The Master's Program

The Cult's 6 Week Writing Intensives!

The Cult’s Master’s Program offers qualified adult writers in our community the chance to study with current working masters in literary fiction and screenwriting. Students who sign up are granted full access to the author serving as that class instructor for six weeks. The class is structured online, around a password protected subforum on our discussion board. Classes usually consist of anywhere from twelve to thirty students. The instructor creates the syllabus and personally critiques every student's submissions. The class is also structured around peer review from your fellow students, during the selected weeks where you're designated group is not up for instructor review.

Since its debut in 2006, The Master's Program has already hosted the following instructors: Will Clarke (The Lord Vishnu's Love Handles, The Worthy); Stephen Graham Jones (Demon Theory, All The Beautiful Sinners); Will Christopher Baer (Kiss Me, Judas, Hell's Half Acre), James Hannaham (Recent MFA graduate and author of essays and short fiction); Craig Clevenger (The Contortionist Handbook, Dermaphoria); Nick Walker (Blackbook, Helloland); Monica Drake (Clown Girl); and Max Barry, author of Syrup, Jennifer Government, and Company.

Most recently we featured Ariel Gore, author of How to Become a Famous Writer Before You're Dead, The Travelling Death and Resurrection Show, and also the well-known zine, Hip Mama.

Stay Tuned For Our Next Intensive Announcement!

Check out what fans are saying about our Master's Program:

"Clevenger's Intensive exceeded my (impossibly high) expectations; I have learned everything I hoped to and much more. I will be poring over written lectures as entertaining and at least as informative as his fiction until every useful morsel is burned into my brain. Extensive (and brutally honest) peer reviewing and critiques from Clevenger himself have really helped me to step up my craft and polish my stories. I've met brilliant writers here who I hope to keep in touch with. You just can't get a learning experience like this anywhere else. For me, it was everything that college was not."
- Casey F., Washburn, WI, USA

"For someone struggling inside his own head to figure out how a story works, the Craig Clevenger intensive delivered on every level. Where else are you going to get unfiltered access to the lessons and personalized critique of not only a published author, but a published author you respect? Who could you learn from best, someone who has a lifetime of theory and no practice; or someone who followed their passion, made it work, and created something new and purely theirs? If you missed the Craig Clevenger intensive, you missed an incredible learning experience. Don't miss the next one!"
- Dave H., Dublin, Ireland

"This intensive has been a turning point for my writing. A price cannot be put on the knowledge and confidence I've come away with."
- Gary L., Middletown, CT

"The Will Christopher Baer and Craig Clevenger Intensives provided me with an array of tools to hone and enhance my writing skills. Each week of both workshops were an inside look at not only the common problem areas of writing, but also the mechanics that make up an effective, solid story."
-Chris D., Boston, USA

Stay Tuned For Our Next Intensive Announcement!