Last Chance for Art of the Short Story Intensive Class
Last Chance for Art of the Short Story Intensive Class at ChuckPalahniuk.net
Update: This class is full. Congratulations to everyone who acted early to secure a spot. Prepare to grab your gear and strap in.
Art of the Short Story - beginning April 18th - is a highly specialized intensive six-week class with six mind-blasting units designed to impart vital craft knowledge in record time. These units work together synergistically to take any serious writer to a new level of story crafting proficiency. The teaching material has been synthesized through years of study and through the accumulated wisdom of several amazing mentors. But I've boiled down all of my best lessons into the core competency areas for compelling short ficiton. Each piece is essential and interconnects. You get all of the high protein fuel and none of the filler.
The magic doesn't happen automatically, of course. You shouldn't jump in if you're not good about finishing things or you've got almost 9,000 responsibilities this spring and your regard for this opportunity will place class participation at 8,999 on your priority list, right after "catch up on favorite TV shows." But if you understand that nothing good will come your way without hard work, then I invite you to join the remaining few who will get this chance. Your dedication means more to your success than your track record or where you currently rank yourself as a writer.
I won't be teaching Art of the Short Story again in the summer. I won't be teaching it in the fall. And there's a very good chance it won't be offerred here again. That's largely because of a new professional role that will be full-time for me starting mid-summer, a role that probably won't allow the dedicated time necessary. So, if you want to get the best of what I've learned through twenty years as an adult student of story craft, the latest seven burning it up right here as Workshop Administrator and Master Class Facilitator for ChuckPalahniuk.net, then please keep reading and click that registration link today. Also, pass this along to a friend.
Thanks,
-Mark Vanderpool
As previous students will attest, this class is not easy. It highlights the intensive part of "cult intensive," for certain. But it's also going to be a lot of fun.
Key craft areas for each of our six weeks include:
- Theme, Premise, and Story Argument
- Dramatic Conflict: Finding the Stakes
- Characterization: How your story people are shaped by experience and belief and how they show it.
- Dialogue: Learn to make it ring true and what it should and should not do.
- Poetics. Learn key elements of poetic prose: diction, compression, musicality.
- Story Arc: Where is this bus taking us? Will we be happy when we get there?
Start Date: April 18, 2011
Limited Enrollment: No more than 18 seats will be sold.
Definite Goal: You will wrap up this workshop with two publishable short stories.
Qualified Instructor: Learn from the Master Student and acrobatic synthesizer of craft knowledge. Mark Vanderpool (forum name: vigorous puppy) recruits our guest instructors and organizes all of our classes. He has apprenticed himself to every Cult Master Class Teacher we've played host to in the past and sponged up their knowledge and secrets like no other. A published poet and collegiate playwright prior to his days at The Cult, Mark is now becoming known for prose fiction. Consistent with his earliest job in radio, he also has the communication skills of a broadcast journalist. Mark will be critiquing your work and available for telephone consulations, as well.
Art of the Short Story is six weeks of adventure and learning experience you don't want to miss. The list price is $395, but the Early Bird Discount saves a whopping 25% through April 15th, making your educational investment only $296.25 if you register right away. Hurry, as seats are limited to bring focus and allow for extensive critique. Enter coupon code: dedication at checkout.
Register Today
Endorsements for previous classes with this instructor:
Art of The Short Story was the most intense learning experience of my writing life thus far, and definitely the most challenging. I’ve taken 3 classes with The Cult, and Art of The Short Story was the first time that I was able to go somewhere Greater than where I had envisioned myself going as a writer by the end of the class. I feel that I’ve advanced not only as a writer, but in my understanding of the craft. I’m much more confident now when approaching a story, and while I’m the one who puts in the work, I credit Mark and Art of The Short Story for the writer that I am today. The class promotes the notion of finishing with at least 2 “ready for publication” stories, and already I’ve heard back that one of my stories from the class will be published this summer. Not only that, but you’ll craft more than 2 stories during the stretch of the class –I wrote 5 altogether and feel that my other four have an equal chance of finding a home. I couldn’t be happier with the results of this class.
