For more than a decade, I’ve taught hundreds of students in creative writing classes and community workshops as well as individual coaching. Teaching writing has become an abiding passion as well as an expression of kinship.
Classes
From Instinct to Story Arc
Four weeks to upend everything you were taught about story structure! You’ve heard of this thing called “structure.” You know your novel, memoir, or short story needs it. But you’re happy to leave English class essay outlines far, far behind you, along with mean girls and pocket squares. There is a better way. Forget analytical left-brain plot hacks rooted in Western patriarchal hegemony. Instead, approach structure from the power of your creative instinct.
In this four-week class, we’ll discuss building frames for your creative writing by decoding the yearning and themes at the heart of your project. We’ll look at how to move from abstract to practical questions by mining your own intuition as raw material. Using prompts, games, and collaborative brainstorming, we’ll uncover what your creative subconscious already knows: how to shape your story.
What’s Next? Pushing Beyond the “Beginning Writer” Stage
You’re not a beginner at creative writing any more. You’ve taken a few generative-style classes and are practicing writing regularly. But critique-based workshops sound daunting. Maybe you even jumped into one of those workshops but felt unprepared and out of your depth. If you’re stuck in the middle of this writing journey and unsure how to make progress, this class is for you. (It’s especially for you if you’re not sure whether to call yourself “intermediate” yet!) Gently, we’ll ease into the transition to workshop by discussing how to provide effective and kind critical feedback to others and how best to receive feedback in the workshop setting. You’ll have the chance to workshop a short piece of your own — with a lot more teacher supervision and guidance than in a traditional workshop. We’ll also discuss the writing process, including strategies on building a writing routine and how to develop a full story out of an idea. Plus, we’ll cover some of the practical stuff of the writing life: exploring publications, staying grounded through rejections and envy, applying for residencies and grants and finding a community.
Writing and Mindfulness
Mindfulness practices cultivate awareness of the present moment -- a quality embedded in all our favorite novels, short stories, memoirs and poetry. Creative writing requires keen observation and attention to the now in order to capture setting, character, description, and dialogue that bring words to life. In this virtual workshop, we'll develop both practices and learn from their overlaps. We'll use meditative prompts to aid our explorations of both mindfulness and creative writing and share the writing that emerges out loud. Recommended (optional) reading: "The Pen and the Bell" by Holly J Hughes and Brenda Miller.
Free Write-Ins (Every Week)
Do you wish there was a place you could go for writing inspiration and practice? Where you could hang out with other writers? Without needing to make a long-term commitment or spend a lot of money? Gotham Write-Ins are that place. Here’s what happens. The teacher gives an interesting writing prompt. Everyone writes for a while. Then volunteers may read their work aloud. You take a break and socialize. Then you go through the process one more time. For now, all over Zoom, and all free.
I have never taken a creative writing class before. But as a teenager, I spent hours writing towards a "book." Coming to the US and getting just bloody red papers back, I got so mortified that I gave up on it. This class really made me feel like I can do this, and don't have to give up on it. As long as I continue to refine and practice, I can return to something I have missed very much. I am looking forward to a new creative journey!
– Nathalie Pham, Fiction I student
Past Classes
Upside Down: Writing the Familiar into Strange - For Teens
Are books and stories your dearest friends in dark times? Are daydreams the refuge you come home to? Could words be the escape you’re craving from the world? This is a generative writing class about unearthing strange stories inside familiar rooms. We’re accustomed to searching for ideas in the outside world—sketching from nature or capturing family drama or scribbling down overheard conversations. In this class, we turn inward. We’ll build a ship from the everyday scraps around us and journey together into the deeps of your imagination. We’ll incorporate magic, fantasy, and horror into our writing to turn the banal into the babadook. Using discussions, readings, prompts, and games, we’ll spot the spooky stories hiding within everyday books, songs and memories. Shake off those quarantine doldrums because all your weirdest ideas are about to rear up and come to life.
Learning by Listening: Research Techniques for Creative Writers
Writing is about connection; to forge links with the world around us, we listen to other voices. Research is about learning from other people and the records they leave behind. In this class, we’ll go over basic principles of conducting research for creative writers, role-play interviewing and discuss how to formulate the right questions, as well as cover archival study and data organization. We’ll also cover how to mine details for setting, character, and context. Whether you’re writing historical fiction or contemporary nonfiction driven by current events or family narratives, don’t be afraid to tune your ear to other voices. We’ll also look at how other writers—including Zora Neale Hurston, Edward P. Jones, and Monique Truong—have approached research for their creative projects.
