This 4-month generative nonfiction class will focus on writing new material for those working toward a memoir, essay collection, or other nonfiction.

The class starts on February 5, 2026, Thursday, and will meet every other week until May 28, 2026, Thursday from 4-6:30pm PT / 7-9:30pm ET.

I like to approach generating nonfiction by writing in layers of memory, of truth, and fact. The rigors of nonfiction are tied to working with evidentiary materials, yet within communities that have faced erasure or the pressures of colonization other versions of truth remain. Rather than responding to the pressure of seeking one truth, we will construct nonfiction that acknowledges a variegated strata of truth and the murk and inexact quality of memory. In this course, we will construct drafts that work toward the personal essay, memoir, and the reported piece, by building in layers. We will write the personal in layers of emotion—angry versions versus compassionate versions—write the self and characters along similar lines, and investigate versions of truth by asking how different people in the story might tell of what happened. In this way, we will reach for unexpected lenses and come as close to the truth as we can, and then after the writing is done, we will decide on a place of truth-telling that best serves the story.

Pages generated in this class will remain private to you (though there will be regular share-outs during class). so that you can best write without inhibition.

At the start of the semester, we will create individual plans—word count, page count, or notebook page count—and create goals that we will then be accountable to the group to. We will also look at a general shape of the project you are undertaking. What is the general shape of the memoir that you want to draft? What are its major themes and minor ones? What essays or subject matter are you plunging into, and what might be the scenes/stories populating that work?

I will also give assignments that involve fact-gathering—and these fact-gathering assignments will range from using traditional methods (such as the interview and the counter-interview) and nontraditional methods (such as seeking the truth in unexpected places, and using divining tools).

For this semester, we will write the story as deep and close to the emotion as possible, keeping in mind all the questions of truth in nonfiction, and the malleability of memory and fact. We will also discuss being a secretary to the work, laying plans toward publication, and the more strategic parts of getting your work out there—including seeking agents and awards and fellowships—for all who seek that information.

You can read testimonials from previous students here. If you’re interested in a critique-based workshop, there’s more about the fall term here; if you’re interested in both, you can learn more here.

In addition to the spring 4-month generative nonfiction class, this includes the fall 4-month nonfiction workshop, during which we’ll focus on working together to shape and revise your writing.

The spring semester starts on February 5, 2026, Thursday, and will meet every other week until May 28, 2026, Thursday from 4-6:30pm PT / 7-9:30pm ET. The fall semester starts on August 27, 2026, Thursday, and will meet every other week until December 17, 2027 from Thursday 4-6:30pm PT / 7-9:30pm ET.

If you sign up for the full year of classes by January 31, 2026, an automatic 10% discount is applied.

Please note: if you’re interested in the full year, wonderful! The fall semester, which includes the workshop portion of the class, is application-based on a rolling basis. Before signing up for the full year, please send a 10- to 20-page writing sample and a paragraph describing what you hope to get out of the workshop to Trip Whitfield, trip dot whitfield at gmail dot com. We’ll get back to you soon with next steps.

You can read testimonials from previous students here.

This 4-month nonfiction workshop will focus on working together to shape and revise your writing.

The class starts on August 27, 2026, Thursday, and will meet every other week until December 17, 2026, Thursday from 4-6:30pm PT / 7-9:30pm ET.

Please note: This class is application-based on a rolling basis. Before signing up for the fall term, please send a 10- to 20-page writing sample and a paragraph describing what you hope to get out of the workshop to Trip Whitfield, trip dot whitfield at gmail dot com. We’ll get back to you soon with next steps.

In workshop, our primary focus will be the careful analysis and discussion of participants’ works-in-progress. To supplement our understanding of craft, throughout the semester, we will survey different elements of story in nonfiction. We will look at the intersection of audience and power, story tension, and learn to edit for elements that are working on a micro-scale (in a line, a paragraph, a page, or a chapter) and on a macro-scale (how they are accumulating and weaving a prolonged narrative). We will look at building meaning through metaphor, scene, and adjacent narratives we can bring into the text.

Critique sessions are author-vision led. Each author will submit along with their workshop an artist statement. As readers of their work, we will practice de-centering ourselves and centering the author—this means thinking beyond our reactions and individual taste. We will study and analyze the style, imagery, and pattern of each nonfiction piece, as well as the engineering of its sequence, plot, and story elements guiding ourselves from what the author wishes for the work and what the work itself seems to want to be in order to give the best feedback possible.

We will also discuss being a secretary to the work, laying plans toward publication, and the more strategic parts of getting your work out there—including seeking agents and awards and fellowships. 

Workshop is a special place, one where we can come together as artists and share a practice of meaning-making. 

You can read testimonials from previous students here. If you’re interested in a generative class, there’s more about the spring term here; if you’re interested in both, you can learn more here.