–Nathan Pettigrew, Boston, Massachusetts.
I took part in the first one [Zen Mind Beginning Fiction Course] and was very happy. The knowledge that Vig imparts is second to none, and he will exceed any expectations you might have.
There is nowhere else in the world where someone with his level of experience will give you one on one feedback for this kind of money.
If you are a person that thinks that you might be a good writer, but are unsure of how to get a story started or finished this is the workshop for you. If you are already an accomplished writer, it is also a great way to refresh some fundamentals and maybe pick up something new.
-Jason C., Conyers, Georgia
I've been writing for several years, but this past fall I took a Zen Mind Beginners course (despite the fact that I wouldn't have considered myself a "beginner" writer). I cannot really explain what the lecture, assignments and participation did for me as a writer, but I pumped out some of my best ever work while taking that course, and I'm still writing strong. I've also met some wonderful new writer friends who still keep me motived, even now that the course is long over.
-Rebecca, Kamloops, B.C.
The Zen Mind Beginning Fiction Course unblocked my mind and opened my eyes.
-Jami Kali, Wilkes-Barre, PA
I cannot begin to explain how much enjoyment I drew from the two workshops I was in (Zen Mind and Craig Clevenger). It surprised me how much interaction there was, how much feedback I received, and the overall positive, friendly and non-competitive environment they provided. It was a pleasure to exchange tips, feedback, to see how everyone responded to a prompt and learn from that. I definitely have noticed an improvement in my writing, and new awareness of elements that make it work or not. It was money well spent, time well spent. The workshops were intensive, yes, but that's what I expected. Right now I am almost certain that one of the stories I wrote for the Zen Workshop ("Exorcism") will get published in Fiction International (I am making some revisions). I am also in the process of finding other journals, but I'm sure more publications will result from what I produced during the two workshops.
-Liana V., McAllen, TX
Aside from learning at The Cult being the fastest and most complete ramp up into the skills you need to be a successful writer, it's also a breeding ground for writers from any level, to meet, share, and develop the friendships that KEEP you writing once you've started.
This would be the first and only place I'd send someone interested in really honing their skills as a writer.
-Sam Hawley, (Blinkjosie)
Gold Coast, Australia
Art of the Short Story is six weeks of adventure and learning experience you don't want to miss. The list price is $395, but the Early Bird Discount saves a whopping 25% through April 15th, making your educational investment only $296.25 if you register right away. Hurry, as seats are limited to bring focus and allow for extensive critique. Enter coupon code: dedication at checkout.
Comments
I'm very curious about this and seriously considering signing up, BUT...
when I click "Register Today" I get an error message saying I'm either not logged in or not a member...but I am both a member and logged in.
????
I took this class in January, but haven't filled out the survey or written a blurb yet, so for anyone interested, here is me weighing in on the class:
It should be clear to anyone at the chuckshop that this intensive is something where you only get as much as you put in. And it is INTENSE. I set some very high goals for myself when I enrolled and managed to satisfy many of them. I decided that each week I would write something new rather than dusting off something old. After the workshop was over I had about five half finished stories. Granted, they weren't finished, but I'm now picking up the pieces and going through them one by one.
The lectures and discussions that follow are very thought provoking and def. worth the price of admission. Every week focused on a different aspect of short story writing and if something was of interest, any class member could perk up and stir the pot a bit to get his/her answers. Mark was always very candid and thorough in his responses and never made anyone feel like a question was unimportant or a distraction from the lecture- everything was dived into.
My only complaint was that, different from my workshop with Clevenger, I never got any feedback on my work from Mark. But when I messaged him about this, he made a point to look over my next submission and gave me a lot of great notes. Point being- if there's something you're not thrilled about in the workshop, Mark will do what he can to remedy it.
