Is a Creative Writing Gap Year Right for You?

Graduation is coming, and the future feels big—thrilling, uncertain, and rushing closer every day. Maybe you’ve planned your next steps, or maybe you’re still figuring things out.  

If you’re a writer—the kind who fills notebooks with ideas and scribbles stories in the margins of your homework—one bold idea stands out: pursuing creative writing. 

But what if you could trade textbooks for travel journals and classrooms for cobblestone streets? A creative writing gap year program might be exactly what you’re looking for. 

What Is a Gap Year Abroad? 

A gap year abroad is a break from the traditional school path—a chance to step away from textbooks and test scores to explore the world and discover new passions. For aspiring writers, a creative writing program to do during a gap year abroad can blend storytelling workshops with cultural immersion, giving you time to hone your craft while drawing inspiration from your surroundings. 

Creative writing abroad can mean having experiences like: 

• Workshops with professional writers to refine your craft and strengthen your storytelling skills
• Group excursions to literary landmarks, museums, and cultural sites for inspiration
• Dedicated writing time to work on a great start to a novel, poetry collection, or personal essays
• Independent exploration to gather ideas, experiences, and details that breathe life into your writing
• Community to experience everyday life with new friends who are just as passionate as you about writing. 

CIEE's Writers' Workshop in Europe takes students to three iconic cities—Paris, London, and Edinburgh—to explore storytelling in the very places that inspired some of the world’s greatest writers.  

What if you’ve already been accepted to college? We recommend students apply for college before they head out onto their gap year abroad, so you’re already one step ahead! If you’ve already been accepted, you can request to defer your admission and start college when you return from your gap year.  

Why Consider a Gap Year for Writing? 

A creative writing gap year offers something you can’t get in a typical school year: space—glorious, uninterrupted space—to write! 

Without the noise of exams, group projects, and buzzing inboxes, you’ll have time to: 

• Wander inside your own mind and discover new ideas.
• Experiment with styles and techniques you’ve never tried before.
• Polish your stories with thoughtful feedback from experienced teachers.
• Connect with fellow writers who geek out over metaphors and plot twists just like you do. 

And then there’s the magic of travel—experiences that refuse to be confined to notebooks or screens. The world unfolds around you, spilling over with stories just waiting to be caught. If you choose CIEE's Writer's Workshop Gap Year, you'll find yourself swept into the heart of Western Europe: 

• Parisian markets where buttery pastries melt on your tongue while vendors shout prices in sharp bursts of French. The air smells like roasted chestnuts, and somewhere nearby, a violinist strings out a haunting melody that follows you long after you leave.
• Evenings in Edinburgh, where you and your friends gather at the Scottish International Storytelling Festival. Candlelight flickers, and master storytellers spin eerie tales of ghosts and forgotten souls. By the time you’re walking back to your room, you can’t help but glance over your shoulder, half-expecting a shadow to follow you up the stairs.
• London’s Covent Garden, where street performers twist and tumble for a laughing crowd. Coins clatter into a hat as a magician reveals your card—the one you swore he couldn’t have seen—and you tuck the idea away for a scene in your next story. 

Beyond sparking new ideas, a creative writing gap year will also push you out of your comfort zone—and that’s a good thing. Living independently in a new country helps you: 

• Build resilience when plans go awry.
• Become more adaptable and confident.
• Develop the kind of self-reliance that makes you feel invincible (or at least capable of conquering a train schedule in a foreign language). 

How Travel Fuels Creativity 

Travel wakes up your senses—and for a writer, that’s everything. Colors sharpen, conversations hum louder, and smells linger longer. The details you once overlooked become impossible to ignore. In other words, travel fills your mind with the raw material for great stories. 

• Stumbling upon an idea for your next protagonist after spotting a lone figure in a Parisian bookshop—the one with the patched leather bag and fingers that seem to know exactly which pages to turn.
• Jotting down snatches of dialogue after eavesdropping on locals at a London café—the waiter balancing plates like a tightrope walker, the sharp laugh of a woman in red, the quiet sigh of a man folding his newspaper.
• Gathering sensory details—the flicker of streetlights on rain-slicked cobblestones, the warmth of your scarf as you climb Arthur’s Seat, or the sharp scent of salt air when you reach the summit. 

A gap year writing program like the Writers' Workshop in Europe are designed to help you shape those experiences into meaningful stories. With weekly writing workshops, guidance from experienced authors and visits to legendary literary landmarks you’ll have the tools to turn your travels into powerful, polished narratives.  

And by the end of the program? You’ll leave with a polished, reflective literary piece you’re proud of—perhaps ready for publication, a writing competition, or to include in your college creative writing application. 

Find Your Story and Tell It 

A creative writing gap year program is about finding your voice in the world and learning how to start a creative writing career. The stories you gather, the characters you meet, and the places you explore will shape your writing in ways you can’t yet imagine. 

Learn more about CIEE’s Writers' Workshop in Europe and start your application today!