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NEW WORKSHOP REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN!
Registration is now open for a variety of new and continuing workshops. Classes begin July 6th, 2026. Sign up today and become part of the Inlandia community of writers!
$50 EACH or $65 FOR SUBMISSION TO OUR ANTHOLOGY • 5 SESSIONS OVER 10 WEEKS • ENROLL TODAY! https://forms.gle/6dpHHHNJXnZbtCiW7
Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror with RM Ambrose
For all adults of all abilities, ages, and writing levels.
Alternating Tuesdays, starting July 7th 5-7 PM PT, on Zoom.
In this workshop, participants submit Science Fiction, Fantasy, or Horror (SFFH or Speculative Fiction) prose. Submissions may be short stories or excerpts of longer works. Fellow participants are expected to give each work a “close reading” prior to the meeting where we provide verbal feedback (i.e.,“Milford” method), and more complete written feedback shortly after the meeting. Instructor will provide lectures and exercises on various topics such as: how to give and receive feedback, subgenres under the Speculative Fiction umbrella, character, worldbuilding, use of violence/action, “verb poetry”, The 10% Solution and 2,000 to 10,000 – techniques for reducing the word count of your scenes, and for increasing the wordcount of your writing sessions, in order to make your writing more impactful to read and more fun to write.
This course is structured like a graduate-level workshop course for an MFA program, focused more on artistic development over specific, testable skills. Participants will be exposed to a variety of approaches to different principles of writing as a way to challenge, spur creativity, and develop their own voice and approach to writing. Participants are given the opportunity to apply these approaches and develop their own. Participants are also encouraged to develop their own judgment on how to employ or reject feedback from others, and to read the work of others critically, yet supportively, by providing feedback to other participants.
RM Ambrose received his MFA in Creative Writing with concentrations in Popular Fiction and Scriptwriting from Stonecoast at University of Southern Maine. He attended the Taos Toolbox workshop with Hugo-winning instructors Walter Jon Williams, Nancy Kress, and George R. R. Martin. He edited Inlandia book Vital: The Future of Healthcare, including one Best American SFF story and two award-winners for disability representation in Speculative Fiction. He guest-edited the medical issue of Future SF Digest, including two Years Best SF reading list stories. He was Assistant Fiction Editor at the Hugo-winning StarShipSofa Podcast. His story, “Olive Branch,” appears in Friends Journal.
Drafting the Self : A Multi-Genres Workshop with Renee Gurley
Some experience required; novice to intermediate level
Alternating Wednesdays, starting July 8th, 6:00-9:00 PM PT, on Zoom.
Drafting the Self: A Multi-Genre Writer’s Workshop is a generative, community-driven multi-genre workshop designed to help writers develop their voice across forms including creative nonfiction, fiction, poetry, and hybrid writing. Course topics are shaped by participants through a questionnaire at the beginning of the session, ensuring the material reflects the interests, questions, and creative goals of the group.
Each week, participants receive a curated Padlet with readings, craft insights, and writing prompts centered on a shared theme. A Google Drive folder is provided for participants to upload their work, review peers’ drafts, and offer written feedback prior to class. Workshop sessions focus primarily on discussion and critique of participant writing in a supportive, structured environment.
The course also supports the development of consistent writing habits and offers guidance on submitting work and building an author platform. This workshop is ideal for writers at any stage who want to generate new work, deepen their craft, and be part of an engaged writing community.
Renee (RJ) Gurley (she/her) is a writer and English teacher with an MA and MFA, and over 20 years of experience. Her work appears in Coping Magazine, Lehigh Valley Woman’s Journal, and Midwifery Monthly. Cállate!, the first chapter of her memoir, Lehigh Valley Woman’s Journal, and Midwifery Monthly. Cállate!, the first chapter of her memoir, was shortlisted in the First Pages Contest.
Manga Illustration and Writing with instructor Sebrae Harris
No experience required; all ages
Alternating Thursdays, begins July 9th, 5:00-7:00 PM PT, on Zoom.
This creative workshop introduces participants to the inner workings of the Japanese comic medium, Manga. Explore the terminology, story, character design, and paneling you need to create your own one shot or series! Art supplies will be provided. Presented by animator and mangaka, Sebraé Harris.
Sebraé Harris (AKA “StarLite Crystal”) is an African American artist, entrepreneur, and professional mangaka. He started drawing at the age of four and began taking art seriously when he was eight. Sebraé is a graduate of Riverside City College with degrees in Fine & Applied Arts, Animation, and Business & Entrepreneurship. The Vermillion Speedateer was his first manga/comic series. He went on to create the “Citrus Bellé” panel for Riverside’s Raincross Gazette.
