Since this quarter has begun, it’s been harder to find creative writing opportunities without the word-of-mouth on campus. I love the idea of forcing myself down for a bit of flash fiction as much as anyone, but it remains, in a word, idealistic. There’s something about a thought-provoking prompt, the pressure of sitting alongside someone’s desperate scribbling and hearing someone else’s perspective on world-building or dialogue or tactile imagery that makes writing so much more enjoyable. This is all to say, I’ve found myself missing the collaborative lens in writing. 

For this reason, and with my professors’ help, I decided to make a list of virtual creative writing opportunities. While you very probably won’t find me at every one of these, I hope we can get the Stanford campus writing off-campus. It’s like everyone says — if there is ever a time for finding community, it’s now. 

I hope these opportunities will provide just that — a group of people writing and reading together for you!

The Writer’s Studio

The Writer’s Studio offers a series of free weekly workshops on a variety of topics. This past winter quarter offered workshops of imagery, poetry and humor, to name a few! Workshops are open to Stanford students of all degrees and schools. Expect to see workshops on vital drama, scene-building and poetry. 

Each workshop takes place Mondays, 6-7:30 p.m. PST; join on Zoom here. 

For The Writer’s Studio schedule, click here. 

Creative Writing Undergraduate Prizes

Stanford’s creative writing program’s annual undergraduate prizes offer the opportunity to submit your creative fiction, non-fiction and poetry to a variety of submission contests. Submit one or more of your pieces by April 30! 

For more information about each prize, click here. 

To submit your works, click here. 

Poetry Into Film Contest

Stanford’s creative writing program and Stanford Arts are hosting a Poetry Into Film contest! Submit a video representation of an original or canonical poem by May 4. Participants must be Stanford undergraduates enrolled in 2020’s spring term, the entirety of the poem must be spoken or included as text in the video and only one video submission is permitted per applicant. 

For more information or to upload your film, contact Kai Carlson-Wee at [email protected].

StanWrit’s Catch-Up Bookclub

Stanford’s StanWrit hosts a monthly book club that takes place the last Monday of each month at 8 p.m. PST. This quarter’s reads include: KJ Charles’ “The Magpie Lord” for April, Mary Roach’s “Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers” for May and Keira Cass’ “The Selection,” for June!

While zoom links are yet to be released, join the Stanford Creative Writing Society Discord for more information here. 

Shared Worldbuilding Workshop

Similarly, Stanford’s Creative Writing Society is offering a weekly Shared Worldbuilding Workshop, led by Francesca Watkins. These are to take place every Thursday at 8 p.m. PST. 

For the workshop Zoom link, click here. 

For more information and updates, join the Stanford Creative Writing Society Discord here. 

StanWrit Collective Anthology

Submit to StanWrit’s quarter anthology with your general works. Weekly writing prompts are encouraged to provide inspiration. StanWrit asks for the inclusion of content warnings and notes that longer submissions will be cut down for publications. Multiple submissions are encouraged!

Submit your work here. 

For more information and updates, join the Stanford Creative Writing Society Discord here. 

Spoken Word Collective

Every Friday, Stanford’s Spoken Word Collective is offering a virtual open mic with featured artists. The events will take place every Friday, from 4-6 p.m. PST. There is no need to sign up in advance!

For the open-mic Zoom link, click here.

For questions or more information, email DeeSoul at [email protected]. 

How I Made It

Stanford’s Storytelling Project (SSP) offers the “How I Made It” series every Friday this spring quarter. Featuring weekly SSP alum or former staff, each session will explore the storytelling profession and storytelling production. Sessions are to take place every Friday, from 1:45-2 p.m. PST.

For the session Zoom link, click here.

Fight the Future

The class ENGLISH 9SF: Fight the Future: Speculative Fiction and Social Justice offers an extension in the form of Wednesday night movies. Instructors Jonah Willihnganz and Shannon Pufahl offer sci-fi/social justice movie screenings, to be followed by a brief discussion on each film. The Fight the Future movie series will take place every Wednesday from 6-8:30 p.m. PST. 

For the series Zoom link, click here.

If you have any more creative writing opportunities, please send them over to The Daily via robygzz ‘at’ stanford.edu.

This article has been corrected to reflect that creative writing is a program at Stanford, not a department. The Daily regrets this error.

Contact Roberta Gonzalez Marquez at robygzz ‘at’ stanford.edu.