The Practice of Imagination
Tuesdays: November 4 - December 2
7 - 9 p.m. EST
Led by RACHEL KHONG
with guest authors Shruti Swamy, Ruben Reyes Jr., Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, & Hilary Leichter
$400 $340 (until July 20)
Please register with the email to which you’d like to receive class correspondence and readings.
Imagination is at the heart of fiction—yet it’s often overlooked in serious discussions of writing. There’s something elusive about it, both abstract and a little kindergarten. What is imagination, exactly? What makes for a well-imagined story? And how can we nurture our own imaginations, in order to write the fiction that is the most specific and particular to us—fiction that is original and alive?
In this five-session generative seminar, we’ll engage in the practice of imagination. We’ll learn to cultivate and collaborate with our own imaginations. We’ll learn to write vivid fiction that invites readers to imagine alongside us. We’ll study the craft behind well-imagined fiction from concept to imagery to structure to characterization; we’ll read the work of writers who use their imaginations masterfully and apply those lessons to our own work. We’ll explore where our ideas come from, and learn tools for imagining our way out of mental blocks. Through guided in-class writing exercises, you’ll experiment with stretching yourself imaginatively, cultivate tools to exercise your own imagination, sharpen your powers of description and observation, and write with greater specificity and originality.
At a time when the world feels especially hostile to individual imagination, we’ll consider its role as a tool of resistance and reinvention. Imagination isn’t just playful—it’s powerful. It’s anti-authoritarian. Our intact imaginations are necessary to creating new worlds, both on and off the page. Through visits from guest authors Shruti Swamy, Ruben Reyes Jr., Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, & Hilary Leichter, we’ll study how writers have used imagination to better understand and metabolize current events, and do the same in our own work. Hopefully, we’ll surprise and delight ourselves in the process.
By taking this course, you will:
Develop a deeper understanding of what imagination is and how to tend to your own.
Learn practical techniques to expand your creative thinking and push past self-imposed limits.
Learn the foundations of well-imagined fiction: what makes characters, concepts, and images feel alive—and tools for how to write evocative fiction of your own.
Sharpen your powers of description and observation to make your fiction more vivid and original.
Study how masterful writers craft compelling, unique stories, and learn to apply what you’ve learned to your own work.
Explore the role of imagination as a tool for personal and societal reinvention.
Generate new writing through guided exercises designed to stretch your creativity.
Leave with a stronger, more flexible imaginative practice that fuels your fiction.
About the Instructors
Rachel Khong
Shruti Swamy
Ruben Reyes Jr.
Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Hilary Leichter
-
Rachel Khong is the author of the novels Real Americans, a New York Times bestseller, and Goodbye, Vitamin, winner of the California Book Award for First Fiction. From 2011 to 2016, she was an editor of Lucky Peach, a quarterly magazine of food and culture. In 2018, Rachel founded The Ruby, a work and event space for writers and artists in San Francisco’s Mission District. Her story collection, My Dear You, will be published by Knopf in April 2026. Rachel has taught undergraduate creative writing at the University of Florida, as well as a variety of online courses for adult students. Since 2020, she has mentored emerging writers with the Periplus Mentorship Collective. With friends, she teaches writing in a collective called The Dream Side.
-
Shruti Swamy is the author of the story collection A House Is a Body, and a novel, The Archer. She has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Elizabeth George Foundation, the San Francisco Arts Council, and Vassar College, and is a 2024 Rome Prize Fellow in Literature. Her work has appeared in The Paris Review, McSweeney's, AFAR, and the New York Times, and twice won the O. Henry Prize. Her introduction to Ursula K. Le Guin’s masterpiece Always Coming Home appears in the novel’s 2023 reissue.
-
Ruben Reyes Jr. completed his MFA in fiction at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. He is a graduate of Harvard College where he studied History and Literature and Latinx Studies. His writing has appeared in The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, AGNI, BOMB Magazine, Lightspeed Magazine, LitHub, and other publications. His debut story collection, There is a Rio Grande in Heaven, was a finalist for The Story Prize, and longlisted for the the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, the Carnegie Medal for Excellence, the Aspen Words Literary Prize, and the New American Voices Award. Archive of Unknown Universes is his first novel.
-
Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah is the author of Friday Black, his debut collection, which was a New York Times bestseller, won the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award and the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing, and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle’s John Leonard Award and the Dylan Thomas Prize. His first novel Chain-Gang All-Stars was a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction, shortlisted for the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize and the Books Are My Bag Awards, and selected as a New York Times Top Ten Books of the Year. Adjei-Brenyah is a National Book Foundation’s ‘5 Under 35’ honoree.
-
Hilary Leichter is the author of the novels Temporary and Terrace Story. She has been a finalist for The Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, the New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Prize, and her work in Harper's Magazine won the 2021 National Magazine Award in Fiction. Terrace Story was named a best book of 2023 by Time Magazine, The New Yorker, The LA Times, Publishers Weekly, and other publications. She currently teaches creative writing at Columbia University.
Class Schedule
We'll be joined by guest authors Shruti Swamy on November 11; Ruben Reyes Jr. on November 19; Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah on November 25; and Hilary Leichter on December 2.
Details
This course will take place on Zoom on Tuesdays November 4 - December 2 from 7 - 9 p.m. EST. 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 $400, with early bird pricing at $340 available until July 20.
A limited number of scholarships for this course are available. Please fill out this form by October 13, and we’ll get back to you within a week after the deadline.
Off Assignment’s Masters’ Series courses are unique five-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.