Story Circle

by, for, and about women

The Art and Craft of Storytelling – 9-Month Online Course

Class instructor Len Leatherwood

Instructor: Len Leatherwood

Maximum Enrollment: 15

Class Term: 09/07/2026 - 05/24/2027

Tuition/Fees

SCN Member: $795

Non-Member: $895

During my years as a writer, teacher, and writing coach, I have become convinced that good writing is not primarily a matter of talent. It grows from sensitivity, persistence, attention to detail, and a willingness to keep learning.

Every page asks us to make choices: Whose eyes are we looking through? Which moments deserve to become scenes? What should be spoken aloud—and what might be more powerful if left unsaid?

These choices are at the heart of The Art and Craft of Storytelling, a nine-month online course offering practical instruction, guided practice, and the support of a safe, encouraging community.

Register by 11:59 pm Central Time, Sunday, August 16th, to receive the Founding Student Rate:

SCN members: $795
Nonmembers: $895

After the founding enrollment period, regular tuition for the nine-month course will be $895 for SCN members and $995 for nonmembers.

 

 

Enroll in this class

Class synopsis

The course is designed for writers of memoir, personal essay, flash memoir, fiction, flash fiction, and other forms of narrative writing. Although these forms make different promises to the reader, they share essential elements: compelling people, vivid scenes, meaningful details, emotional movement, a distinctive voice, and a satisfying shape. We will systematically go through these elements, practice them, and then share our results.

Class description

Throughout the course, we will learn from master storytellers working in different forms. We will examine carefully selected passages to see how accomplished writers create scenes, reveal emotion, develop people on the page, and sustain a reader’s interest. We will also explore how literary devices—including imagery, metaphor, symbolism, irony, foreshadowing, repetition, and recurring motifs—can heighten any kind of writing.

Class goals

We will build a supportive writing community where students can learn, experiment, ask questions, and practice new concepts in a safe and encouraging environment. Whether you are writing a 500-word flash piece or a book-length manuscript, you will be welcome. We will learn from master storytellers, from one another, and from the stories that only each of us can tell.

Class communication method

Each month, students will receive two prerecorded craft videos and two practical handouts containing readings, examples, and exercises. We will also meet twice on Zoom: once for a Craft Lab, where we will practice the month’s concepts, and once for a Reading Salon, where students can share brief excerpts and receive encouraging, focused responses. Zoom meetings will generally take place on the second and fourth Mondays from 1:30–3:00 p.m. Pacific, 3:30–5:00 p.m. Central, and 4:30–6:00 p.m. Eastern. A complete calendar will be provided because several dates will be adjusted to accommodate religious and national holidays, Thanksgiving week, the winter holidays, Passover, and previously scheduled commitments. The course will conclude with our final Reading Salon on May 24.

Class outline

  • September: Foundations—Purpose, Reader, and Story Promise.Why are you telling this story, and what are you promising your reader?
  • October: Compelling People on the Page.We will explore desire, contradiction, formative wounds, mistaken beliefs, and the details that make remembered or imagined people feel fully alive.
  • November: Scene, Summary, Reflection, and Change.We will consider which moments should be dramatized, which should be compressed, and how a piece moves toward emotional or intellectual change.
  • December: Point of View and Interiority.We will examine who perceives the story, from what distance, and with what degree of understanding.
  • January: Bringing the Page to Life.We will use setting, sensory detail, imagery, and meaningful objects to create experience and deepen meaning.
  • February: Dialogue, Silence, and Subtext.We will study what is said, what is concealed, and how conversations reveal people and alter relationships.
  • March: Shape, Structure, and Momentum.We will explore how scenes, reflection, summary, and other passages work together to create a satisfying whole.
  • April: Voice, Literary Devices, and Resonance.We will consider what gives writing its distinctive sound and what allows it to echo in the reader’s mind.
  • May: Revision and Transformation.We will learn to see a draft clearly and help it become more fully what we intended it to be.

Class time commitment

Students should plan to spend approximately five to seven hours over the course of the month: Two 90-minute live Zoom sessions Two prerecorded instructional videos Time to read the handouts and complete the exercises Optional time to revise and prepare a short excerpt for the salon Students may work at their own pace between meetings. The exercises can be applied to a new idea, a work in progress, or a completed draft in need of revision.

Instructor bio

Len Leatherwood, the Program Coordinator for SCN’s Online Classes program, has been teaching writing privately to students in California for the past 26 years. She is a nationally recognized writing coach and award-winning author. Len has published work in flash fiction and nonfiction and has been nominated for two Pushcart Prizes. Her novel, Hope in a Time of Dying, won the American Fiction Award in the LBGTQ+ category. Her blog, 20 Minutes a Day, can be found at lenleatherwood.com.

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