Fall 2020: Six-Month Short Story Intensive: Starting the Story Collection

This class is for experienced writers who are dedicated to starting the first draft of a story collection over the course of 6 months. We will have 22 class meetings between October and April, with a four-week break from mid-December to mid-January to focus on generating and revising our work.

Participants should have experience writing stories and familiarity with the elements of literary short fiction including scene, character, conflict, place and revision. We will study individual stories by authors, read craft essays, and discuss several published collections and how the stories unite to form a book.

This class is specifically designed for writers who are comfortable in a workshop setting. We will be giving and receiving feedback on works in progress at each of our meetings. Students will be expected to workshop their stories four times throughout the intensive.

In addition to the specific goal of starting a collection, the intention of this class is to bring together a group of writers who are actively seeking accountability, community, and a deepening of dedication to their own work.

Class time will be spent on occasional freewrites, feedback critiques of the cohort’s work, and discussion of craft elements by way of outside readings by writers like Carmen Maria Machado, Bryan Washington, Samantha Hunt, Kevin Barry, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, Lauren Groff, and many others.

Participants will be expected to spend a minimum of 8 hours a week on their writing practice, including two hours of class time, one to one and half hours reading and responding to classmates’ work, an hour of reading, and at least four hours of your own writing.

Download the syllabus here Contact Susan Moore at susan@literary-arts.org with questions.

Tuition is due in full to reserve your registration. If you need to cancel your registration for the Short Story Intensive, the following refund schedule applies:

* $90 of the class registration is a non-refundable deposit.
• 3 days or more before a class: tuition, minus the deposit, will be issued.
• 3 days or more before class starts: if you prefer to convert your registration to a credit for an upcoming class, you can receive a tuition credit for an upcoming class for the full amount of your tuition, good for one year.
• 48 hours or less before a class begins: no refund or tuition credit is available.
If Literary Arts has to cancel a class, you will receive a full refund.

Margaret was terrific: smart, on task, responsive, inclusive, serious yet fun, a perfect combination. I have never taken a better writing class than this, including college level and other independent courses. – former student

Access Program
We want our writing classes 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 registrations at a reduced rate. The access program for writing classes covers 60% of the class tuition. Most writing classses have at least one access spot available. Contact Susan Moore at susan@literary-arts.org if you would like to take a writing class at the Access Rate