Great Smokies Young Writers Workshop: Character as story & the Poet’s Toolbox
Hone your literary skills through workshops with experienced local authors and poets. Generate new pieces, revise works-in-progress and critique works of others in a collaborative workshop setting.
Character as Story:
Spend a week with fellow storytellers discovering one of the surest ways to make your fiction come alive: through your characters. In this camp, we’ll explore ways to craft compelling voices and develop complex character relationships (think romance, family, friends, enemies, frenemies–you name it!)–all while exploring the different ways that your characters’ inner conflicts and motivations give shape to your story. Whether you’re new to fiction or already drafting novels, you’ll leave this camp with new tools for writing vivid characters that are hard to forget.
The Poet’s Toolbox Story:
In this class we’ll explore a variety of poetic techniques and forms in order to expand our writing toolboxes and to hone our ability to use the tools we already have. Building things with words is difficult, but it’s also a lot of fun. We’ll balance discipline and play, rules and exploration, hard work and the gratification of sharing what we’ve made!
Registration opens December 2025:
- June 14-19, 2026
- $1,470
- Pre-College Programs are open to rising high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors.
- Price includes lodging, meals, all course materials, activities, and excursions
- A $500 deposit is required at the time of registration, with the remaining balance due by May 1, 2026. After that date, full payment is required at registration. Click here to see our cancellation policy.
- Students reside in campus residence hall and dine in campus dining hall
- Enrollment is open until spaces are filled
- Registration is through the Camp Doc platform. Detailed registration instructions can be found here.
- Creating vivid characters
- Explore your character’s inner conflicts and motivations
- Develop complex character relationships
- Explore a variety of poetic techniques
- Participating in peer workshopping sessions to give and receive feedback on work-in-progress
- Students are encouraged to participate in an end-of-week reading for an audience of family and friends
Topics and schedules are subject to change
Sample Schedule:
Morning
- 8 a.m. – Breakfast
- 9 a.m. – Poetry Workshop
- 12 p.m. – Lunch & free time
Afternoon
- 1 p.m. – Character relationships Workshop
Evening
- 5 p.m. – Dinner
- 6:30 p.m. – Activities / Recreation / Free Time
Options could include: sand volleyball, Asheville Tourists game, game night, movie - 11 p.m. – Lights out
Topics and schedules are subject to change
Meet Your Faculty
Lauren Yero is a Cuban American writer and teacher with an enduring love of all things speculative. She writes near-future stories of resistance, adventure, and first love that question the structures our world is built upon. Her debut YA novel Under This Forgetful Sky was a Poets & Writers Get the Word Out pick, and both Kirkus Reviews and Book Riot named it one of the Best Books of the Year.
Luke Hankins is the director of UNC Asheville’s Great Smokies Writing Program and is the founder and editor of Orison Books, a non-profit literary press focused on the life of the spirit from a broad and inclusive range of perspectives. He is the author of several poetry collections, a collection of essays, and a volume of translations.
Questions? Please contact us at precollege@unca.edu.
