Short Stories 101: The Middle

We’ve moved online! All workshops are conducted via Zoom, a virtual platform that allows you to participate in exercises and contribute to group conversation. For morning and noontime workshops, your Zoom link will be sent the day before; for afternoon workshops, one hour in advance; and for evening workshops, between 5:15 pm and one hour before your workshop starts.

Member Price: $30
Deadline to Register: October 7, 5 pm
Instructor: Brian Wood

You’ve drafted a great opening scene: now what? This session will focus on keeping the pace, building tension, and avoiding the common pitfall of dragging in the middle, when characters are boring or there’s too much navel gazing. With a focus on stakes, concrete details, and voice, we will learn how to keep our reader turning the pages. We will continue to draw examples from Flannery O’Connor, Shirley Jackson, and ZZ Packer.

Brian Wood is the author of Joytime Killbox (BOA, 2019). He has served as the Managing Editor of Reed Magazine and the Fiction Editor for POST. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from San Jose State University, and his work earned him a Ludwig Scholarship for Excellence in Creative Writing, as well as the James Phelan Award for Short Fiction and Familiar Essays. He is the co-host of the Two Month Review podcast produced by Open Letter Press. He can be found on Twitter at @BrianWood_.