Short Story in a Weekend

Tutor Susmita Bhattacharya will guide you through the process of creating a compelling short story. Over the course of a weekend, Susmita will introduce you to a variety of techniques for creating short stories, giving you the opportunity to experiment with a variety of ideas before choosing one to take forward and develop into a complete first draft. You'll work as part of a supportive community of fellow writers, sharing feedback as you continue to write and edit throughout the weekend.

You’ll learn in Faber Academy’s online classroom, which is open 24/7 so you can balance your learning around your work, family and friends. You’ll work in a small group of fellow learners so you can discuss ideas, ask questions and share your writing as you progress through the sessions.

You’ll learn from:

• Podcasts from Course Tutor Susmita Bhattacharya
• Short videos from authors and industry experts
• Online guidance notes and directed prompts and exercises devised by Course Director Tom Bromley
• Specially selected reading extracts and suggestions for further reading
• Two live group web chats with your tutor to answer your questions
• The support of an online community within the virtual classroom
• Writing exercises and prompts to help you experiment and practise your own writing, from the first session onward
• Online discussions with writers in your group and the chance to share and give feedback on each other’s writing

You’ll need:

• A free weekend
• A notebook and pen or pencil, if you like to make notes by hand
• A laptop or computer* with:
  • A reliable broadband internet connection
  • Speakers or headphones
  • The latest version of Google Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Edge, or Safari
  • Microsoft Word. If you don’t have this you can download Open Office free
  • Adobe Reader, latest version. Download free
  • QuickTime Player, latest version. Download free

*You can access the course from a tablet or smartphone, but we recommend using a laptop or computer, as this makes it easier to share your work files with your writing group.

Join the Faber Academy alumni After your course, you can join the online alumni where you’ll meet the growing network of past Faber Academy students. The alumni is a friendly group of writers who support each other as they continue to explore and develop their writing. Within the online alumni area you can:

• Rejoin your classmates on a private forum and access an archived version of your course materials and forum posts
• Meet alumni from other Faber Academy courses and groups and share your work for feedback on our alumni critiquing forum
• Join in on discussions about reading, writing, editing and ideas on our general discussion forum. This is also where we share news and useful info
• Retain access to our resources area, which has interesting and informative links
• Chat with other people online using the alumni area live chatroom. We also host live chats with guest tutors, authors, agents, editors and publishers

Commission a report on your work If you’d like to receive a personalised, detailed report on your final piece of writing from your course tutor, this is available at an extra cost. You’ll receive detailed written feedback assessing your ideas and writing, plus advice on what steps to take next.

Taking things further If you'd like to continue on to another Faber Academy course, you'll receive a discount. Please get in touch for more details.

This is a Faber Academy course, so you’ll need to book through their website.