Latest News

- There’s still room in my Fall Writing Classes and online writing classes. Sign up early to reserve your spot!
- Learn the secrets of the travel writing trade in my Travel, Food and Wine Writing Class in Provence (May, 2026).
- Take a look at my recent publications: Dawn Patrol at Sun Valley, Whidbey Island: The Perfect Weekend Getaway Reflections on America’s Deepest Lake, All in a Spellbinding Ashland Weekend, All and Nothing: Inside Free Soloing, Baptism by Whitewater: Rafting the Salmon River, and my forthcoming book, Crush: My Year as an Apprentice Winemaker.
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Writing Classes with The Writer’s Workshop

Narrative Writing Classes
Have a compelling story? Want to learn the craft of narrative writing? Dr. Nick O’Connell teaches time-honored principles with a relaxed style in a sequence of four enjoyable Seattle writing courses, from nut graph to structure, from lead to climax.

Travel Writing in Europe
This course uses all of an author’s skills—ranging from dramatic scenes, character sketches, concrete detail, point of view, and scene by scene construction—to compose compelling, engaging travel narratives.

Online Writing Classes
Have you always wanted to write but needing a refresher course on the nuts and bolts of creative writing? Would you like to extend and enhance your writing techniques? If so, these online writing classes will help you communicate clearly and effectively in email, reports, letters, essays as wells as learning the art and craft of fiction and nonfiction narrative.
Reviews from Past Students
It was 20 years ago you urged me to submit a story I’d written in your Seattle writing class to the Seattle Weekly. They published it in February 1993. Best money I ever made. I’ve been a journalist/ reporter ever since then all over the country, including the Hartford Courant. Thank you.
I really appreciate all of your great feedback in the online writing class, particularly the fact that you went through my writing very carefully. Although I learned a lot in the Writers Digest Fiction course it was mostly through my efforts – instructor feedback was usually limited to two or three sentences of general comments that were not particularly helpful. I will stick with you, Jessica Murphy and Scott Driscoll in the future.
I have learned how to write under your guidance. A plain sentence I speak with tears in my eyes. I’m so grateful to learn! In fact when I compare the progress I’m making as a writer with that of friends in elite MFA programs on the east coast, I think I have learned much more. I really do, and they are paying $20,000 plus travel for their degrees. The students work with many brilliant, famous writers who are neither brilliant or memorable teachers. I see my friends struggle with the basic scaffolding of story construction even though their language is often poetic and beautiful. No one is talking to them about how to tell a story. The long and the short of it is that I am immeasurably grateful that I found your Seattle writing classes.
This is just to let you know that I have been published in Northwest Lawyer magazine! I was inspired to publish by the class. I would not have thought to submit an article without your encouragement. I have more confidence now, thanks to your classes.
Nick is one of the most approachable and helpful writing teachers I’ve ever met. He’s not just a good teacher, but a veteran writer himself, who knows all of the ins and outs of the business. I’d recommend his Seattle writing classes not only to the beginner, but also to established writers who are looking to improve and broaden their skill set.
Thank you so much for the wonderful Follow The Story Seattle writing class. In eight weeks you’ve taken my writing skills farther than the four years I spent on my Bachelor’s degree in English.
Sometimes the most influential people have no idea of the impact they have on others. I just wanted you to know what a tremendous difference you have made to my writing life and to share the great news that an essay of mine will be published in a Seal Press anthology, Ask Me About My Divorce: Women Open Up About Moving On, that is scheduled for release in May 2009. Your kindness, your style, your generous sharing of your craft, your respect for everyone… it all had a deep impact on me and gave me the courage to write from my heart.
I took your non-fiction Seattle writing class in the winter of ’95/’96. You must have done a good job because of the 11 folks in the class, six of us have published books. The University of Oklahoma Press published my manuscript in 2005: A Room for the Summer; Adventure, Misadventure and Seduction in the Mines of the Coeur d’Alenes. The class had a great effect and I read and re-read my notes continually as I proceeded through my book.
Have you always wanted to write but haven’t known where to start?
Have you written in the past but need a refresher? Are you an experienced author who wants to perfect and extend your technique?
We offer a wide variety of writing classes, including Seattle writing classes, travel writing classes and online writing classes to meet the needs of a wide range of writers. All of our instructors have extensive teaching and professional writing experience, allowing them to guide you through the sometimes bewildering world of newspaper, magazine and book publication. We provide expert, constructive criticism to help you master the art and craft of writing.
Meet your writing instructor Nicholas O’Connell
Hello & welcome!
Learn the secrets of narrative writing in my writing classes and:
I look forward to working with you!
Yours,
Nicholas O’Connell, M.F.A., Ph.D.
Send me an email
(206) 284-7121
Writing classes help writers tell compelling stories.
Reach a wide audience and satisfy some of your deepest yearnings for pattern, mystery, and coherence in your life.
Narrative writing allows for great scope and ambition, but it requires commitment to the habit of art to succeed. Our writing classes will help you develop your own habit of art, mastering the art and craft of narrative writing essential to creating fiction and nonfiction stories.
We teach Seattle writing classes, travel writing classes and a wide range of online writing classes.