WRITING THE IN-BETWEEN: Identity, Story & Voice
A 6-Week Online Writing Course for Anyone Navigating In-Between Identities
Led by Kayla Kim Votapek and Jesse Jae Hoon
Course Description:
Some stories don't fit neatly into one box. Neither do we.
Writing the In-Between is a 6-week online writing course for anyone who has ever felt caught between cultures, identities, families, or ways of belonging. Whether you are an adoptee, mixed race, multicultural, or simply someone who has lived in the space between worlds, this course is your invitation to write from that place honestly, boldly, and with full creative freedom.
Through memoir, fiction, and poetry, you will explore your own in-between story, not to resolve it or make it tidy, but to honor its complexity and discover the singular voice that lives inside it.
This is not a course about writing correctly. It is a course about writing truthfully and finding that your truth, in all its contradiction and beauty, is exactly where your most powerful work begins.
6-Week Structure
*The first two weeks are held by Kayla alone, allowing the cohort to settle into the container before Jesse joins us in Week 3 to deepen the work alongside us.
Week 1: Where Are You In-Between? Mapping Your Identity Landscape
We begin by naming the in-between spaces each writer inhabits; cultural, racial, familial, linguistic. Through guided writing exercises and reflection, students begin to map the terrain of their identity and identify the stories that have been waiting to be told.
Week 2: The Stories You Were Given Inherited Narratives & Family Mythology
Every in-between identity comes with stories; the ones passed down, the ones withheld, and the ones that were never spoken aloud. This week, students explore inherited narratives and begin writing into the gaps, silences, and contradictions of their family and cultural history.
Week 3: Neither / Both Writing Contradiction & Complexity
This week, we go directly into the heart of the in-between experience: the contradictions, the grief, the humor, the pride, and the refusal to choose sides. Students explore how to hold multiple truths on the page simultaneously without collapsing them into a single, easy narrative.
Week 4: Finding Your Voice Style, Form & Creative Identity
By now, students have accumulated raw material and lived experience on the page. This week, we zoom out and look at the craft : How does your identity shape your voice as a writer? How do form, structure, and style become extensions of who you are? Students begin shaping their writing into something intentional and distinctly their own.
Week 5: In Response Feedback, Revision & the Art of Listening to Your Work
Good writing isn't just written; it's rewritten. This week, students bring a piece from the course into a structured, supportive feedback process. Through guided peer response and facilitated discussion, students learn how to give and receive feedback that deepens the work rather than flattens it. The focus is not on fixing but on listening to what the writing is already trying to say.
Week 6: Witnessing & What Comes Next Sharing, Celebration & Continuing the Story
The final week is a space of witnessing and celebration. Students share a piece of writing from the course and are held by the community. We close by honoring how far each writer has come and naming what they are carrying forward in their writing and in themselves.
Session Length: 90 minutes once per week
**Limited scholarships are available for those who need additional support. If cost is a barrier, please reach out before registering.
Total Contact Hours: 9 hours of live instruction across 6 weeks
Dates:
Week 1: July 6th at 8:30 pm -10:00 pm EST
Week 2: July 13th at 8:30 pm -10:00 pm EST
Week 3: July 20th at 8:30 pm -10:00 pm EST
Week 4: July 27th at 8:30 pm -10:00 pm EST
Week 5: Aug 3rd at 8:30 pm -10:00 pm EST
Break/CREATIVE PRACTICE WEEK: Aug 11th
Week 6: Aug 17th at 8:30 pm -10:00 pm EST
Who This Is For
This course is for you if you are an adoptee, mixed race, multicultural, or anyone who has ever felt like your full story doesn't fit inside one identity. If you've been waiting for a space that honors complexity rather than asking you to simplify, this is that space. No prior writing experience is required. Only a willingness to show up honestly and write from where you actually are.