Tell It Short: Writing and Publishing Short Stories

Do you want to write and publish fiction but don't know where to begin? Many now famous writers such as Stephen King, Kelly Link, Aimee Bender, and Ray Bradbury got their start writing short stories. In this class, we'll look at how to write a short story including using generative prompts to get ideas. This class will also cover continuing sources of inspiration as well as introduce students to the ins and outs of submitting stories to both paying and non-paying literary and genre fiction markets including markets for horror and science fiction. We will also cover how to use submission systems online and how to draft a short story query. By the end, students should have three to five specific markets in mind for their own submissions and have a clear idea of how to submit to these markets.

Lori D'Angelo's fiction, non-fiction, and poetry has been published in many literary journals including BULL, Gargoyle, Drunken Boat, Hawaii Pacific Review, and Rejection Letters. Her first book, a collection of stories called The Monsters Are Here, is forthcoming from ELJ Editions. She earned her MFA in fiction from West Virginia University and is a grant recipient from the Elizabeth George Foundation, a fellow at the Hambidge Center for Creative Arts, and an alumna of the Squaw Valley Community of Writers. She has been nominated both Best of the Net and a Pushcart Prize. She taught college writing for nine years.