Awake on the Page: Landscape, Character, and the Fiction of Elsewhere

A 5-Session Online Workshop

  • “The very reason I write is so that I might not sleepwalk through my entire life.”
    Zadie Smith

How do skillful writers make the worlds of their fiction feel vivid and inhabited— so that a street, a room, or a landscape becomes as alive on the page as the characters who move through it? In this five-session workshop, we’ll explore place as the powerful—and often underused—craft tool that it is, and ways in which we can build worlds not merely as backdrop but as active fictional forces in their own right. 

Specifically, we explore how to:

  • Use setting to help reveal and deepen character interiority 
  • Build immersive and sensory worlds that feel specific, textured, and alive 
  • Write across cultural, geographical, and temporal boundaries with confidence and care
  • Use place to generate pressure, momentum, and meaning within plot

Each week, students will come together in a supportive, engaged space to apply these techniques to new work or works-in-progress. No prior workshop experience is required. Enrollment will be capped at 15, and sessions will be recorded so students can view or review at their own pace. Tuition includes a brief, optional one-on-one workshop consultation, designed to help clarify a specific craft question or offer feedback on up to two pages of a work-in-progress.  (For price information on deeper manuscript feedback, developmental editing, or ongoing private consultation, feel free to reach out through my Contact page for details.)

Led by Edgar-nominated novelist Jennifer Cody Epstein, the course will also include conversations with two extraordinary writers—Jamie Ford and Colson Whitehead—who will speak about their approaches to process, research, and craft, and answer questions.

Join us!

Schedule & Tuition

May 13 – June 10, 2026

Wednesdays: 1:00–2:30 PM EST (Zoom)
Recordings available after each session.

Full Tuition: $875*

Two-Payment Plan: $437.50 x 2 (second payment due one month after registration)

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Limited to 15 participants.

*Limited scholarships and discounts available for students and returning participants. Please reach out via the contact form to inquire.

Special Guest Conversations

Jamie Ford is the great-grandson of Nevada mining pioneer Min Chung, who emigrated from China to San Francisco in 1865 — and whose adopted western name has been confusing countless generations ever since. His debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, spent two and a half years on the New York Times bestseller list and won the 2010 Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature. His subsequent novels include Songs of Willow Frost, Love and Other Consolation Prizes, and The Many Daughters of Afong Moy, an instant New York Times bestseller and a Read With Jenna book club pick. His work has been translated into thirty-five languages. He lives in Montana.

Colson Whitehead is the author of twelve novels, including The Underground Railroad, which won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, and The Nickel Boys, which won the Pulitzer Prize — making him one of only four writers in history to win the prize twice. His other works include Harlem Shuffle, Zone One, and The Intuitionist, and his essays and fiction have appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Harper’s, and Granta. He has received a MacArthur Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a Whiting Writers Award, and in 2020 the Library of Congress awarded him their Prize for American Fiction. His new novel, Cool Machine, the conclusion of his Harlem Trilogy, will be published in 2026. He lives in New York City.

Testimonials

  • “Jenn has the special gift of tapping into a writer’s unique strength and building on it. I walked away from our workshop feeling bolstered, my writing insecurities briefly slayed and ready to take on the road blocks I’d been facing for weeks.”
    Deb P.
  • “Jenn consistently shows up with curiosity and skill. She moves through pieces with an eye to the overall message while also sitting with the minutiae. In our work together, I always trust that her insights and suggestions will honor the essence of what I’ve written while helping me make it stronger. Across 15+ years, Jenn has been a thoughtful, thorough partner in the creative process, and I’m deeply grateful for all she has taught me.”
    PAIGE D.
  • “Over several years, Jennifer’s guidance helped me transform a tiny germ of an idea into a fully fledged 500-page novel. Unfailingly patient and genuinely enthusiastic, she’s a creative problem-solver who consistently goes above and beyond. Her close reading and inspired suggestions pushed my work to places I hadn’t imagined and strengthened everything from characterization to the prose itself. I am profoundly grateful.”
    SARA C.
  • “Jenn provided invaluable guidance, offering insightful feedback that strengthened my work at every level—from big picture concepts to individual sentences. Her combination of sharp editorial eye, unwavering patience, and genuine encouragement made her an exceptional mentor who helped me grow significantly as a writer.”
    JEANNIE T.
  • “In every conversation, Jenn shows immense generosity, skill, and a genuine desire to help writers improve their craft. I feel lucky to have found a mentor as thoughtful and invested as Jennifer nearly a decade ago, and I’m excited for any writer who gets to work with her. Teachers like Jenn are rare.”
    EMILY R.
  • “Jennifer helped me turn the creative piece I had in my head into something real, powerful, and fully my own. She gave me the space to talk through my ideas and emotions, then guided me in shaping them without ever writing the story for me or overshadowing my voice.  Her mentorship didn’t just improve my writing, it strengthened my confidence in it.”
    GEORGIA H.
  • “Working with Jenn truly taught me to write—I saw the world differently, and became better able to observe and transform what I saw into eloquent bursts of language. Her systematic but artistic approach helped me recognize both a love of writing and the possibility that I could be good at it.”
    Anya B.

About the instructor

Jennifer Cody Epstein is the internationally bestselling author of The Madwomen of Paris, Wunderland, The Gods of Heavenly Punishment, and The Painter from Shanghai. Her work has been published in eighteen languages, won the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association Honor Award for fiction, and was a finalist for an Edgar Award for Best Novel. She currently teaches creative writing at Columbia University and Stony Brook University. She has worked one-on-one with emerging and established writers for over two decades, consulting on hundreds of projects—from personal essays and editorial assignments to full-length manuscripts, screenplays, and novels-in-progress.

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Registration & Payment

Your spot is reserved once full payment is received through the registration form.

Cancellations 

100% refund (minus processing fee) for cancellations made before May 6.
50% refund for cancellations made May 6–9.
Cancellations after May 9 will receive credit toward a future Awake on the Page workshop.

Technology & Access

Workshops take place live on Zoom. Please try to ensure that you have a stable internet connection and a quiet(ish) space, with audio and camera enabled.

Copyright & Privacy

All materials shared in the workshop are for participant use only. Please do not distribute recordings, handouts, or another writer’s work outside the group. Participants retain full copyright over their own creative work.

Scholarships

Limited partial scholarships available; please inquire if cost is a barrier.

Questions?

Reach out anytime via the contact form.

Artwork Credit: Rutilio Manetti, Saint Ambrose (detail). Public domain image.