Short Story Summer Camp!

Registration is open for our annual celebration of short fiction, June 24-July 29.

Dust off your canteen. Label your underwear. Pack your trunk. Short Story Summer Camp is back!

This time around we’ve decided to lighten the reading load so campers can focus more on writing. In the first four weeks of this six-week class, we’ll read, analyze, discuss, and be inspired by four short stories by four different authors. The writing exercises those first four weeks will move you toward a completed piece of short fiction. In weeks five and six, we’ll focus on workshop-style peer critique in small groups.

And at the end, we'll have a Zoom Story Time in which writers can read their stories to the group (another favorite activity from the last couple of years).

Short Story Summer Camp 2025 starts on Tuesday, June 24 and runs through Tuesday, July 29. Each Tuesday I'll host a 90-minute Zoom lecture-discussion in which we'll examine the principles and techniques of the writers we've read for that week. Then, through weekly writing exercises and mutual feedback and discussion with your colleagues, you will apply those  principles and methods to your own writing. 

As usual, we’ll be running two simultaneous cohorts of Short Story Summer Camp: one for adults (college-age and up), and one for students (age fourteen through high-school senior).

You won't need to buy a textbook; I’ll provide online links to all the stories. Here are the readings:

ADULT COHORT:

• “The Moron Factory” by George Saunders

• “A Temporary Matter” by Jhumpa Lahiri

• “The Faery Handbag” by Kelly Link

• “Liars Don’t Qualify” by Junius Edwards

STUDENT COHORT:

• “To Build a Fire” by Jack London

• “The Third Wish” by Joan Aiken

• “Jeeves and the Unbidden Guest” by P.G. Wodehouse

• “Liars Don’t Qualify” by Junius Edwards

 Dates and Times:
Tuesdays, June 24 - July 29 
Adult Cohort: 1:00-2:30pm Central
Student Cohort: 3:00-4:30pm Central
(Lecture recordings will be available should you be unable to attend live.)

Cost: $119

This course is included in The Habit Membership. If you are already a member, you don't need to register. Members can find Short Story Summer Camp in the Habit forums. (Please note that The Habit Membership is limited to adults, college-age and up.)

Thanks, and I hope to see you at Short Story Summer Camp!
JR