storytelling without committing to an eight-week term.

Eight-week evening workshop at the QWF office on Atwater Avenue in Westmount, Montreal, Thursdays 8-10pm from 8 October, led by Jill Murray, a games writer with more than 25 credits including Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Subnautica: Below Zero. Fee $240 CAD for non-members, $200 CAD for QWF members, $120 CAD students. Capped at 12 and registrations default to in-person seats; two virtual places exist but must be requested from QWF and approved before you book. Covers interactive narrative for games, immersive theatre, installations and exhibits.

Full-day in-person writing retreat at St Matthew's Clubhouse in Toronto's east end, Sunday 6 December, 10am to 5pm, facilitated by Kim and Asifa. Open only to people who identify as Black, Indigenous or people of colour. Fee $285 CAD plus tax with instalment payment available, and two places are held at half price on a first-come basis. The day moves from short creativity-waking exercises into long stretches of quiet writing time, closing with sharing and a look at what comes next.

Full-day in-person beginners' workshop in Toronto, Sunday 27 September, 10am to 4.30pm, led by Firefly's Kim. Fee $250 CAD plus tax, payable in four monthly instalments of $62.50 at no extra cost. It runs at an historic lawn bowling club on the edge of Riverdale Park rather than a classroom - short warm-up exercises in the morning, longer writes in the afternoon, across autobiography, lists and poetry. Deposits are non-refundable and the full fee is non-refundable a week out, so book only once you are sure of the date.

Eight-week in-class novel course on the St. George campus in Toronto, Tuesdays 12.30-3pm from 6 October, with Janika Oza, author of A History of Burning. Fee $699 CAD. This is the daytime section, which matters if evening classes do not work for you - the other autumn in-class section runs Tuesday evenings. Aimed at writers who want to write a novel but have not started one. Counts towards the SCS Certificate in Creative Writing.

Eight-week in-class short story course on the St. George campus in Toronto, Tuesdays 6.30-9pm from 20 October, with Toronto writer Derek Mascarenhas. Fee $699 CAD. The autumn term runs two in-class sections and this is the later one, which suits anyone who cannot start in September. Counts towards the SCS Certificate in Creative Writing.

Nine-week in-class course on the St. George campus in downtown Toronto, Mondays 6.30-9pm from 28 September, taught by Patricia Westerhof. Fee $649 CAD. Each session splits in half: one part workshop, where your pages get constructive feedback from the group, one part craft discussion on character, setting, plot, point of view, structure or revision. Designed for writers who have not settled on a genre yet, so you sample several. Counts towards the SCS Certificate in Creative Writing.