Creative Writing Workshops

With the increasing attacks on science, education, and public health, STEM professionals must find new ways to fight back. Narrative storytelling is a powerful yet underutilized tool that can and should be wielded in this battle. In this two-day creative writing conference, you will learn how personal storytelling connects us to our audiences and prompts their understanding and retention of information. You will be asked to put yourself into your stories, escorting the reader through your personal experiences in science, weaving in plot, setting, and tension, and using a strong narrative voice to communicate scientific information. Scientist-authors will offer creative writing craft lessons; panelists will provide evidence of the wide-ranging power of personal narratives; and you will attend evening science-themed readings along with Wilkes University creative writing graduate students and faculty. So set aside your pipettors and Mathematica code, take off your lab coat and hip waders, and grab a notebook. Let’s learn to write our science stories.

Friday, January 8th, 2027, 6 - 8 PM: (Optional) Mixer for Attendees - Welcome address – Kimberly Heiman

Saturday January 9th, 2027 

9:00 – 9:30: Why Storytelling for STEM – Kimberly Heiman

Kimberly examines the science behind how we know storytelling enhances knowledge comprehension, retention, and recall, then debunks common myths as to why storytelling can’t work for science communication. 

9:30 – 10:15: Once Upon A Time: How to Structure Your Story – David Hicks 

By using the time-tested formula, Once upon a time . . . . Then, one day . . . David will provide a structure for starting your own autobiographical essay or story.

10:30 – 11:30: Craft Lesson: Characterization and Setting via Description – Kimberly Heiman

In this craft lesson, participants will learn how to create character versions of themselves to be the protagonist of their science stories. We will also explore how to describe settings using sensory details as seen through the point-of-view of our protagonist-self. We will learn how to use description to offer insight into our character-self via what we choose to highlight in the setting. 

11:30 – 1:00 PM: Lunch 

1:00 – 2:15 PM: Craft Lesson, Participants’ Choice

Instructors will offer a craft lesson that will be open to STEM-Workshop participants and MA/MFA creative writing students. 

Finding the Story in Science with Character, Conflict, and Stakes - Kate Brandes

Stories can help people connect with science, but the most compelling stories don't reduce complicated issues to simple heroes, villains, or answers. Drawing on my experience as both an environmental scientist and fiction writer, this workshop explores how character, conflict, perspective, and stakes can show the human dimensions of STEM topics while also revealing their complexity. Participants will experiment with ways of telling stories that engage people and create space for curiosity, empathy, and deeper understanding.

Demystifying Journalism: How to Make a Chunk of Science into a Compelling Narrative - Helen Fields

Metaphor and the Braided Essay - Kimberly Heiman

Creative non-fiction essays come in many forms. Braided essays take seemingly unrelated topics and plait them together to gain new insights into each. What happens if one of those seemingly unrelated topics is a STEM idea or a nature observation? When placed in proximity to other topics, what new metaphors and understandings emerge? In this workshop, participants will practice weaving together two to three seemingly unrelated topics to find the insight at the heart of creative nonfiction writing. 

2:30 - 4:00 PM: Craft Workshop: Action and Plot –  Kimberly Heiman

All stories have a plot: the sequence of events that the character experiences on their way to what they want and need. Science stories need to also have a series of events, usually linked via cause and effect. This workshop will focus on key plot beats important to story structure and how to find them in your personal science stories.

4:15 - 5:15 PM: Panel Discussion

Science and the Story: How Science is used in and can enhance your story.

Panelists: Helen Fields, Kate Brandes, Kimberly Heiman.

Think of science as part of world-building. You are bringing your audience into your STEM world. How can science add depth to your fiction, insight to your creative non-fiction, and offer STEM educational/ communication opportunities to your audience?

5:30 - 7:00 PM: Dinner on your own 

7:00 - 8:30 PM: Author Readings: Nature and Science-Themed Creative Readings 

Open to all MA/MFA students and STEM conference participants.

Readers: Kate Brandes, Kimberly Heiman, Robin McCrary, Rachel Weaver

Homework: Finish a draft of your STEM-infused story to bring it to the workshop on Sunday. 

Sunday January 10th, 2026

9:00 - 11:30: Craft Workshop #3: 

Workshopping stories and Discussion of how to get our stories into the world  –  Kimberly Heiman

A key part of creative writing is learning how to read as a writer and offer editing suggestions to help your fellow writers improve their craft. We will workshop your short essays/stories. The workshop will conclude with a discussion of how you see your new storytelling skills being useful in your STEM lives. We will communally ask and answer the question: How can we get our STEM stories out into the wider world? 

11:30: Workshop concludes

Kimberly Heiman, Ph.D. 

Kimberly Heiman is a biology professor at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania. She took up creative writing as a pandemic coping strategy, earning an MFA from Wilkes University. Her first book, THE SCIENTIST AND THE STORY, a personal storytelling craft book for STEM professionals, is forthcoming from the University of California Press. Her shorter work has been published in Flash Fiction Magazine and IHRAM Press Literary Magazine, CrayfishMag, and Oddball Magazine. When not writing or teaching, she is searching beaches for horseshoe crabs.

Kate Brandes

Kate Brandes is an environmental scientist, novelist, and Professor of Practice in Environmental Studies and Sciences (ESS) at Moravian University, where she directs the ESS Program. She's the author of the novels THE PROMISE OF PIERSON ORCHARD and STONE CREEK, which explore the relationships among people, place, and environmental change. Her work as both a scientist and fiction writer focuses on how storytelling can help people engage with complex environmental and scientific issues.

Helen Fields, Ph.D.

Helen Fields is a science journalist based out of Washington D.C. She has written about everything from meteorites to microbes, had staff jobs at U.S.News & World Report and National Geographic, and her freelance work has appeared in Discover, Smithsonian, Science, New Scientist, and many other publications. She writes a blog, The Last Word on Nothing  external website. In her free time, she enjoys walking, drawing, reading, singing, sewing, and the company of her fellow humans.

David Hicks, Ph.D.

David is the author of three books (the autobiographical novel WHITE PLAINS, the autobiographical children’s book THE MAGIC TICKET, and the novel THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO DANNY), owner/principal of Camerado Writing Services  external website, retired director of the Wilkes Creative Writing Program (2020-2026), and founder/former director of the Regis University MFA in Denver, CO.