Class Description
The goal of this workshop is to prepare a single short story or novel chapter for submission to magazines, literary agents, MFA programs, residencies, and other opportunities. If you’ve been writing and workshopping for a while, chances are you have a drawer full of strong stories or chapters. But many of us need an extra push to commit to one of these pieces and keep working on it until it’s as good as it can possibly be. And the truth is, whatever opportunities you’re applying for, you won’t make it past the gatekeepers with a handful of good stories; you need one great story.
To reach this goal, participants will receive intensive instruction on revision and will workshop two versions of the same piece. We will discuss elements of craft at an advanced level and read a wide range of authors such as Alice Munro, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Richard Yates, Rajesh Parameswaran, and others. The course includes a clinic on writing queries and cover letters, as well as a visit by a literary agent. You will also receive guidance on nuts-and-bolts details of the writing profession, including managing submissions; finding the right agent; the pros and cons of MFA programs, writing conferences, and residencies; and how to take advantage of the Muse and the Marketplace's Manuscript Mart.
Only students who have taken previous fiction workshops at Grub Street or elsewhere should apply. Space is limited to 9 students in order to foster a closer, more intense and more rigorous learning experience.
The submission deadline for this class has passed. If you applied to this class, you will hear from the reading committee early next week (the week of August 25th).
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.