Focus on the Short Story

Successful short story writers know there is more to writing a short story than meets the eye. They require a sharply focused idea, finely rendered characters and tightly crafted prose to be effective. Work with a published short story author to write and revise two complete short stories and develop skills to write short stories independently.

Course level:  Intermediate

Required Book:  Writing in General and the Short Story in Particular by Rust Hills

Workshop Length:  14 weeks

Tuition:  $425.00 ($382.50 for VIP)

Start Date: View Focus on the Short Story Course Schedule

Course Structure
This workshop will consist of seven two-week sessions. Each session will include online lectures (text based) and associated textbook reading assignments, along with a writing assignment drawn specifically from the work in progress, which will be submitted to the instructor for private review at the end of the first week of the session. During the second week of each session, work will be posted for group review and feedback. Throughout the workshop you will be able to participate in asynchronous lecture discussion and encouraged to take advantage of ongoing informal discussions and posted self-directed writing exercises. Students should plan on spending 2-3 hours per week on classroom activities, including reading assignments, writing assignments, discussion, and peer review.

You will learn:

  • How to develop and refine short story ideas
  • What makes a strong beginning for a short story
  • How to correct four common structural problems
  • How to avoid three problem endings
  • The difference between revising and polishing – and how to do both

Who should take this course:

  • Individuals who want to learn how to create finely rendered characters, develop tightly crafted prose, and discover what it takes to be a successful Short Story writer
  • Writers who want create two short stories and receive inside tips and feedback from a Published Author
  • Graduates of Fundamentals of Fiction Writing or writers with an excellent grasp of mechanics, composition, and basic fiction writing techniques

Focus on the Short Story Writing Workshop

Course Outline

Session One: The Short Story as a Form

  • What makes a short story?
  • What is “short”?
  • What are the conventions of the short story form?

Writing Assignment: Narrative summaries of the two short story ideas you’ll develop during this workshop (maximum 250 words each).

Session Two: The Rough Draft

  • How are short stories composed?
  • Why start with a rough draft?
  • Character first

Writing Assignment: A complete rough draft (from beginning to end) of your first short story idea (up to 4,500 words).

Session Three: Back to the Beginning

  • What makes a strong beginning?
  • How do you know where to start?

Writing Assignment: Revise the beginning of your short story idea (up to 1,500 words, or roughly one-third).

Session Four: The Middle

  • The importance of pacing
  • How is information released?
  • How do you balance internal and external action?
  • Four common structural problems (and how to fix them)

Writing Assignment: Revise the middle one-third of your story (roughly the next 1,500 words).

Session Five: The Ending

  • What does the ending need to accomplish?
  • Three common problems with endings (and how to avoid them)

Writing Assignment: Revise the final one-third of your story (roughly the last 1,500 words).

Session Six: Revision

  • The process of revision
  • How much is enough?
  • What’s the difference between revising and polishing?

Writing Assignment: A complete rough draft (from beginning to end) of your second short story (up to 4,500 words).

Session Seven: Keep Writing

  • Workshop wrap-up

Writing Assignment: The complete final draft of your second story (up to 4,500 words).