Writing Personal Essays
Two four-week workshop series for members of Gilda's Club -- an organization supporting people affected by cancer. This workshop empowers you to channel your memories into stories. The scent of fresh naan from a clay oven. Scratch of wool against your chin from a favorite scarf. Rain against the windows of your fourth grade classroom. We use senses and stories to build our world. And it's through visceral experiences on the page that we can reach out to readers. This is a class for anyone who wants to channel their memories into stories that bring readers inside. Through prompts, discussion, and sharing writing, you'll learn how to mine your sense-memory and write evocatively. You will come away with a notebook full of story starts as well as readings by published writers to inspire you.
Upside Down: Writing the Familiar into Strange
If you’re feeling sapped of creativity and craving escape from the mundane, inspiration is right in front of you. This is a generative writing class about unearthing strange stories inside familiar rooms. We’re accustomed to searching for ideas in the outside world — sketching from nature or capturing family drama or scribbling down overheard conversations on the street. In this class, we turn inward. We’ll mine the drips and drabs from everyday objects and incorporate magic, fantasy and horror to turn the banal into the babadook. Using discussions, readings, prompts and games, we’ll spot the spooky stories hiding within familiar rooms, books, songs and memories.
Whose Story? Our Story! Digital Design, Interactive Fiction, and Power
In this class, co-taught by a writer and an interaction designer, we will explore storytelling and power in terms of writing craft as well as digital design and games. Through writing prompts and discussion, you’ll develop your own interactive story in which the audience gets to choose how the story unfolds and ends. And you’ll learn how to use a free digital platform for writing interactive stories to translate your story idea into a web-based narrative game that you can share with friends!
Writing the Familiar into Strange: A One Day Generative Workshop
If you’re feeling sapped of creativity and craving escape from the mundane, inspiration is right in front of you. This is a generative writing class about unearthing strange stories inside familiar rooms. We’re accustomed to searching for ideas in the outside world — sketching from nature or capturing family drama or scribbling down overheard conversations on the street. In this class, we turn inward. We’ll mine the drips and drabs from everyday objects and incorporate magic, fantasy and horror to turn the banal into the babadook. Using discussions, readings, prompts and games, we’ll spot the spooky stories hiding within familiar rooms, books, songs and memories.
From Instinct to Story Arc
You’ve heard of this thing called “structure.” You know your novel, memoir, or short story needs it. But you’re happy to leave English class essay outlines far, far behind you—along with mean girls and pocket squares. There is a better way. Forget analytical left-brain plot hacks rooted in Western patriarchal hegemony. Instead, approach structure from the power of your creative instinct. In this class, we’ll discuss building frames for your creative writing by decoding the yearning and themes at the heart of your project.
Creative Writing 101 at the Gotham Writers' Workshop
Are you eager to test the waters of creative writing but not sure where to start, or how? Have you written previously but been away for a while and hope to dip back in? Here you will be guided surely and safely into the writing life. There’s no pressure to work on a specific project or even settle on which type of creative writing you prefer. The idea is to explore—see with a writer’s eyes, spark ideas to life, gain confidence, and experiment with both fiction and nonfiction.
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One-on-One Coaching
Imagine getting a classroom to yourself, where you only discuss what interests you (with no one listening in), and move at the pace that suits your process. If you love learning and want to do it your way, this is for you. Contact me for a free 20-minute consultation to learn more.
Roohi provided exactly the kind of high-concept fundamentals that I needed to give my work structure and direction. She gave me the tools to be able to be able to think deeply and critically about my own work. As a result I am able to apply far greater critical rigor to my work. I now have the tools to make sure that my writing is working as hard as it can in pursuit of my story's development, my characters' development and the book's eventual resolution.
– Tasha Kosviner, Coaching Client
Editing & Sensitivity Reading
Need a critical eye for your short stories, essays, memoir or novel? I’m honest and will tell it like it is, but I don’t believe in tearing your hard work to shreds. I firmly believe that each person’s story is worth telling, and I want to help you do it justice. Sensitivity reading is a special kind of review looking for representation or bias issues, especially in situations where the writer is working outside his or her community or culture. Take a look at my bio to see if my perspective would be right for your manuscript.
I came to Roohi with a collection of short stories that didn’t feel finished. This collection was weighing on my heart because I wanted to tell these stories on a way that would be effective, powerful and reach my target audience. After several months of working with Roohi, I have finally found my voice. She’s so good at targeting the points in my writing that need work and providing concrete solutions.
– Emily Rose, Editing & Manuscript Review Client
Finding a sensitivity editor who is a good match for a book project can be a daunting task. I’m so incredibly grateful I found Roohi. Her editorial letter was focused and cut to the heart of the story I was trying to tell. She pinpointed specific issues regarding character development and plot. She helped me to more deeply consider the historical context of the novel, and guided me to add more nuance to the characters and their conflicts. Roohi did not just tell me what aspects of the books needed improvement – she gave me suggestions about how to improve the book. She was timely, gracious, and professional and I look forward to working with her again soon.
– Anjali Enjeti, Sensitivity Reading client