5-week Online Short Course: Writing Short Stories (March 2026)

A 5-week online course taught by award-winning writer Jane Rogers, over 5 live and interactive sessions.

This course will run on Mondays from 2nd March 2026 – 30th March 2026 from 19:00-21:00 GMT

Course Overview:

Across 5 live Zoom sessions, prize-winning fiction writer Jane Rogers will explore with you the craft of short story writing, focussing on one specific topic in each session. By the end of the course, you will have completed at least one story, and revised it with helpful feedback from your tutor and peers.

This course aims to inspire and encourage short story writers, through discussion of brilliant examples, and through a range of exercises giving students the opportunity to explore key elements of the craft. Join like-minded individuals and gain a deeper understanding of a genre which continues to compel and excite readers.

This course will focus on:

• Learning to write a strong opening paragraph
• Learning to reveal character, through dialogue and action
• Crafting an engaging plot, including how to recycle old plots into brilliant new stories
• How to create setting and atmosphere to make your story vivid
• Revision and editing; to make your story economical and powerful
• Accessing competitions and publishing opportunities for short stories

Participants will benefit from:

• Live Zoom Sessions: Enjoy five interactive live Zoom sessions where you’ll read and discuss extracts from a range of brilliant short stories, and learn how to apply some of these techniques in your own work.
• Workshopping: Benefit from constructive feedback and comments by other group members, and detailed feedback from your tutor. Learn how to read like a writer, by analysing and giving feedback on the stories of your fellow writers.
• Writing Community: Connect with a community of like-minded writers during each live session. Share your progress and exchange ideas in a supportive online environment, and, with any luck, make lasting writing buddies.

Tutor bio:

Jane Rogers writes novels, stories, and radio drama. She has set books in the present (Island) and the past (Mr Wroe’s Virgins) but she is increasingly drawn to future fiction. The Testament of Jessie Lamb won the Arthur C Clarke Award and was Man-Booker longlisted. Her novels have won prizes ranging from the Somerset Maugham Award (Her Living Image) to the Writers Guild Best Fiction Award (Promised Lands), and she was BAFTA nominated for her adaptation of Mr Wroe’s Virgins for BBC2.

The title story of her first collection of stories, Hitting Trees with Sticks, was a finalist in the BBC National Short Story competition, and her second collection Fire-Ready has just been published by Comma Press.

Jane is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and is Emerita Professor of Writing at Sheffield Hallam University, where she taught for many years. She has taught novel and short story for Faber Academy, and currently mentors for Gold Dust and runs workshops for MsLexia.

Who is this course suitable for?

• Anyone who has always wanted to write short stories and is not sure how to begin.
• Writers in other forms, eg. poetry or drama, who want to try their hand at the short story.
• Anyone suffering from writers’ block, who would like an injection of ideas and enthusiasm.

Details

The sessions will take place online via Zoom Online Meeting software. It is free to download and you will only need the free version to attend. Please download it and check it is working before the course.

Your Zoom link will be sent out in your confirmation email.

Please try and be somewhere you can concentrate and won’t be interrupted. Headphones can be useful if you have some, to cut out other noise.

Bursary Scheme 2025-2026:

We understand that not all writers are able to pay for their writing courses to further their career, and we run a Bursary Scheme as a consequence. If you feel you need a bursary, please contact us: info@writingwestmidlands.org.

Please note: you must sign up for the full course even if you cannot attend all dates. No partial course ticket is available.

Short Courses are for over 18s. If you are a young writer, you can sign up for our Spark Young Writers Programme.

All Writing West Midlands short courses are collaborative, and you will learn as much from your fellow course attendees as from the tutor. You will be expected to play an active role in group tasks, and you will also have time to reflect on your own writing during sessions.

Course handouts are sometimes (but not always) available, and notes may be available in advance upon request. If you have any additional needs, please contact Writing West Midlands in advance of the course starting and we will try to assist you.