About 12Writing
A Website for Creative Writing, Teaching, and Other Projects
Ryan Edel | 12Writing
Updated 4 December 2025The original intent for 12Writing.com was to develop online creative classes, and I'm still working on that part. But this portion of the site focuses on the skills for academic writing. If you're looking for more advice on creative genres like fiction, poetry, and memoir, you'll want to check out some other portions of the site:
My UDL page was my first real work with Google Sites, and I originally wanted it to grow into an online textbook for my students and fellow teachers. But like many first drafts, it became too disjointed, and so I began again.
When I taught English at YouthBuild, I had big plans to build writing cross-curricular workshops that would engage students in English, science, social studies, and their vocations. Unfortunately, this project was cut short due to layoffs, but it provided many of the layout ideas that now make this website look nice.
This in-process website runs in parallel to the English.12Writing.com pages you're currently reading, but with a focus on creative rather than academic genres of writing.
This is the original blog that got it all started. For me, it offers fond memories of my ideas on writing, but it's not quite as organized as I would like.
This started as my Introduction to Fiction and Poetry (IFP) site for teaching creative writing as a grad student at Johns Hopkins. I later expanded it into English 101 and 145 at Illinois State University. Like the main page, it follows a blog format, and this limits the organization.
This was a fun three-week course I taught on writing science fiction. It offers suggestions for speculative writing, tips for workshopping, and recommendations for some of my favorite works of science fiction.