Personal Atmosphere & Attention

Since Borough Writing Workshops stresses a 4-/6-/8-week time duration for the workshop, class size is of the utmost importance. The classes have no more than 10-12 students. In this small, personal atmosphere, individual attention to each student is best maintained by the teacher. Each class is its own small writing community.

Each weekly class is 2 ½ hours long. Aside from a 15-minute break midway through, the majority of the time is spent writing; writing drills of 15 minutes which are set off by “trigger” readings in order to foster ideas. These 15-minute writing sessions generate the raw material for works that become more constructed and purposeful pieces of writing done by the students. After writing is generated, the students share their work on a volunteer basis.

The workshop atmosphere is intense but congenial, and not difficult whatsoever. Students are encouraged to work with one another and build off of each other’s writing, as well as go at their own pace. There are no right or wrong answers; it is purely a time to create, to write.