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Fiction Writing Workshop: The Short Story

Second Wednesdays, September through February

Six-month short story workshop focused on writing a new short story or the beginning of a novel.

Writing fiction well requires a vision of what’s true in the story before it ever reaches the page; the careful selection of elements best suited to the telling of the story; and the attention to words that, finally, renders the story beautiful. 

In this short story workshop, we will discuss what makes a good story, how a story idea gets transformed into an actual plot, how to develop characters for the short form, why point of view is especially key, how we find a “voice” best suited to that particular story, and figuring out how much description is just enough. Every month -- based on a writing prompt and word count limit -- you will submit your partial manuscript to the instructor, who will distribute the partials to everyone in the class. Each class meeting will consist of instruction and sharing feedback on the partials. The goal is to have a solid draft by the end of the six-month workshop. 

Shelley Costa’s work has been nominated for both the Edgar and Agatha Awards and has received an Honorable Mention for The Pushcart Prize. Her latest short story, “The Knife Sharpener,” (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, July/August 2023), set during the Battle of Gettysburg, has been chosen for the annual anthology, Best Mystery Stories of 2024. She is the author of several amateur sleuth novels and many crime stories. Her newest mystery novel, The Damages (Level Best Books, July 2024), marks the second installment in her soft-boiled private eye series. Shelley holds a PhD in English from Case Western Reserve University, where she teaches topics in American literature and Literary Modernism through their Siegal Lifelong Learning program.