2026 Spring Online Writing Classes

We have some intriguing classes this spring, and our volunteer editor Mark Chavez was kind enough to share his breakdown on what classes he’s looking forward to taking!

In August I moved back home to where I grew up in Western Washington after fifteen years away. A lot has changed, both for this area and for myself. I didn’t read a lot of sci-fi and fantasy as a kid, and now I’m an aspiring speculative fiction writer. Thankfully Clarion West is one thing that’s still holding strong out here. 

This year I am planning to sign up for a few classes. Since I didn’t get into the novel writing workshop, after not getting into the Six Week Workshop last year, I’m really thinking about Essentials of Short Speculative Fiction with Ian Muneshwar. It’s going to cover the basics of the craft through the lens of speculative fiction over the course of eight weeks. 

Benjamin Rosenbaum is onboard to teach three classes this year. Profligacy sounds like a really fun opportunity to generate new story ideas, but this parent of young kids has plenty of ideas waiting to be dusted off so I’m going to opt out of that one. I feel like I need to understand the rules a little more before taking his Breaking the Rules class, but I was really fascinated by the idea of his Writing is Half the Journey class. The one hour lecture is all about how readers do the labor of imagining what we’ve created, and thinking of critiques as a way to better understand your reader’s mind. I’ve been looking for a more meaningful way to critique. This feels like a great place to start. 

I’m looking forward to taking some of these courses to hone my skills and hopefully make it into that Six Week Workshop. It’ll also be nice to meet more people on this journey too. Looking forward to seeing you there. 

There are a couple of other online classes that might pique your creativity, so be sure to check out the full 2026 spring class schedule.