Short Fiction Workshop
with Ken Foster

The great editor and novelist William Maxwell often said that when asked "What is your story about?" the only appropriate answer is to read the story. Every page, every paragraph, every word should count. Yet often, as writers, we lose track of the story, or we make the mistake of holding onto our tiny original vision of where the story should take us.

This online workshop will focus on reimagining stories. Over the course of eight weeks, we will work individually and as a group, honing our skills of imagination and -- perhaps even more important -- editing and revising. This is a course for people who are willing to take chances, fall on their faces, and not be embarrassed to be helped back onto their writing feet. While new work will be encouraged, it will be more useful for writers to come to the course with at least one piece they are willing to tear apart. Additional assignments will use short exercises to practice particular skills and to reveal our talents and weaknesses to our workshop community (so that they can better critique us).

Each student will have the opportunity to workshop two full-length short stories. Story length is limited to 15 pages for the workshop, so that we can focus on getting only the most essential elements on the page. In addition, there will be ample opportunities for online student discussions and consultations, and all students are encouraged to share work beyond the official workshop assignments.

In this class, you can expect to learn:

-- How to focus your story on the page
-- How to cast a skeptical eye on your own work
-- How to reimagine and explore latent possibilities in revision
-- How to break out of your habits in characterization and plotting

Admission requirements:
You should submit a letter of interest, including a brief work history, previous coursework and a writing sample of no more than 15 pages. See class details, below, for exact instructions.

From a student...
"My story is being published in The New Orphic Review, a journal I became aware of it in the 2004 Best American Mystery Stories, where two stories the review had published appeared on the list at the rear of the anthology under "Other Distinguished Mystery Stories" of the year. My story in question, "Pendulum," was conceived and written entirely during the period of the short fiction workshop and sent off just as we were finishing up (the positive response - under two weeks - is the quickest reply I've ever had). Although still 29 pages, double-spaced, that is a heck of a lot shorter than it would've been if I hadn't come out of the workshop with two imperatives jKen (in the end) convinced me of: "Shorten, then shorten again" and "Uncomplicate." For the latter, I suppose I could just say "simplify," but I like "uncomplicate"because my stories often start out, precisely, too complicated.

It's a good idea to take a workshop with someone who knows something about publishing and editing; Ken's reactions to my stories were a better proxy for the editors who've been rejecting my stories than I liked to think. I can sit around for a long time writing long, convoluted stories that I myself like, but if I want to get published I'd better get with the program (just as, if I were a rock musician writing 12-minute songs, I'd need good luck to get airplay). So I think the workshop was a good reality check for me." --John Hanson

.

Ken Foster is the author of a collection of stories, The Kind I'm Likely to Get, which was a New York Times Notable Book. He is also the editor of two anthologies, The KGB Bar Reader and Dog Culture: Writers on the Character of Canines. His memoir about dog rescue, The Dogs Who Found Me, will be published this year. In addition, his work has appeared in the New York Times Book Review, the San Francisco Chronicle, McSweeney's, the Believer, the Village Voice, Newsday, Urban Dog, Salon and many other publications. From 1994 to 1998, he was the founding curator of the KGB Bar reading series in New York. His column, "Storied Shorts," a review of current short story collections, appears in the Westchester Journal News. The recipient of fellowships from Yaddo, Sewanee Writers Conference and the New York Foundation for the Arts, Foster has taught at the New School, the Iowa Summer Writing Festival and Florida State University.