Mary Robinette’s live classes are a great way to deep dive into a topic and get the chance to have a more curated learning experience. See below for the 2025 Class Schedule (more may be added as the year progresses).
All classes are taught through Zoom and a recording of the class along with the class slides will be made available to you once the class is complete.
Short Story Workshops
Mary Robinette will be teaching two workshop intensives this year. Both are on Short Stories and are capped at eight students each. One in March and one in May.
Think you never have time to write? Think again. Mary Robinette Kowal wrote her first Hugo-nominated short story “Evil Robot Monkey” in ninety minutes. If you have ninety minutes, you can have a story — all it takes is understanding how to make every word work double-time. In this workshop, learn the same techniques she uses to create new fiction. Through exercises focusing on viewpoint, dialogue, and plot, you’ll learn how to let nothing go to waste. By the end of this three day workshop, participants will be given a writing prompt and complete their own short story.
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Here’s what past participants are saying!
“This class covers the basics of how to convey verbal and non-verbal interactions to better individualize characters in a story and make dialogue more dynamic. Also the puppetry added context was really fun and helped highlight how to use certain emotions and gestures to establish a character! There was also a class exercise that I enjoyed quite a bit.” – V.M. Ayala
“Mary Robinette is a phenomenal teacher and breaks down things that as a reader, I had missed, but as a writer I would need to demonstrate. I level up each time I have a lesson with her.” – Wen Wen Yang
“I love Mary Robinette Kowal’s classes because of the tools she’s created to help understand nuts-and-bolts of craft, and her warm and inclusive approach cuts through the frustrations I run into working on my writing. In her approach generally, and this class specifically, she’s taken the time to figure out how to pinpoint what’s going when something’s not working. What helps me is to learn: the issue is diagnosable, and it’s fixable. If a reader (or you) are bored by a section, this doesn’t mean (as my anxiety brain so helpfully tells me), ‘you suck at this and you should stop.’ It simply means there’s a technical reason for the issue, and you can fix that issue. In addition to the practical information in the course, I’ve gotten hope when I needed it. Invaluable.” – Marianne Lambelet
“MRK has a way of teaching that not only provides you with that AHA moment of how to improve your writing, but she does so in way that is implementable and with genuine care for her students. MRK is a master of writing who is both approachable and open to questions. If your debating taking one of her courses don’t, just register. Trust me you’ll be glad you did.” – Jackie Adam
“”Diagnosing Story Problems” feels like MRK curated a course just for me and came at the exact time I was dealing with these problems. It helped me to look at my writing process differently and to untangle sticking points or explain certain behaviours (such as procrastination). I appreciated the self-pacing and the quizzes after each short segment helped to reinforce the lessons and force me to think about key ideas/tips from each video. MRK is also an excellent and experienced teacher. Her points are clear and the material is helpful. This course would benefit writers of all levels.” – Samara Lo
FAQ
The workshop is a 3 day intensive designed to teach you some basics of writing and then how to write fast. You do not need to have written or published anything to participate in the workshop.
The cohort is a 3 month commitment that involves weekly meetings, almost daily writing/revising, and critiquing other works. It is designed for people who are already writing and need that extra push to build habits, finish works, and are working toward being published.
Both class options are available because everyone will have different needs. The benefits of a Live-Class are getting direct feedback and interaction with your instructor and you’ll have higher motivation to complete the in-class exercises. On-Demand is available because not everyone will be able to attend a live-class due to a variety of reasons. They are go at your own pace and you can complete them at any point.
You will also receive a recording of your live-class to return to and watch as often as you like.