During this class students will learn about the building blocks that go into creating a short story. We will cover points-of-view (POV), first sentences, setting, characterization, description, conflict and resolution, dialog and how to plot. By the end of the course the student should have a firm understanding of the short story medium as well as a first draft of their very own story. We will examine short stories and short story writers by reading and discussing their work.

Charles G. Thompson, a Pushcart Prize nominee, lives in Los Angeles, California where he writes fiction, nonfiction, plays, and memoir. His work has appeared or is upcoming in The Rumpus, Business Insider, Advocate.com, The Los Angeles, Times, The Washington Post, The Independent (UK), Kelp Journal, The Maine Review, STORGY Magazine, Writers Resist, Five:2:One, Cowboy Jamboree, Full Grown People, The Offbeat, The Chicago Tribune/Printers Row Journal, Reunion: The Dallas Review. His work also appears in the anthologies Made in L.A., Vol. 2 and Writers Resist: The Anthology 2018. Four of his short stories were included in the 2017 New Short Fiction Series. He was named a finalist in the Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival’s 2015 Fiction Contest. His short play “Cherry” won two playwriting awards. He earned an MFA in Creative Writing and Writing for the Performing Arts at the University of California, Riverside/Palm Desert. He is the founder of Pen & Paper Writing Workshops. Follow him on Twitter @cgregthompson and Instagram @cgregorythompson or visit him at cgregorythompson.com.