Wild magic for writers who mean it.
A Rough Trade Writing School is a creative writing program built for writers who are serious about the work — not the performance of being a writer.
Jacob Clifton has spent over twenty years in professional writing: fifteen as a flagship staff writer at Television Without Pity, followed by editorial roles at Gawker Media and Tribune Media, and ongoing work as a novelist, critic, and content strategist. ART School distills that career into practical, rigorous instruction for fiction writers, essayists, and working creatives at every stage.
What You’ll Learn
Courses and workshops cover the full range of the craft: voice, structure, character, revision, and the harder-to-name things — momentum, instinct, the difference between a draft and a piece of writing. Instruction is direct, specific, and grounded in how professional writing actually works, not how it’s romanticized.
Current curriculum is available through Patreon, with new writing workshops, craft essays, and course materials added regularly.
Who This Is For
Writers who want honest feedback. Writers who are stuck. Writers who have been told they’re good but don’t know what to do next. Writers who want to understand why something isn’t working — and fix it.
About the Instructor
Jacob Clifton is a writer, editor, and teacher based in Austin, Texas. His criticism and essays have appeared at Tor.com/Reactor, the Austin Chronicle, BuzzFeed, Vulture, and Science and Discovery Channel. He is the author of several novels and the creator of the Wild Magic Oracular Spectacular card deck. He has been teaching writing — formally and informally — for most of his professional life.