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Short Story Workshop

January 27, 2020 /

Here in Las Vegas…

I was stunned when I discovered that there are still three spots open in the Short Story Craft Workshop here in Las Vegas, April 17th through the 21st.

The workshop is taught by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, possibly the best working short story writer in the business.

I was surprised there were still spots open for two reasons.

First, in this workshop Kris is going to teach the craft of writing short fiction across all areas of fiction. And in our modern world of indie publishing and discoverability, short fiction is critical in every genre. Short fiction can not only can make you some nice money, but it can help bring you readers in so many different ways.

Second, I was surprised that this workshop wasn’t full because it is Kris teaching it.

Not only is Kris a New York Times and USA Today bestselling writer, she is the only human ever to have stories published in Asimov’s, Analog, Ellery Queen, and Hitchcock’s magazines in the same year. And she has done that four or five different years now.

She has also been nominated and won a ton of awards across a bunch of genres for her short fiction. She has won awards like the Hugo Award, the Ellery Queen Award, and who knows how many Asimov’s Reader’s Choice Awards.

And she has been nominated for dozens and dozens of other awards for her short fiction. And on top of that, she is an award-winning short fiction editor and the former editor of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction.

So with short fiction being so important these days, and Kris teaching it, somehow there are still three spots open in the short story workshop.

Color me totally surprised.

When I was a young writer, I would have done almost anything to learn from someone at Kris’s level. And I did. Many, many times.

And so did Kris.

So if you are interested in learning the craft of writing short fiction from the best in the business, spend five days at it in April working hard on your writing, then write me.

I can promise that you will be glad you made it.

7 Comments

  • Philip

    January 27, 2020 at 7:50 am

    I would certainly attend if I had the time off and budget. I recommend this workshop 100% because I took Kris’s Teachable lecture and re-watch it constantly. Would love to delve deeper in-person. Great workshop. (P.S. as a bonus, I’d gamble and hit up the buffets. This is a no brainer).

  • John

    January 27, 2020 at 10:07 am

    Dean, your craft books hit the spot for me. I think I need may help with creating a series bible. Can anyone, or you, point to some recommended resources? Thank you. I love Writing Into the Dark.

    • dwsmith

      January 27, 2020 at 11:25 am

      John, what are you looking for in a series bible? Basically if you write into the dark, you make it up as you go and take notes of what you have done. Past that, not sure exactly what you are asking. Organization of the notes?

      • John

        January 27, 2020 at 8:37 pm

        Or, I may not need to go down that road. I see the term in use and I wondered about the value. I’ve seen a book of series bible prompt questions that was seriously overkill for me. Perhaps a Series Chapbook is more like it.

        What I would look for is prompt questions that begin high level and parse down until I choose to stop when the questions got too irrelevant for my project. This is due to my lack of experience, so I don’t get into Book 4 and screwed something up.

        I thought I’d ask. I think I’m good, been thinking about it harder. Take care.

        • Harvey Stanbrough

          January 28, 2020 at 5:30 am

          FWIW, I put together a series bible by combining notes from my reverse outline (what Dean said) re characters’ name spellings and relationships, prominent locations, distances from one place to another (as necessary), etc. It helps immensely because I don’t have to go back and dig those facts out of a previous novel or even the previous novel’s reverse outline.