MASTER CLASS
The Master Class is a juried-in workshop for up to ten selected participants which convenes each morning of our annual conference.
Applicants are selected by the Master Class instructor.
Master Class tuition of $875 will be required upon selection and includes breakfast and lunch all three days of the conference, dinner on Thursday and Saturday, and entry to all afternoon and evening events.
Master Class and Scholarship applications are now open! If you are a Mendocino County High School applicant, please apply for a scholarship using this form.
Applications for MCWC 2026 Master Class with Jeanne Thornton will be accepted until 11:59 p.m. PT on Saturday, February 28, 2026.
MORE ABOUT THE 2026 MASTER CLASS
World and Objects in Narrative
O brave new world, that has such people in it! This is said by the sorcerer's daughter in Shakespeare's The Tempest, a play often taken as an allegory for the writer's craft. As writers, we often focus on the people part of this line, neglecting the world that forms, surrounds, and focuses our characters and their stories. Whether it's the deck of the Pequod, the dead blue sitting-rooms, jewel chests, and burning wills of Middlemarch, the quicksand and glass mansions of the Iles des Chevaliers, the stone labyrinths of Earthsea, a story's setting and its key objects are a crucial part of a narrative's weave--and often, when we're blocked in progress, it's because we have further to go on our journey to imagine those worlds.
In this master class, we'll dig into our works-in-progress--whether that's a piece you're starting at this conference, or a project of many years--with a focus on plot, setting, characters, and the key objects that comprise a narrative world--whether that world is fictional, nonfiction/history/memoir, or something in between. We'll then work to find ways both to build on those narrative strengths and to identify and develop the blank spots that block our path forward.
This is a juried workshop, but novice writers are welcome and encouraged to apply. All genres of prose fiction and nonfiction are welcome--please be prepared to step out of your comfort zone when discussing fellow students' work.
about the 2026 master class INSTRUCTOR
Jeanne Thornton
Photo by Rowan Levy
Jeanne Thornton is the author of A/S/L, Summer Fun (winner of the Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Fiction), and others, as well as the senior editor of Feminist Press, copublisher of Instar Books, and cohost of Brooklyn’s World Transsexual Forum open mic. Her writing has appeared in n+1, WIRED, Evergreen Review, and other places; she has taught for Tin House, One Story, Lambda Literary, Sackett Street Writers Workshop, and more. More information is available at jeannethornton.com.