Class Description
The short story form is capacious. Among its many virtues, it celebrates the power and singularity of a moment in time. It leads us through familiar and unfamiliar terrain and it challenges our way of seeing. The short story extends a promise and an invitation to escape from the noise, and it reaffirms human connection.
In this intermediate-level writing workshop, we will discuss craft tools (characterization, style, POV etc.,) and deploy revision strategies to help you develop your short stories. Writers will generate and/or revise two complete stories (each a maximum of 20 pages, double spaced). Genres of all types are welcome, and we will honor your voice, your process and your vision. With this, the expectation is that all will actively participate in class and lead with generosity, in order to build on the collaborative energies of workshop.
In-depth written and oral feedback from peers and the instructor will compose the bulk of the workshop. Feedback will move between the macro (“What is the story’s emotional center? What themes live beneath the surface?”) and micro. (“How does the language serve the narrative? How does point of view steer the story?”)
We will also read and take inspiration from a wide range of published short fiction, the likes of Mariana Enriquez, Claire Keegan, and Edward P. Jones. Writers will come away with a sharpened capacity for reading their own work and others’, a new lens on their writing practice, and the opportunity to build sustaining community with others.
Writing Roadmap: We've created a simple, goal-based writing roadmap to help you find the perfect GrubStreet course for your writing needs.
Thanks to the excellent literary citizenship of our donors, scholarships are available for all GrubStreet classes. To apply, click the gray "APPLY FOR SCHOLARSHIP" button. In order to be considered for a scholarship, you must complete your application at least one week before the start date of a class. Please await our scholarship committee's decision before registering for the class. We cannot hold spots in classes, so the sooner you apply, the better. Scholarships cannot be applied retroactively.
For more detailed information about GrubStreet scholarships, including how to contribute to scholarship funds for other students, click here.
This class will take place using Zoom videoconferencing. After registering, a yellow Resources tab will appear in this section containing a link to join class. Please note that you will need to be logged into view the Resources tab.
Zoom Participation:
In our experience, the intimate nature of a writing workshop benefits from on-camera participation. Students are of course welcome to turn their camera off whenever they need to, but it is a community norm for cameras to be on most of the time. You can learn more about using Zoom here.
Zoom Accessibility:
You can enable closed captioning at any time during the meeting by clicking the CC button at the bottom of the screen. If you'd like to access the transcript after class, please make sure to let your instructor ahead of time that you'd like a copy.