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Writing Heartbreak

Mondays: July 6 - 27
7 - 9:30 p.m. EST

Led by CHLOÉ CALDWELL
with guest authors Hannah Pittard, Tommy Pico, Zaina Arafat, and Scaachi Koul

$420 ($370 until April 30)

Please register with the email to which you’d like to receive class correspondence and readings.

What if heartbreak was a place, in addition to a feeling? What if it was a driving force, a lifestyle, a way of being?

In this four-session course, we will explore writing not just about heartbreak, but writing from heartbreak in ways that move beyond the cliché. Through experiments with somatic writing exercises, memory, and weekly readings that  integrate and illuminate heartbreak in surprising structures and ways, students will deepen their craft and writing confidence. We will also examine and challenge what heartbreak can be and look like on the page. 

Each session features an exciting visit from a guest author whose work showcases innovative approaches to writing heartbreak: Zaina Arafat, Scaachi Koul, Tommy Pico, and Hannah Pittard. Students will have the opportunity to pose questions directly to these authors and to experiment with writing prompts inspired by their work. By the end of the course, students will have 20,000 words on heartbreak produced, catalyzed by the head teacher’s encouragement and group accountability spreadsheet.  

In this course, students can expect to:

  • Break away from unproductive and hindering ways of thinking about writing

  • Write 20,000 new words!

  • Engage in lively conversation with renowned authors, including a Q&A with each

  • Generate outside-the-box ideas for how to encapsulate heartbreak in your own work

  • Gain exposure to authors and pieces of writing previously unknown 

  • Gather dozens more resources than they began class with

  • Join a community of writers deeply engaged in the highs and lows of writing heartbreak 

  • Create a collaborative “Writing Heartbreak” playlist on Spotify

  • Make new friends with an optional Slack writing group 

About the Instructors

 

Chloé Caldwell

 
 

Scaachi Koul

Hannah Pittard

Tommy Pico

Zaina Arafat

 

Details

This course will take place on Zoom. Participants will receive a Zoom link prior to the course as well as a recording of the course afterward.

After you take a course with Off Assignment, you’ll be invited into our private writing community for alumni on Slack. It includes channels for publication opportunities, reading recommendations, meet-ups, and more—not to mention literary companionship that outlasts the course itself.

There is a 10% cancellation fee if you cancel your enrollment more than 1 week before the start of the course. No refund will be given if cancelling within less than a week of the course start date (or after the course has begun).

Please email courses@offassignment.com with any questions.

FAQs →

Financial Aid

The full price for this course is $420, with early bird pricing at $370 available until April 30. Payment plans are available at checkout via ShopPay.

A limited number of scholarships for this course are available. Please fill out this form by May 7, and we’ll get back to you within a week after the deadline. (Please hold off on registering until you have received a scholarship decision.)

 
 

Off Assignment’s Masters’ Series courses are unique four-session courses that delve deep into a specific writing topic by harnessing the expertise and craft tactics of a renowned writer in a particular niche, plus four celebrated authors. Participating writers gain a wealth of advanced techniques while benefiting from a cohesive community of disciplined writers.