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Since 2006, the talented and accomplished staff of Our Stories has provided you creative and practical feedback on your submissions. Finding the feedback—we hope—to be rather useful, many of you have asked us for one-on-one mentorship. At the time, we had to turn you down. Over the past 3 years, what started as a small (although nationwide) project by a few editors who wanted to help writers understand why their works were rejected, has turned out to be something quite larger. We now have eleven staff members, receive over four hundred submissions a quarter and run two contests a year. With so much support, Our Stories is proud to announce its next phase of existence.
Workshops @ Our Stories. ___
You asked for it, and we are more than happy to supply it.
In the Our Stories Think Tank, we brainstormed several ways to run the perfect workshop. We asked around; we asked ourselves. Being writers who have spent years in fiction workshops, we had a lot to say on the subject. Finally, we came to create what we feel is the perfect solution for writers who wish to progress in their fields, specifically through the work of revision. We believe any story can be mastered. Let’s rewrite.
As opposed to working with a traditional class of fifteen other writers, when you become a student writer with Workshops @ Our Stories you get one-on-one workshop time with an editor. As opposed to fifteen different opinions by other beginning writers, you get practical, honest advice from a decision-maker in the field.
Workshops @ Our Stories:
Work one-on-one through three drafts of three stories in an eight-week session. Do you want the real feeling of working with your work or do you want to hear a bunch of uninformed opinions about your work?
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During the first week, you will submit your first short story. Your instructor will work through your piece and give you prompt feedback. Examples of this feedback are here. You will then move on to the following two stories, receiving feedback and revising your work. For your final project, you must resubmit all three stories. Your instructor will then provide you with final thoughts on your revisions, suggestions on where to submit your work, and overall feedback on your progress.
Workshops @ Our Stories offers:
The Deluxe and Standard Workshops are for writers who want to rework three stories and discuss their stories with their instructor anywhere from two to four half hours. You will talk on the phone or use video conferencing via Skype or a simple phone conversation over the course to clarify thoughts and opinions of your story.
The Lite and Double Workshops for those writers interested in reworking one or two stories through three drafts.
Here's a sample syllabus of one of our workshops, download it here
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Name of Program (links are included below)
Average Class Size
# of Stories you Workshop
Drafts of Each Story
Cost
2
1
$420
$759 + $43_*includes 3 credits
Max 6
2
2
$369
Max 1
3-5
more than 1
$1800 lasts 6 months
Our Stories Standard Workshop
Max 1
3
3
$345
We offer various versions of our workshops for one, two and three stories. The Standard and Deluxe Workshops allow you to work with three stories and the Deluxe Workshop includes two to four half hours of video conferencing via Skype with our staff membe. We find this is very helpful for you to ask questions and discuss your progress throughout the eight weeks. In our Lite and Double Workshop you will work through three drafts of one or two short stories as opposed to three stories over the course of three to five weeks.
Workshops usually begin the first Friday of every month but we will work with your schedule.
Sign up for Workshops @ Our Stories today!
For instructor bios and course dates click here.
email us at: workshops@ourstories.us
- Pay the enrollment fee using PayPal and submit your stories by directly emailing your instructor after you've been approved to do so.
- On your enrollment day you will receive a course syllabus and instructions for your first week.
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*We try to make sure you receive your first pick of who you'd like to work with but in unusual circumstances we will offer you an adequate alternative staff member.
** For deluxe conferencing you must have a video camera and a high speed internet connection that allows you to use video and phone conferencing with Skype. Check http://www.skype.com for more information and hardware/software requirements.
Our Stories Literary Journal - Alexis E Santi, Editor in Chief
workshops@ourstories.us
(314) 578-7766
For more details on what our staff looks for in fiction, check the What You Say section of the website.
"Meaning, sense and clarity and when I don't find them, you'll hear about it."
"Character, first. Tension, next. Both, however, are useless without a mastery of the language."
"I look for compelling stories, either plot or character driven, with language chosen to enhance the entire experience."
"Words that uniquely slip me elsewhere--singingly, zingingly, or quietly. Sensate incarnate. Tickles my syn-es-the-sia."
"I look for profluence or forward movement, something characters hunger for, and wonderfully vivid characters."
"I read for intimacy and honesty, to hear all that is said between spoken words."
Katherine Gehan
"I want passion for language, deeply-wrought characters, and a memorable plot. Give me two out of three and we can make it work."
Elizabeth Kadetsky
"I look for precision and control that provide a structure in which imagination and rumination run wild. I am a fan of the organic and the associative, ideas from the dream mind crafted through rewrite."
MK Hall
"If a story asks me to fly, it has to make me believe in fairies first."
Want Chyi
"Give me people I can hear and see, dance and smoke with, high-five or want to kick. Make me care."
Steven Ramirez
"If I can sympathize with a character--even the most troubling, flawed, and spiteful of characters--I will gratefully (and guiltily) follow wherever he or she cares to take me."
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