By Ad Astra Institute Associate Director Kij Johnson:
Barbara J. Webb and I are excited to announce that they will once again offer in-person summer workshops in Lawrence KS, as well as an online Master Class!
full info
on Johnson's teaching page
With in-person and online options, Kij and Barbara are back at the compelling work of showing you how to plan and write your novel. Novel Architects focuses on the craft of writing a speculative novel, especially structure and the perils and pitfalls unique to novel-length projects. These courses are designed for anyone interested in writing novels, at any level of experience. By the end of a Novel Architects Workshop or Master Class, attendees will have learned the tools necessary to create a novel, starting from the first idea generation through brainstorming and organization to the actual writing.
We offer three ways to learn:
Interested? Take a look!
Together, Kij and Barbara have almost a thousand hours of experience leading in-person novel classes for lifelong learners, and after a few years away, we are thrilled to get back to it! Join us in charming Lawrence, Kansas, with its fantastic downtown and free buses.
Limited to 8-9 attendees.
If you are accepted, we'll contact you with registration instructions and details about housing. Your registration is not complete until you send your first payment.
Full info
on Johnson's teaching page.
Limited to former attendees of our novel workshops and master classes.
Kij and Barbara have developed a streamlined, online Master Class that focuses on talks and presentations that give you knowledge that you can apply to your work.
Your registration is not complete until you send your payment.
Who are you?
Kij Johnson has won the Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy
Awards, and has been Professor of creative writing and fantasy at the University of
Kansas. Barbara J. Webb is a popular online novelist with numerous books.
We've been teaching live workshops on writing genre novels for more than ten
years, and have developed some interesting strategies and approaches that
have helped writers like R.F. Kuang, Corey J. White, Marlee Jane Ward,
Christie Yant, and others.
What's the difference between the Workshop and
Master Class?
Both experiences include more than fifteen hours of talks
and lectures, but the Workshop integrates these with specific discussions of
attendees' projects. If your project is still in the early stages of
development with less than 25% (<75 pages) in first draft or still in the
idea stage, we recommend the Workshop. If your project is in a later stage
of development, or if you have no specific project in mind, we recommend the
online Master Class.
What if I want to write short stories?
We
recommend our sibling workshop, the concurrent, residential Speculative
Fiction Writing Workshop, or the year-round 8-week hybrid "Science into Fiction" workshops taught by Chris McKitterick.
What if I want to write another genre?
The talks and
discussions are focused for writers of speculative fiction (science fiction,
fantasy, horror, and adjacent genres), with sections on worlbuilding and
genre, but the online Master Class does have information useful for anyone
interested in novel-writing.
The Ad Astra Institute is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit. If you wish to support our activities by making a charitable donation to help others attend the workshops who might otherwise not be able to, contact McKitterick (cmckit.sf@gmail.com). We accept Zelle (use adastra.sf.institute@gmail.com to make a direct donation), PayPal (which takes an additional fee, or use "send to a friend"), and checks. We also partner with Farbeyond Books - a fantastic spec-fic bookstore - which donates at least 50% of all sales to Ad Astra, so if you have books you'd like to donate, let us know. Your donation is fully tax-deductible!
Does your workplace match contributions to nonprofit organizations? Many do! Check with your HR rep or manager to see if yours might double your donation.
We also partner with Farbeyond Books - a fantastic spec-fic bookstore - which donates at least 50% of all sales to Ad Astra, so if you have books you'd like to donate, let us know. Your donation is fully tax-deductible!
Thank you so much to our donors and supporters! You make all this possible.
The "Young Gunns" of 2003
Front row: Kij Johnson, Jeannette Cheney, Betsy Boyce, Nolen Harsh, Terry Mackey, Adrian
Simmons.
Middle row: Harold Agnew, Thomas Seay, Pat Buehler,
Jennifer Schwabach, Cliff Johns, Kelly Green, Betty Hull.
Back row: Wolfgang Baur, David Kirtley, Rod Rogers,
Frederik Pohl, Chuck Marsters, Larry Taylor, James Gunn.
