Writers' Athenaeum | Writing Community led by Book Editors

Athletes have coaches and musicians take lessons, but most writers practice alone, with nobody to point out what's holding their story back. We built the Athenaeum for writers to learn from professional editors, study writing craft, and grow their skills. Members write in fiction genres like fantasy, romance, romantasy, science fiction, mystery, thriller, horror, and historical fiction.

Most writing education now arrives as a pre-recorded course, a checklist, or a downloadable cheat sheet. We do it the old-fashioned way. Every session at Writers' Athenaeum happens live, with an editor present and taking questions, so when you're stuck on a scene, you can ask for help from a qualified editor. Members have access to live craft courses, a Saturday Q&A where they bring questions about their own manuscripts, live scene feedback in the Colosseum, and writing sprints that open with a short craft lesson. Between sessions, members talk shop and celebrate wins. The resource library includes 60+ recordings, exclusive blog posts, writing opportunities, and publishing resources.

We took our name from Athena, goddess of wisdom and strategy, and from the athenaeums of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the libraries and reading societies where people met to read, debate, and get better at their work in community with others. We'd like to be that kind of place for genre fiction, serious about the work and still a little enchanted by what a good story can do.