Advanced Short Story Workshop

Elizabeth McCracken writes that “a short story is a single instrument upon which any piece of music may be played; a novel is an orchestra, every song and every sound.” Indeed, the short story is a unique art form, marked by concision and precision. In short stories, every choice a writer makes on the page is immensely important—one sour note might throw off the song. In this short story-specific workshop we will read, discuss, and critique each other’s work in order to practice and tune our writerly instruments.

While this course is primarily a workshop, several classes will also feature writing prompts, short readings, and discussions meant to generate content, practice editing techniques, or strengthen our understanding of craft. We will close with an emphasis on radical revision practices so that you may leave equipped with tools to continue polishing your work.

This class is geared toward writers who already have two finished short stories they’d like to bring to a workshop environment. Each student will be workshopped twice. Please plan to submit two different short stories of up to roughly 20 pages each.

Class goals:
-Develop a common language around craft elements of the short story
-Apply craft techniques and “rules” to our own and each other’s writing (if even just to break them!)
-Strengthen our ears for “good” writing, and be able to articulate what, exactly, makes a piece of writing work
-Practice revision techniques as an essential part of the writing process

Class schedule:
Our first and last weeks of class will be spent reading, writing, and discussing the inner workings of the short story form. The middle six weeks will be dedicated to workshops and discussions of short stories or craft-based readings. Each student will be workshopped twice, with three weeks in between your workshops.

Access Program
We want our writing classes and seminars to be accessible to everyone, regardless of income and background. We understand that our tuition structure can present obstacles for some people. Our Access Program offers writing class and seminar tuitions at a reduced rate. Most writing classes have at least one access spot available.

Please apply here for access rate tuition. Contact Susan Moore at susan@literary-arts.org if you have questions.

Liaison position
Every in-person class and seminar at Literary Arts has one liaison position. Liaisons perform specific duties for each class meeting. If you are a liaison for a class or seminar, the full amount of your tuition is covered by Literary Arts.

Apply here for the liaison position.