A short story writing 101 workshop
Facilitated by Cian Cruise
THURSDAYS - June 20 & 27, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. ONLINE via Video call
As our third 2024 Art of Writing Workshop, and in support of the LANARK LIT Writing Competition, ARW is excited to present Get Writing Your Story: How to Just GO, a short story writing 101 workshop facilitated by Cian Cruise.
This 2-day workshop is open to all writers—total beginners and those with more experience. Your instructor will focus on the fundamentals of writing short stories and what makes them different from other forms of writing. There will be brief readings and discussions about structure & the writing process, with an opportunity to review your own writing in the second session. The goal is to give you what you need to help you start your own short story.
To increase accessibility, this workshop will be held online via video call. If you would like to participate but do not have access to reliable Internet for video conferencing, please contact the organizers at info.almonterw@gmail.com to discuss options.
What is this workshop about?
Whether you’re just starting out, or have wrestled with short stories before, it’s important to bone up on the fundamentals. Cian will talk about what makes a short story tick, and give you a few frameworks and pointers to start writing right away. If you’re hard at work on a draft, he’ll also discuss the magic of editing & rewriting, which is where many writers believe the writing process really takes off.
What will we do in the workshop?
Session 1: Review a short story or two to ground the conversation, discuss several key conventions of the short story form, look at a few launching-off points for how to get started writing your story, and dive into the importance of your first paragraph. Then, Cian will lead an open discussion about anything that you need to just GO, and discuss what you’ll try writing between sessions.
Session 2: Cian will check in on everyone’s progress on writing between sessions. Then he’ll discuss the stages of editing that a short story goes through to compress as much meaning as possible into the most concise package, until it positively vibrates. Until it sings. Lastly, Cian will open things up to discuss anything that might be valuable to you, like what to do with a short story once it’s done (such as submitting it to a competition like LANARK LIT!).
Who is this workshop for?
All are welcome.
About the Instructor/Writer:
Cian Cruise is a writer from Perth, formerly Almonte, formerly Toronto, formerly Kingston, Ontario. He is the author of DAD BOD (2022, Dundurn Press), a book of essays on fatherhood and pop culture, as well as a number of short stories published in magazines including Broken Pencil, THIS Magazine, The Puritan, and Little Brother Magazine. His writing has been called "clever, riveting" by The Globe and Mail, and "thought provoking" by The Independent Mail.
More on Cian can be found at www.ciancruise.com
This workshop is presented with funding from the Elizabeth Kelly Foundation, and partial funding from the Municipality of Mississippi Mills.
