Permission to Write Masterclasses

We’re bringing you 2-hour intensives in areas of writing to help you with your goals. We want to provide affordable resources to continue cultivating the voices of writers of color. We look forward to working with you! Replays will be available for those who cannot make the live sessions. Discount provided for members of the Permission Granted membership community.

Please note: The info to join the call will be sent to you via the email you provide at least one day prior to the course and with a 30-minute warning before the course. If you do not make it, refunds will not be issued, but you will receive the recorded replay and any course materials.

If you would like to submit for a lottery for a PTW Masterclass Scholarship, please complete this form.

Stop People Pleasing on the Page

Sunday, April 28, 4pm ET/1pm PT

$60

To speak truth to power you've got to get real with yourself first: What do you really want? What do you really need to say? What are you really thinking about? In this two-hour memoir master class we're going to talk about how you can set down other people's expectations — real or imagined — and stop sacrificing your creative spirit in the name of pleasing other people. We'll find inspiration in the wisdom and words of other writers, pinpoint your specific writing fear and you'll learn exercises you can do when you feel your courage to be honest begin to falter.

Please note: This class will not be recorded. This is a live class, please ensure that you are able to attend the date and time as refunds will not be issued.

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About Minda:

Minda Honey’s (she/her) essays on politics and relationships have appeared in Harper’s Bazaar, the Los Angeles Review of Books, the Washington Post, the Guardian, the Oxford American, Teen Vogue, and Longreads. Her work is featured in “Burn It Down: Women Writing About Anger”, “A Measure of Belonging: Writers of Color on the New American South”, and “Sex and the Single Woman: 24 Writers Reimagine Helen Gurley Brown's Cult Classic.” Her debut memoir, THE HEARTBREAK YEARS, is a hilarious and intimate portrait of a Black woman finding who she is and who she wants to be, one bad date at a time.

Writing Romance

Saturdays, May 4th and May 18th, 11am ET/8am PT

$120

In this class, we’re talking about one of the most popular genres in books, romance. Romance stories have come far from the Fabio book covers readers hid to enjoy. Romance is smart, sexy, and details the beauty of falling in love. Honestly speaking, they’re all love stories whether you’re writing historical fiction or sci-fi, you’d be hard pressed to find a story without some element of love. The masterclass will be a mix of instruction, highlighting the mechanics of recent contemporary romance novels and we’ll cover:

To trope or not to trope
Meet cutes
Plot
The beats of romance stories
Developing the rhythm of tension and release
Writing Sex
+More

This is a two-part class. Please ensure that you can attend both classes as we’ll partner you for peer workshopping. The first week is instructional, and you will work on pages (up to 10) to workshop for the next meeting. Relevant for writers working on romance novels, novels in another genre with an element of love, and/or women’s fiction.

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About ashley:

Ashley M. Coleman is a writer, author, and music industry executive. While working in the music industry for more than ten years, she also wrote for Essence.com, The Cut, Apartment Therapy, and GRAMMY.com, among others. Her debut novel GOOD MORNING, LOVE was released with Simon & Schuster in June of 2022, and featured in online publications like Joy the Baker, Katie Couric Media, and Bustle’s “The Most Anticipated Books of June 2022.” Recently, she was named a 2023 Torch Literary Arts retreat inaugural fellow.

Press for GOOD MORNING, LOVE

If you loved HBO’s Insecure, Read These Books - Buzzfeed

24 Black Romance Books to Add to Your TBR List in 2022 - BookRiot