Aside from that, I made some friends, sharpened my writing skills, and was able to help others as much as they were able to help me. As aspiring writers, we all know how isolating this craft can be, so it was cool to talk shop and speak openly about something that otherwise always feels so self conscious. Lord knows my friends and family aren't interested in me dissecting my own work that they haven't bothered reading yet.
Mark's description wherein he mentions making sure you have the time for the workshop has a lot to do again with what I mentioned earlier- you only get as much as you put in. Towards the end of the workshop, there were quite a few people that faded and weren't as involved. This hindered the workshop slightly and I started to find that my work wasn't getting as many notes as it did early on in the class.
BUT, those who did stay and kept going were still able to give me thorough notes, and the people that stayed were, for the most part, also that people that gave good notes at the beginning of the workshop. So in a way, it was more like hanging out after class to continue discussing a book- not everyone stayed, but those who did did so out of love of the craft, and those were the people I wanted to talk to and hear from.
In short- if you want to get better at writing, take the damn class. Just brace yourself for the workload.
-bill
ps- snmhorrormag.com is featuring my short story "The Broken Collector". Some folk from the workshop were kind enough to give me their feedback. I truly believe that the intensive and their feedback shaped me as a writer that is now seeing his work published.
Well said, Bill! Especially that last part about hanging out after class -I felt the same. There was a great bond and interaction among some seriously dedicated people toward the end that helped make the experience for me. Liked what you said about how isolating the craft can be, too.
And yeah I read The Broken Collector last night, actually -With the aquarium? I won't give away anything for those who haven't read it -but Congratulations, and Twisted Mind You Have! Scott and Beth stayed with me on the way home from work. I'll be sure to sign the reader's guestbook with some good words. Also looking forward to seeing more of Cold Blooded from week six.
But Bill's absolutely right. The class is hard work, and that much greater because of it -you'll have fun if you love it, and you Will become a better writer.
@tbaker1970:
You may disregard the rest of this message. There was a small problem in the publishing settings on the order page, and it's fixed now. Thanks for bringing it to my attention. You can click through Registration now with no problems.
I'm not sure what's causing that, but we'll figure it out. The links work for me when I test them. Are you generally able to navigate around the site without getting logged out of your member's account? Sometimes, it helps to change a few settings in your browser.
In particular, put privacy and security settings at no higher than medium, and make sure to "allow permissioned third party cookies," wherever that's an option you can tick in your browser's security settings. This is important, as cookies are the only way the site can track you and keep you logged in as you nav from page to page.
Also, you might try just copy-pasting the address for the registration page directly into your browser's address field, and see if that helps:
http://chuckpalahniuk.net/store/art-of-the-short-story
Please let me know if that enables you to view the order page.
@Bill & Nate: Thanks for speaking up about your respective experiences in the pilot session from the winter. Every class has its own distinct personality, and both of you contributed mightily, in your own different ways.
I loved this class and I'd love to take it again, but the money factor's not going to allow for that. The workload isn't entirely overbearing, but just put in your part and you'll be able to give as much as you take from the course.
I'm seriously interested in this class, but I was wondering how exactly it works. You mention lectures, but it's online. Are these videos I will have access to at any time, or is it a work on your own schedule sort of thing?
thanks,
Jesse
it won't allow me to use the coupon code! argh! help with that. I ordered it anyways but want to get the discount, please.
thanks.
Yes Jesse I too am wondering how it all works. I am very interested in this class but I am a traveler and I don't always have the best internet connection so if there is a video of the class I can watch that would be helpful.
Any info please.
Hope
I had the same problem, FWIW. I emailed to see if that can be corrected.
As another survivor of the first run (and one of the people who had to scale back participation due to real-life obligations), I'll echo what has already been said. This is a great class, and I'd recommend it to anyone with even a passing interest in stepping up their writing game.