Color Theory with Colored Pencils with instructor Juan “Zeb” Restrepo
No experience required; adults of all ages
Alternating Fridays, beginning July 10, 4:00-6:00 PM PT, on Zoom.
This workshop introduces the fundamentals of color theory through the accessible and versatile medium of colored pencils. Open to all skill levels, the session explores how color functions both visually and emotionally, encouraging participants to move beyond technical application and consider color as a tool for expression and storytelling. Through guided instruction and hands-on exercises, participants will learn how to build, layer, and manipulate color to create contrast, depth, and visual harmony.
Throughout the workshop, participants are encouraged to embrace play, curiosity, and creative risk-taking in a supportive environment. Participants will also receive printable worksheets to continue practicing and reflecting on these concepts at home. By the end, each participant will leave with a completed drawing, a stronger understanding of color relationships, and practical tools for continuing their creative practice.
Zeb Restrepo is a multidisciplinary artist whose work explores memory, imagination, and the relationship between humans and the natural world. Through drawing, painting, and installation, he creates evocative narratives that blend personal experience with speculative imagery. His practice invites viewers to reflect on transformation, connection, and belonging.
“Your Place”: Exploring the Concept of ‘Place’ in Literature with instructor Brian Dunlap
No experience required; adults of all ages
Alternating Mondays, beginning July 13th, 5:00-7:00 PM PT, on Zoom.
“Your Place” is a workshop where students explore the concept of ‘place’ in literature and learn the tools to craft their own stories rooted in setting, environment, and the ways humans interact with both. Students will also write and share their narratives of place, allowing them to develop their skills through practice, discussion and constructive feedback. “Your Place” begins with a brief class discussion of what the “writing of place” entails, helping gauge students’ prior knowledge and encouraging them to reflect on their own definitions of place-based literature.
Through close readings of poetry, short fiction, or essays (including writers of color and LGBTQIA writers), students will examine the techniques used to authentically capture a place—its history, communities, culture(s), geography, sensory experiences, and more—and how these techniques build a fully realized, living place that impacts the characters’ experience there. Students will start by applying the techniques they’ve learned in a few short active learning exercises, and will have the opportunity to share their work with the class to receive constructive feedback and/or class comments. This process encourages students to reflect on their choices and begin developing their own writing philosophy and authentic voice in place-based literature. Plus, exposure to a range of examples helps students recognize that there are multiple effective approaches to place-based literature, encouraging them to experiment and develop their own style.
Brian Dunlap is a native Angeleno capturing the city’s stories hidden in plain sight. He is the author of the chapbook Concrete Paradise (Finishing Line Press, 2018) and the winner of a Marvin Bell Memorial Poetry Prize from december magazine judged by former Los Ángeles Poet Laureate Luis J. Rodríguez. His poems, book reviews, and nonfiction have been published in PacificREVIEW, L.A. Parent, Compulsive Reader, Our California from California Poet Laureate Lee Herrick, and the anthology Reimagine America (Vagabond, 2022), among others. He’s the Editor-in-Chief of Los Angeles Literature, an online magazine covering the Greater Los Ángeles literary community.
Reclaiming the Narrative: Exploring Identity, Culture, and the Stories We Outgrow with instructor Andreea Tanase
Some experience required; novice to intermediate
Alternating Tuesdays, beginning July 14th, 5:00-7:00 PM PT, on Zoom.
Writers will explore the layered influences that form identity: culture, place, lineage, memory, and lived experience. Through guided prompts, reflective exercises, and supportive discussion, participants will trace the origins of the stories that shaped them, the ones passed down through generations, absorbed through community and culture, or formed in response to harm, belonging, or survival. Together, we will explore what it means to honor these stories while also recognizing what no longer reflects who we are becoming.This workshop is grounded in a trauma‑aware, culturally attuned approach that centers agency, voice, and emotional safety. Rather than focusing on craft in a traditional literary sense, the emphasis is on writing as a tool for self‑understanding, identity exploration, and narrative reclamation. Participants will be invited to write from lived experience, but always at their own pace and level of comfort.
Each session will offer a blend of teaching, generative writing, and optional sharing. Topics include: the narratives we inherit; the roles we learn to play; the cultural and geographic landscapes that shape belonging; the tension between who we were and who we are becoming; and the quiet, courageous work of outgrowing old identities. As the workshop progresses, participants will begin crafting new narratives rooted in clarity, self‑trust, and wholeness – narratives that reflect not just where they come from, but who they choose to be.
Andreea Tanase is an immigrant, writer, speaker, and facilitator whose work illuminates how the stories we inherit – cultural, familial, and survival‑based – shape our identity, belonging, and capacity for love. As founder of Heal Thrive Prosper, she helps individuals outgrow the roles they learned to play and build relationships rooted in clarity, agency, and self‑trust.
