Advanced Short Story
with Becky Mandelbaum
Genres: Fiction
Online
Online Advanced
Advanced 6 Sessions
6 Sessions In this course, we'll explore how to make a manuscript publication-ready, addressing a range of questions that typically arise during writing and revision. Where does the story start? What is the story about? What should the writer cut or add to serve this "aboutness"? Looking at contemporary short stories as a model, we'll discuss crafting scenes, shaping characters, building tension, sharpening dialogue, and editing on the sentence level. Every student will have the opportunity to workshop their writing. We will also discuss how to submit work and enter contests.
Registration dates:
August 22: Scholarship Donation Day (Learn more.)
August 23: Member registration opens
August 30: General registration opens
Becky Mandelbaum
Becky Mandelbaum is the author of The Bright Side of Sanctuary for Animals and Bad Kansas, the latter of which received the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction, the High Plains Book Award for First Book, and was a Kansas Notable Book. Her work has appeared in One Story, The Sun, The Missouri Review, The Georgia Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, and elsewhere. She has received fellowships from Writing by Writers, The Helene Wurlitzer Foundation, and Lighthouse Works, and was a finalist for the 2019 Disquiet Literary Prize in Fiction, the 2020 Missouri Review Editor’s Prize in Fiction, and the 2020 Nelson Algren Award. Originally from Kansas, she currently lives in Bellingham, Washington.
FAQ
Complete FAQMost classes are offered at a general and member tuition rates based on instruction hours, with Hugo House members receiving a 10% discount on classes fewer than six sessions.
Early bird discounts are available during the first two weeks of registration and apply to both general and member tuition rates.
To help provide financial accessibility to our class offerings, some classes each quarter are offered with a sliding-scale tuition model, allowing students to pay what they can for the class. For these classes, tuition increments starting at $5 and going up to 125% of the standard pricing will be listed on the page.
Hugo House will only process refund requests that are submitted 5 business days or more before the class start date. To request a refund, log in to your account, go to “My Account,” select the “Orders” tab on the left-hand side, click the appropriate order, and request a refund for your specific class. Administrative fees apply. Please see our full refund policy here.
We do not record classes. However, an exception if a student has specific access needs.
We encourage students to only sign up for classes that fit with their schedule.
We do not tolerate racist, sexist, homophobic, ableist, transphobic or any other oppressive behaviors, regardless of who commits them. Please check out our full community guidelines by clicking here. If an instance of community guidelines are violated and not resolved within the classroom, students may let us know by filling out the student incident report.
Classes may be cancelled if less than the minimum number of students are enrolled within ten days before the class start date. If Hugo House needs to cancel a class for any reason, students can choose between receiving a full credit toward future classes or full refund.
Make a Donation
Donations made throughout the year help fund our programs and operations.
