The love story is hardly a modern genre. It’s captivated people for millennia, from Greek mythology to Hallmark movies. It’s no surprise, then, that The New York Times’ Modern Love column, which has been running for twenty years, is one of the paper’s most read columns. The submission process for Modern Love essays is straightforward, but publishing one isn’t quite as simple: The editors report an acceptance rate of approximately 1 in 150. Perhaps due to the 80-100 book deals that originated with the column, many essayists consider Modern Love the mountaintop. The good news is that anyone— aspiring writers included—can publish an essay, since acceptance hinges not on previous bylines but on the story itself.

In this four-session generative and discussion-based course, we’ll tunnel to the heart of what makes a successful Modern Love story, paying attention to craft, voice, nuance, and universal resonance. We’ll consider the column’s remarkably diverse themes, including family, friendship, work, travel, gender, religion, finance, and race. We’ll review ethics of writing about real people and practical aspects of submitting to the column, including considering alternate publishing options, such as condensing essays into a Tiny Love Story and submitting essays to other outlets. Homework will include reading selected essays and writing 550 words a week for the final three weeks, totaling the length of a submittable essay. While there’s no workshop component, students are welcome to share essays-in-progress with one another.

In class, we’ll discuss assigned essays, write from prompts, and hear directly from the instructor and guest authors about how they shaped their stories into published essays. This course is taught by two-time Modern Love contributor Lavinia Spalding, with illuminating visits from essayists Staceyann Chin, Kevin Renn, and Susan Yoon, and Modern Love projects editor, Miya Lee.

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This course will take place on Zoom on Wednesdays July 10-31 from 1 to 3 p.m. EST. Participants will receive a Zoom link prior to the course as well as a recording of the course afterwards. We cannot offer refunds once the course has begun. Please email courses@offassignment.com with any questions.

A limited number of scholarships may be available for this course; please send a brief statement outlining how and why a scholarship would impact your ability to attend to courses@offassignment.com by June 17 and we’ll get back to you by June 24.

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Off Assignment’s Masters’ Series courses are unique four-session courses on in-depth writing topics that harness the perspectives and craft tactics of a lead instructor plus celebrated guest lecturers, such that participating writers gain a wealth of input while benefiting from the cohesive leadership of one renowned writer in a particular niche of nonfiction.