Writing short stories can sometimes seem daunting: so many rules, so many precepts! Has any other literary form attracted so much theorising – much of it unhelpful to those actually trying to write? While it is undoubtedly a challenging form, it is also an infinitely flexible and exciting one. Most of all, it is important for you to make your story work on its own terms.

We will look at the wide range of choices that are available to you in terms of subject and narrative choices, temporal structures and characters, dialogue and endings. We should have a rigorous but fun time.

Who is this course for?
Most suitable for intermediate level but open to all.

Wendy Erskine’s two collections of stories, Sweet Home and Dance Move, are published by The Stinging Fly Press and Picador. She has been longlisted for the Sunday Times Short Story Prize, the Gordon Burn Prize, shortlisted for The Republic of Consciousness Prize and the Edge Hill Prize and she won the Butler Literary Prize in 2021. She also writes about art, music and fashion. She is Seamus Heaney Fellow at Queen’s University and a full-time secondary school teacher.

Date: Saturday 19 November 2022, 10am – 1pm
Location: Online
Cost: £40 (£32 Concessions) / Bursary places available

Book your place here