Gotham Writers' Workshop

Such a great class! Easy going and a safe space to share and brainstorm with the others in the session!

Carmen Bugan is a generous teacher who knows how to help us unlock what we need to get started on writing a memoir. Her extensive knowledge and experience broadened the form of memoir and what it can become. I feel so lucky to have taken her class. The exercises in class were designed to illustrate each class's focus, and while they were not always easy to carry out, they were all good learning experiences. The workshop aspect was also helpful for our group, and Dr. Bugan's feedback, both spoken and in written comments on submissions, helped me move forward in form, and her high standards helped me to write better. A great deal of enthusiasm was generated in this class by Dr. Bugan, which made it a wonderful exploration for us all.

This is one of the best courses I have taken as an adult. Carmen Bugan is an excellent instructor. Memoir one with Carmen is a course for beginning writers as well as those with experience. Through reading, short lectures, in-class exercises, weekly 500 word essays using the techniques studied in class, and two longer workshopped memoir pieces we begin to explore our spine and theme, use of description, dialogue, point of view, time, and other techniques. The students all do their homework and learn from each other as well. Carmen is caring, respectful, direct and encouraging to everyone. She reads everything we write and gets to know our individual voices. She organizes each class with clear instruction, in-class written exercises and homework assignments that teach the various techniques. Her assignments are always thought provoking. She creates a safe environment for all of the students to express themselves and grow. To repeat, Carmen is full of passion and is an outstanding teacher. It was a tremendous amount of work, but I signed up for it and learned so much. My daughter asked why I voluntarily agreed to do so much homework and it was easy to answer: I was ready to learn to write and I found the right teacher.

Instructor (Lara) was very knowledgeable on article writing, approachable with questions/concerns, and very supportive. The exercises and homework were also super helpful in my learning and I did not feel like they were too much or too little. The workload was manageable and allowed me to put into practice what we had learned. I was also challenged to go outside of my comfort zone and push myself in my writing. I feel like I have a better foundation of how to write feature articles and really appreciate Lara's teaching style. The class length from 7-10 was really the only downside as it was difficult to make it to every session. I would absolutely recommend this course to anyone interested in article writing, especially feature stories. Thank you Lara!

Mara was a wonderful teacher! She made the class super engaging, entertaining and insightful. I totally recommend it

This class was inspiring and full of great tips for beginner writers. I had such a great time!

This course was exceptional . Lara made 6 hours fly . She is an enthusiastic teacher who was able to impart comprehensive and important material .I enjoyed the day !

Practical “mining your memory” and formatting skills provided with writing exercises throughout to apply new concepts and hone existing abilities.

Such a nice experience, & I got a chance to write!

It was a great and specific overview of dialogue. Dialogue, at least in screenwriting, is inextricably linked to plot, structure, and character so we touched on those too as they intersected dialogue.