Between the weekly lectures that are guaranteed to change the way you look at storytelling, to multiple critiques of each piece that you submit, to meeting a bunch of supportive, like-minded people - really, there's something for everyone here. You'll walk out with a brain full of knowledge, stories that are ready to go, and a built-in writing group to keep in contact with long after the class has ended. And that's not even including Mark's own kick-ass critiques!
What are you doing still reading this? Go on, sign up! DO IT!
thanks,
Jesse
Hi, Jesse,
I've developed well over 10,000 words in lecture content for this class. It might be fair to call the lectures "essays," since I provide them to you in written form.
You'll access the lectures as often as you want within our private forum. And you're also free to copy-paste to Word and print them out, carry them around in a notebook for your own use, etc. I only ask that you don't post or distribute this content through any public channels.
Some units have a single lecture and some have two. You get these very in-depth topical essays early in the week, followed by an assignment that corresponds and time to work on it. Then we spend a few days on peer review and discussion before the cycle repeats itself with a new unit.
To answer your second question: you *do* work on your own schedule. We have no need for set class times when everyone would need to appear online and interact simultaneously. That wouldn't be practical, as people live in all different time zones and have all different work schedules.
Rather, our lecture-assignment postings and our related discussions all take place within a private forum. Whenever you log in, there is likely to be new content to catch up on; including, for example, a direct answer to a question that you posted previously.
You'll have big milestones and deadlines to hit for each assignment, of course, but the regularity of spending an hour or two each day on the course will matter much more than the particular clock hours you're able to spend. Online education is wonderfully flexible that way.
thanks.
Sorry about that. There was a small error in the coupon code that needed correction. If you went ahead and registered at full price (as Carolyn and a couple of others did) we'll still honor the early registration discount. I'll get partial refunds processed for you straightaway.
And the coupon code is corrected now, so anyone registering from this point forward should be able to apply that discount at the checkout with no problems. It just has to be used before the expiration date.
I really want to do this, but it's right before finals.
I'm signed up and ready to go!
Glad to have you, Rachel from Pearl Harbor.
So that everyone reading this knows, you are indeed locked in and "ready to go" when you complete your registration process through to the point of having a Paypal transaction receipt.
Specific directions for accessing the private forum and getting started will come around just before our start date.
Given the description and the positive feedback, I couldn't help but sign up!
I look forward to meeting everyone and putting in the ol' 110%!
-Mike
I signed up and am anxious to begin! Thanks for the opportunity.
I've been looking for a good literary ass-kicking. Can't wait to get started.
Just signed up for the workshop. This comes at a perfect time.
Hey Mark!
Do the participants get a certificate or something similar? It would be great to have some proof for my CV and maybe even a short evaluation of my own progress? I would like the workshop kind of considered as an internship.
Bye,
OnFire
You have all made a good decision.
This workshop will transform your writing. Its value far exceeds, sometimes to ridiculous multitudes, the up front investment you make.
If there are still open slots, slide into one and watch your writing excel.
Hey Mark!
Do the participants get a certificate or something similar? It would be great to have some proof for my CV and maybe even a short evaluation of my own progress? I would like the workshop kind of considered as an internship.
I don't have a certificate prepared at this time, but it's not a bad suggestion. It just hasn't been a priority for me because my own orientation is toward the intrinsic benefits.
I believe the proof should show up in all of your future writing and in the rank of those lit magazines and other outlets that are happy to publish your work. Fiction isn't sold on credentials; for the most part, it's sold on the quality of the work. Your proof has to be on the page, more so than hanging on your wall.
But I'll give your suggestion some thought for the future. You may not be the only person who would regard something tangible and display worthy as a nice bonus.
Thanks
Hey Mark!
Thanks for your fast response, Mark. I have to note that so-called proof would have practical function, as I am going to attend a 3-day entrance exam procedure (dramaturgy at University). They want every mentioned course, seminar or internship accompanied by a certificate or proof.
