Short Story in a Weekend

Can you write a short story in a single weekend?

Let’s make something extraordinary.

A story is an astonishing thing. It’s a tiny, complete universe, with characters, motivations, action, tension, and completion. To make one ever is amazing, to make one in a single weekend — extraordinary.

Over this weekend, we’ll do just that. We’ll start from nothing and watch fictional worlds grow around us, traveling through every stage of story-writing, from inception to completion. Each participant will end with a finished short story, tools to do it all again, and a new appreciation for their own abilities as a writer.

Here’s how it works:

We’ll meet on Zoom on Friday evening with warm drinks and comfy clothes to settle in and then explore and land on a story idea. (Don’t worry, it can change over the course of the weekend. It probably will!)

On Saturday, we’ll reconnect to write, write, write. We’ll explore dialogue, character development, setting and plot. There will be quiet periods and connected periods to learn and play. Some sessions will be optional, so that writers can tailor their experience to their own needs and experience levels. Saturday evening will be for quiet writing time together on Zoom, while our stories work their ways onto the page.

Sunday will be a big share, feedback, and celebration of all we’ve accomplished.

While there are lots of tools and resources offered in this class, we won’t be pushing the idea that there’s a single right way to write or structure a short story. We’ll encourage participants to break rules, follow their intuitions, and find their own direction through this process.

Participants will have an optional half-hour with one of the facilitators to dig into sticky points and get some focused advice and coaching.

- Want to write their first short story, or a fresh one from scratch.
- Are drawn to the challenge to push themselves to complete something in a short time frame, knowing this will be a lot of typing!
- Love the idea of supporting others along their creative journeys.
- Understand that there isn’t a single way to write a short story, and feel curious about all the different approaches and possibilities in the room.
- Feel aligned with our fundamental beliefs.
- A finished short story.
- Creative courage, possibility and energy.
- A set of tools and ideas you can use anytime to write more short fiction.
- Writing peers whose work you are invested in.
- Critique or competition. We’re all about the love.
- Strict rules or guidelines on what short fiction is or should look like. While we will provide guidelines and options, we believe there are endless ways to do this perfectly.
- Guidance on writing about your life… Though all fiction is rooted in who we are, this class will be firmly focused on transforming our ideas and experience into fiction.
- Feedback on already-completed work.

Details for Fall 2026:

On Zoom with Kim (she/her) and Nina (she/her)

October 23–25, 2026
Friday: 7–9:30pm, Saturday: 10am–5pm, Sunday: 11am–4pm ET

Cost:

The Total Workshop Fee is $X plus applicable taxes. If you prefer, you can pay in 4 monthly installments of $X. There is no extra fee for this service.

Kindly note that since this workshop is for a small group, deposits are non-refundable. One week before the workshop starts, the full fee is non-refundable. See our financial policies here.

If money is a barrier, check out our financial aid program, which we open up four times a year.

If you don’t have a credit card, let us know and we’ll gladly find a way to make it work.