Not pictured:
Chris McKitterick (photographer)
Everyone enjoys equal access to our offerings, and we actively encourage students and scholars from diverse backgrounds to study. We especially encourage people from historically under-represented groups to apply for our courses and scholarships. Many of our other courses are available to be taken in hybrid format (if space is available) to help enable those who might not be able to attend in person to participate, and we happily make accommodations to enable everyone to enjoy the fullest experience. Click here to see our thoughts on diversity, accessibility, and inclusivity, and our commitment to equity.
The Academic Achievement and Access Center (AAAC) coordinates accommodations and services for eligible KU students. If you have a disability for which you wish to request accommodation and have not contacted the AAAC, please do so as soon as possible. Their office is located in 22 Strong Hall; their phone number is (785)864-4064 (V/TTY). Also please contact us privately about your needs in this course.
By car, Lawrence is at the intersection of US 59 and
If you're driving, our housing facilities have nearby parking. McKitterick and Johnson usually leave a vehicle or two on-site for attendees to use while in town. Friends also often offer to give rides to and from the airport for less than the cost of a shuttle (especially when carpooling with others).
The nearest major airport is Kansas City International (MCI), about 50 miles from Lawrence. Transportation to Lawrence from Kansas City International (MCI - "M" is for "Mid-Continent") airport can be arranged through one of several airport transport services, including:
Notes:
Google Maps centered on the KU Kansas Union.
For anyone who hasn't visited, Lawrence is a wonderful, lively, small city in the Kaw River valley, filled with art, events, and activities. Lawrence and the University of Kansas are about 30 miles west of Kansas City and 20 miles east of Topeka. Summers can be hot, but meeting and housing spaces are air-conditioned.
Among its many amenities, the University of Kansas contains a large science-fiction collection (including a number of single-author paper and manuscript collections, such as Theodore Sturgeon's) and other great reference collections; museums of natural history and art; and sports, theater, and lots more. Lawrence offers many excellent restaurants and shopping and recreational opportunities. Kansas City is less than an hour away. Nighttime opportunities include dinners, games, movies, live concerts, star-gazing sessions, and of course discussion about writing and more.
View of KU from the Ad Astra library.
The Ad Astra Institute holds a beautiful collection of speculative-fiction books and writing and science reference libraries, plus a great deal of SF historical paraphernalia - one of our attendees describes it as a "shrine to science fiction." For many years, our office and library lived on the KU campus, first in the run-down Humanities building but then for two years overlooking Potter Lake and the lovely central park. We bring selected works and custom displays from this wonderful collection to many of our events. This is where we've held some of our writing workshops plus some write-ins and other events, as well as in KU scholarship and residential halls, the Lawrence Public Library, at conventions around the world, and other venues.
Part of the Ad Astra library and
SF artifact collection.
The nearest major airport is Kansas City International (MCI), about 50 miles from
Lawrence. Transportation to Lawrence from Kansas City International can be
arranged through one of several airport shuttle services, or by arrangement
through Ad Astra staff. By car, Lawrence is at
the intersection of U.S. 59 and
We request that attendees demonstrate vaccination status and stay away if feeling signs of illness - many of our events stream live via our YouTube and Discord channels, so you won't miss out even if sick. We want to help keep our AdAstranauts healthy!
"Science into Fiction" Spec-Fic Writing Workshops:
Series 1: "The Higgs Boson in This Particular Universe"
Series 2: "Creativity and the Brain"
Series 3: "Writing in (and about) the Age of Artificial Intelligence"
Series 4: "Six great stories and what makes them work: The science of SF writing"
Series 5: "Hopepunk" coming Fall 2026:
apply Summer 2026
Chris McKitterick's Spec-Fic Writing Workshop & Repeat Offenders Workshop
Kij Johnson & Barbara Webb's SF&F Novel Writing Workshops and Masterclasses
We believe strongly in the free sharing of information, so you'll find a lot of content - including course syllabi and many materials from our classes - on this and related sites and social networks as educational outreach. Feel free to use this content for independent study, or to adapt it for your own educational and nonprofit purposes; just please credit us and link back to this website. We'd also love to hear from you if you use our materials!
This site is associated with the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), the Science Fiction Research Association (SFRA), AboutSF, and other organizations, and its contents are copyright 1992-present Christopher McKitterick except where noted, and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License: Feel free to use and adapt for non-profit purposes, with attribution. For publication or profit purposes, please contact McKitterick or other creators as noted.
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Updated 5/20/2026