The 2025 Forever Workshop Calendar June - December 2025
A curriculum informed by editors, agents, and fellow writers
Welcome to the second half of 2025. To prep for this line up, we asked editors, agents, and fellow writers a simple question: what craft elements, if mastered, make a piece unforgettable?
Then we tracked down folks who live and breathe those skills and convinced them to teach your next six workshops.
This half of the year, we’ve got award-winning novelists and poets, editors of top-tier literary mags, and some fun twists like how to use copywriting techniques to sharpen your prose.
No vague pep talks, no generic pointers. Just intensive, actionable techniques focused exactly where they matter most. Fresh lessons drop every Monday. Here’s what’s coming:
June → Humor by Genre
Comedy for All: How to Make Your Writing Funny with Alex Baia
You'll learn: Whether you write fiction, nonfiction, essay, memoir, ad copy, or the labels on soup cans, this workshop will help you add more humor to your craft.
Your instructor:
, a humor writer published in The New Yorker and McSweeney's, serves as editor of Slackjaw while teaching others to master the craft of comedy writing.
July → Hooking Readers
Copywriting Techniques That Translate Into Creative Writing with Sophie Campbell
You'll learn: How to use industry-insider copywriting techniques to create rich, memorable, and gripping prose.
Your instructor:
, a prize-winning Scottish poet who won Glasgow Women's Library's Bold Types competition, combines her creative writing success with expertise in crafting content for literary brands.
August → Figurative Language
Flawless Figurative Language wirh Kelly Grace Thomas
You’ll learn: The vital ingredients for metaphor, sensory detail, personification, and hyperbole, including how and when to use each effectively.
Your instructor:
is an award-winning poet and writer, winner of the Jane Underwood Poetry Prize and Neil Postman Award. You can read her work in The Sun, The Adroit Journal, 32 Poems, Los Angeles Review and elsewhere.
September → Worldbuilding
What All Writers Can Borrow from Speculative Fiction with Amy Shearn
You'll learn: What speculative fiction can teach every writer about world-building, imagination, and keeping readers hooked.
Your instructor:
, an award-winning author of five novels from Putnam and a former editor at Medium and JSTOR, has taught creative writing at Yale Writers' Workshop while publishing in The New York Times and Literary Hub.
October → Suspense
The Best-Kept Secrets of True Crime Writers with David Bushman
You'll learn: How to inject your writing with heart-pounding suspense by mastering the storytelling secrets that make true crime narratives utterly impossible to put down.
Your instructor: David Bushman, author of five traditionally published books and former TV curator at The Paley Center for Media, brings his true crime expertise and entertainment industry background to teaching while serving on Mystery Writers of America's board.
November → Professional Grade Self-Edit
How to Evaluate Your Work Like An Editor with Steve Chang
You'll learn: What editors wish writers knew about crafting, revising, and submitting—insights that will transform your stories and your submissions.
About the instructor:
, a MacDowell Fellow and fiction editor at Okay Donkey, has earned recognition from prestigious prizes and residencies while publishing in Guernica and North American Review after earning his MFA from Cornell.
December → Getting Published
Swimming Lessons in the Slush Pile with Benjamin Davis
You'll learn: How to stand out in the slush pile without resorting to bribery or blackmail.
Your instructor: Chill Subs Co-founder
As a paid subscriber, you will receive full access to all of these workshops as well as our entire collection below. Thank you for supporting The Forever Workshop, truly <3
The Perfect Sentence Workshop - Learn what bestselling authors know about sentence structure from Nina Schuyler, award-winning novelist and Stanford writing instructor
The Quiet Writing Workshop - Exploring the moments in our daily lives that readers are craving to hear about with Andrea Firth, editor at Brevity and co-founder of Diablo Writers' Workshop
The Shakespeare Workshop - Using Shakespearean techniques in 2025 to transform our writing into something bold, rhythmic, and uniquely ours with Jo Gatford, award winning author of The Woman’s Part, a collection inspired by Shakespeare’s women.
The Dialogue Workshop - What screenwriters know about dialogue that every writer should learn with Lauren Veloski, award-winning screenwriter and sought-after story consultant for television and film projects
The Submitting Workshop - Everything you need to submit your writing with success from Chill Subs co-founder Benjamin Davis
The Flash Fiction Workshop - How to write elevated flash fiction from Jo Gatford, recipient of the Bath Flash Award, Flash 500, and the Molotov Cocktail Flash Contest
The Writing Career Workshop - Everything you didn’t know you needed for your writing career from award-winning writer and fiction editor at Okay Donkey, Steve Chang
The Prose Poetry Workshop - Create beautiful prose poetry from everyday madness with editor-in-chief of ONLY POEMS, Karan Kapoor
The Erotic Poetry Workshop - Write top-tier erotic poetry from award-winning poet and founding editor of ONLY POEMS, Shannan Mann
The Newsletter Workshop - Launch your personal newsletter with Courtney Kocak | New York Times, Cosmopolitan, Inside Hook
The Speculative Fiction Workshop - Speculative fiction masterclass taught by Grace P. Fong—a genre writer recognized by the Ignyte Awards, FIYAH x LeVar Burton Reads, and The Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy and Science Fiction
The Short Humor Workshop - How to write standout short humor pieces from Alex Baia, founding editor of Medium's #1 humor publication, Slackjaw
The Personal Essay Workshop - How to write the perfect personal essay with Andrea Firth, editor at Brevity and co-founder of Diablo Writers' Workshop
The Horror Writing Workshop - Write horror that does more than just scare, from Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya, award-winning author and editor at TriQuarterly and Astrosaddle
The Taylor Swift Workshop - Learn what Taylor Swift does differently when creating that makes people resonate so deeply with her work from well-loved writer and process specialist Erin Karbuczky
The Novel Writing Workshop - Finally get started on your novel from award-winning author and educator Amy Shearn
Paid subscribers also get full access to all of our live events wholly focused on the process of submitting, querying & pitching your work. Don’t forget to take advantage of that!