However, for right now my chance to enter the workshop vanished anyway. Such a pity that my credit card was not 'loaded' yesterday. Who finishes last is slapped by life.
Maybe you can let me know, when somebody backs off before the workshop has started. (If that is even possible.)
Best regards,
OnFire
Signed up, after convincing my much-better half that it was worth the money. "Seriously honey, after this course I'll be knee-deep in offers from publishers."
Looking forward to starting.
Mark, will there be communication regarding syllabus, etc. over the weekend?
@OnFire: I'll let you know if something opens up, but it's a tight ship right now.
@JThorsson: I just got a note from a student in the winter session who now has two stories he developed during that class accepted in desirable publishing outlets. And a third one soon, as a distinct possibility, the one that he worked on the most. If you go after it full-tilt, there's a good chance you've made no idle boast to your partner.
@nealmck: Expect an e-mail on Sunday with orientation and getting-started directions. A full syllabus will be made available shortly after we start.
Thanks guys. Looking forward to it.
Mark
So bummed to miss this one, Mark. And, even more so to hear that it could be the last one of its kind. I'd have loved to learn directly under you. Alas, when I have the money I don't have the time. I'm going away for a week for the annual Bluesfest at Byron Bay, about 4 hours away, and won't have internet for a week while this is on. I think that'd be too much to miss, really.
You're a fool if you think you're taking your fiction seriously and not taking this course. Mark is the shit. He knows his shit. He's legit. Do this. Do it now while you can or you WILL regret it. Seriously.
Thanks, Matt. Good to hear from you. I hope Bluesfest is as much fun as it sounds.
Oh, yeah, I assure you, mate, I'll have a good time. 6 days out in a field surrounded by great music and people. Love it.
But, seriously, do this class again. Please. Pretty please. With sugar on top.
Mark;
Hey any chance Will Chritopher Baer will return to do a class with you taking on added responsibilities and not teaching courses going forward?
Also on the wish list: Max Barry, Brett Easton Ellis (ha?)
Enjoy class everyone. Hope to see you in a future one.
I can't say precisely who'll be on our upcoming roster, just that we'll have one that's impressive and robust and we'll release it once it's firmed up.
Also, we've got a good pulse on those wish-list names. If a favorite who's repeatedly mentioned around here doesn't show up on the new list of classes, that isn't likely to be from a simple oversight on our part. Max, for example, has too much going on right now to commit to any teaching dates for the immediate future. I check in with him about every three to six months.
I'd prefer to leave it right there regarding details of our recruiting efforts, as some of those dynamics are too sensitive for a public summary. Just know that we hear all requests and suggestions, we build lists, and we've got a working process.
Re: Matt's request. I've got strong reasons I can't lay down a firm third date right now for Art of the Short Story. But I've put too much effort into making it extraordinary and valuable to want this class to go away for good. If enough people want it, I'll see what I can do after I find the right balance point in my new work schedule. This may take six months or longer, but it's worthwhile to consider.
I would love a screenwriting intensive. Even if it isn't a big name. I would just love a basic, fundamentals class offered here. I'd drop $$$$$ in a heartbeat.
Yeah, a screenwriting intensive would be interesting. I'd be into that.
Also, WCB would be amazing. I'd cut off my toes to be in that class. Alas, I doubt it'll happen in the near future. Guy is a fucking enigma. I don't even think anyone knows where he is. Memphis was the last suspicion, I think. He doesn't have an agent or a publishing deal right now, so he's basically untraceable. The Velvet tried to get hold of him for a contribution to their forthcoming anthology Warmed and Bound, but even them, the people that run his website, and his close friends (Craig and Stephen) couldn't get word from him.
Fingers crossed for some point in the future though.
And, of course, another Clevenger intensive would be toe-cutting worthy.
Hi Mark,
This class looks absolutely amazing. I'll definitely sign up for the next one, be it six months or a year in the future.
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