Los Angeles Department Of Writing and Power

I took Alanna’s Alters/​Altars workshop for an abbreviated 5 week stint of the course’s standard 10 week syllabus. By the end, I was dying for the second half. Alanna’s writing prompts are inventive, and the class environment she fosters helped even the most hesitant of us step up and share our work. Wish the class had never ended!

Really great coaching from Alanna allowed the group of writers in my class to really bond together. We didn’t just support each other, we tried to work hard to gain the respect of Alanna and our classmates. At least this was my perception. That doesn’t happen very often in classes, even graduate level ones. It’s really a credit to Alanna’s positive feedback and genuinely constructive and hopeful criticism that the class felt so very worth rushing to every week. If you’re serious about exploring yourself and the world through writing, take this class.

Great workshop in a great location! Very effective exercises and the platform to get your creativity up and running with other artists– i recommend joining in for sure.

Being a newbie to the LA scene, I decided to take the Alters workshop as a way to meet people and exercise my creativity. The experience turned out to be the best decision I’ve made since moving here! Alana’s electricity is contagious. She was constantly offering positive feedback and found fun ways to get our creative juices flowing. I looked forward to the class every week, and really enjoyed the quirky-​yet-​constructive assignments. The environment she created is a supportive and honest one and I appreciate that so much. I’d recommend this to anyone — as something fun to do, as a motivation to write more, as a release — JUST TAKE IT!

This class is a hidden gem in LA. Alanna is a brilliant instructor who opened me up to the fantastic world of performance writing. Her style is approachable and fun. She created an atmosphere where I felt free to explore myself and my writing. At our last class, I was blown away by how much my writing had improved. I will forever love LADWP and look forward to more classes.

More authentic than sashimi at Sushi-​Gen and more fortifying than ramen at Daikokuya, LADWP is the rare find that’s likely to be satisfying for both the most jaded literary gourmet and the most innocent scribble snacker. Unique (in a good way) star chanteuse and talented wordsmith Alanna Lin will raise your eyebrows and invigorate your artistic aspirations with steaming hot bowls of hand-​crafted linguistic creativity and perfectly formed slices of spoken-​word coaching brought fresh from the market early each morning. Recommended.

I was very tired tonight but had RSVPed for this LADWP meeting in Little Tokyo. I found parking on the street, wondered what I was getting myself into, walked up the long staircase, and knocked on a mysterious door. A friendly woman, Alana, answered and welcomed me in to a room full of warmth, safety and smiling faces.
We started the meeting by chatting about our writing experiences. Our thoughts and feelings about the subject. We then moved on to each person going to the microphone to read the «homework» (which I quickly did while there as I was a «drop in»). It was a top 10 list. It didn’t have to be funny, just 10 things. It was fascinating to see what others wrote about. After each we would discuss what we liked and how it made us feel. Alana gave positive feed-​back and if you were comfortable some constructive criticism. Next we each read a Haiku and then did a mash up at the very end, making a new and surprisingly poignant collaborative haiku based on what we had already written. We ended by discussing the exercise and again everyone giving feed-​back.
This all was a surprising burst of creativity that I have been longing for for a while. My creative meter was running dry today and I left with a full, overflowing tank! Safe environment. Collaborative and individualistic. Teacher who really has a 6^th sense and gift for drawing out confidence and creativity in others. And a chance to explore different perspectives. I highly recommend this class to anyone needing to break out of the hum drum of everyday L.A. life and reconnect with their creative side. I’m looking forward to returning.