Get ready folks, Allison and Andrea are hosting this episode together: an episode about time. Student Allison Langer is obsessed with the lack of time she has lately. So, in class teacher, Andrea Askowitz, gave this prompt: …
Lies seem to be the new norm in our world. There’s probably a bumper sticker that says Lies Are the New Truth. Great bumper sticker, but it has Andrea Askowitz totally freaked out. Andrea is the teacher of the class and the …
This episode looks at writing as therapy. We look at writing as a way to understand these things we carry: secrets, pain, and shame.
Allison Langer, a student in the class, is the host of this episode. Three new students s…
We picked two winners of our first annual writing contest. Listeners responded to the prompt: A Time I Fucked Up. We got tons of submissions revealing your major fuck ups and tons revealing your little mess ups. One woman’s …
This is the prompt we threw out to listeners for our first annual writing contest. Listeners wrote in with lots of crazy and sad and funny stories. One of our winners was Melissa Vincel, who wrote an essay that stood out for…
Allison Langer is a student in the class and the host on this episode of Writing Class Radio. She shares all the reasons why writing class is so much fun. FUN-- a theme chosen because life has gotten too busy, too scheduled …
Andrea Askowitz is the host of this episode. She talks about how writing a good story and understanding the results of this presidential election require a mammoth effort in understanding someone else’s point of view, an eff…
Writing Class Radio goes live to the stage. This episode is part live show, part interview with star of our show, the award-winning, solo-performer, Ann Randolph. Allison Langer is our host.
This episode is about the impor…
This episode is about those moments in life when you have no idea how you got here, whether to stay or go, or where to go next.
Allison Langer, student in the class and host for this episode, asks the questions most of us …
This episode is about obsessions.
Andrea Askowitz, the teacher of the class speaks to Allison Langer, co-producer and student in the class. They discuss what she learned from the Tim Ferriss podcast when he interviewed Ton…
This episode is about self destruction.
Jahn Dope, one of the students in our class, reads his story, Dark Matter. Jahn’s story begins after he overdoses on LSD after a crazy night of drinking and drugs, then backtracks to…
This episode explores perspective, how sometimes it takes years to figure out that something you did or thought was totally fucked up.
Bo tells his story about getting blocked from a 1-900 gay hotline. But the story is rea…
This episode explores the different zones we live in: comfort zone, stretch zone and panic zone. Allison talks about her experience at dinner with new friends and how she complained the entire night. She realizes she venture…
This episode explores the epistolary form, which is just a snobby way to say stories written in the form of a letter. Andrea Askowitz starts with a letter written to her from her best friend in high school. Robin and Andrea …
In this episode, we discuss what is taboo. Is it a word, a topic? Is it the same for everyone? We learn why we need to talk about things considered taboo, and when to actually write taboo words instead of referring to them. …
In this episode, student and co-producer Allison Langer puts herself out there in writing and in love. The first story she tells was submitted to Modern Love, a column in the New York Times. Allison’s story got rejected, whi…
Have you ever told a story or shared a secret and regretted it? Like you wake up the next morning and you’re like ew, why’d I say that? And then you want to vomit? Today we’re talking about telling stories that give us emoti…
The words we say to each other and ourselves shape our lives. One of Andrea’s favorite writing tenets is: Make every word count. In today’s episode we learn that every word counts in life also. This is the first episode of o…
Today, we’re talking about writing stories meant to be told out loud. Jahn Dope tells his story, Tackled, about the time he was raped. Andrea Askowitz tells her story Thank You For Listening, about the time she went 24 hours…
Today, we are stepping out of order because it’s February and we’re in the U.S. and we can’t avoid thinking about love. So, we’re bringing you a Valentine’s Day episode. This episode is a little different. Slightly less teac…
We’re talking about stakes. And we don’t mean those slabs of meat you eat if you’re not a vegetarian, but what makes a listener or a reader care about a story. And we’re talking about what we have to lose as storytellers whe…
This episode is about writing humor. Andrea tells a joke only she thinks is funny, then calls our humor expert, Jay Wexler, who confirms just how funny her joke is. Jay is an attorney and the author of five books.
Later in …
We’re interrupting our first semester to give you a taste of who’s to come in our second semester. You’ll meet Frenchy, who took Andrea’s writing class years ago and is now back. Does she get a kiss on New Year’s Eve? You’ll…
How should a story be structured? Start from the very beginning by using the concept of story spine. Story spine, a technique articulated by the playwright Ken Adams, is the backbone of every traditional story. In this episo…
