The Long Short Story

In today’s literary magazines and journals there is an ever-increasing focus on shorter works of prose: flash fiction, sudden fiction, micro essays. At the same time, many established authors have consistently turned out beloved works that are twenty, thirty, forty pages long. Is there still a place for longer prose? And how can we give our big ideas room to breathe while holding our readers’ attention?

In this class we will explore a survey of long fiction pieces, and examine the many threads that hold them together. We will discuss the state of longform writing in today’s literary landscape, and use generative prompts and in-class writing time to liberate ourselves from word counts in order to write toward whatever length our stories need to be. Students will finish the course with the beginnings of at least one longer piece of prose.

Learn more about the instructor, Rachel Attias, on our blog.

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.