Conquering the Short Story with Malik Toms

 

Course Description: 

Your story is almost done. It just needs... something? The spaces between idea, draft, and done can be dark corners filled with uncertainty. Is the character's story worthy? How do you finish it without turning it into an 8,000-page omnibus? How do you know if it is good enough? These are the questions we all have from the first keystroke. This class will push you toward the answers. We will go beyond the basics of short story structure and climb towards how to separate your work from the editor’s slush pile by uncovering the secrets to your character's growth and help them to conquer their challenges.

 

Dates and Times: 

Tuesday nights from 5:30 to 7:30 PM

October 1, 8 & 15

3 Weeks

 

Genre Type:

Fiction, Short Story

 

Course Type: 

Generative Workshop/Lecture

 

Course Level 

All Skill Levels

 

Faculty Bio: 

Malik Toms was born and raised in Harlem, New York, and is a 20+ year veteran of the pen and keyboard. He did his undergraduate work in Sociology at Iowa State University, working as a drug rehabilitation counselor before returning to college to pursue a graduate degree in Creative Writing. He published his first short story at the age 18 after two years of "No thanks." Since then he has worked as a freelance author, which is a bit like being a freelance mercenary minus all the bullets and moral ambiguity. His work has appeared in over thirty publications including multiple anthologies and a stand-alone novella. A graduate of Iowa State’s Creative Writing MFA program, Toms polished his writing skills crafting cyberpunk and steampunk fantasies on the way to multiple Origin and Ennie award nominations including six Ennie wins. Toms also was part of the Shadowrun Returns video game team which won Diehard gameFan’s PC Game of the year in 2013. He is presently hard at work writing his first fantasy thriller. Toms currently lives in Arizona where he is regularly super-smashed by at least one of his three video game obsessed boys. When he isn’t writing, he’s teaching writing and sociology at community colleges throughout the Arizona desert, and maybe watching a lot of TV.