One Story

01/08/2025

Daily Craft Inspiration: “The world of the novel should be larger than the immediate needs of its characters.”—Isle McElroy

“Like a fishing line, suspense needs to be kept taut, not for the reader to see it, but feel it.”—Anna Solomon

Days 3 & 4 of the 2025 Writers’ Conference included craft lectures from Isle McElroy and Anna Solomon, a reading with Kerry Cullen, author of HOUSE OF BETH, lead by OS Reader Theda Berry, and our last two student readings!

31/07/2025

“Do not be afraid to act on the side of throwing a [wild] party, of introducing this kind of complexity, this kind of richness into your writing.”—Jeanne Thornton

“Writing and editing prose aren’t generally thought of as visual skills, but in many ways, they are. The way you use white space on the page can invite the reader to take a breath, think about what they’ve just read before plowing forward. Having no white space can be just as effective in asking the reader to bear with you: this is dense and long but, please trust me, we’re going somewhere.”—Jeff Bond, Fiction Editor, Epiphany

We kicked off our 2025 Writers Conference with a lecture from Jeanne Thornton and a Meet the Instructors panel lead by OS Executive Director Maribeth Batcha. Day 2 included a lecture from Saïd Sayrafiezadeh, our very first student reading, and an editor panel. We’re looking forward to what the rest of the week has in store!

29/07/2025

Dear Writers,

I’m thrilled to be teaching an Advanced Fiction Workshop with One Story this fall.

The class will include two components: (i) a craft component in which we will study several published stories to glean craft lessons you can apply to your own work, and (ii) a workshop component in which we will discuss your short stories and novel excerpts.

Our goal in the workshop portion of the course will be to analyze the craft decisions at play in your submissions and to provide suggestions that you may want to think about in revision.

Some of the questions we will consider during our six weeks together will include:
- What makes a great opening?
- What are the most effective ways to parcel out (and withhold) key pieces of information?
- What approaches work best in creating mystery and suspense on the page?
- How can we develop and deepen our characters so they are as fully-realized as possible?
- What are the best ways to use backstory effectively?

The class is designed for students who have had prior workshop experience and who are serious about revising their work to push it to the next level. We will set aside some time to talk about submitting work to literary journals, and each student will have the opportunity to meet with me 1:1 for a 30-minute conversation.

Judging from the feedback I’ve received in previous iterations of this course, I think you’ll love the experience. When I taught this class last year, one student wrote the following in her evaluation: “I’ve taken a number of writing workshops and this was by far the best one. So many of us commented on how the pieces we submitted were greatly improved following the class and Matthew’s feedback. Matthew was fantastic about ensuring everyone was heard and he asked people specific questions to elicit dialogue. He is very knowledgeable about writing and eager to share what he knows without ever making us feel like we were being lectured to.”

The class will run from October 7th through November 11th. Applications are open through August 3rd. Let’s make this the season you level up your manuscript!

Best,
Matthew Lansburgh
Author of Outside Is the Ocean and One Story Issue #250, “Latvian Angel”

24/07/2025

An icepick. A death-defying high. Sex-crazed, loose-moral’d teens in a cabin in the woods. What could possibly go wrong? Find out in our harrowing new issue, Owen Egerton’s “Tripping Dead.”

To read an interview with the author and buy the issue, visit our website: https://bit.ly/4531Rux

24/07/2025

“It’s the most organic high there is,” Doc says, taking the bottle from Peter and removing the cork with a pop. “What could be more natural than dying?”

An icepick. A death-defying high. Sex-crazed, loose-moral’d teens in a cabin in the woods. What could possibly go wrong? Find out in our harrowing new issue, Owen Egerton’s “Tripping Dead.”

To read an interview with the author and buy the issue, visit the link in our bio.

21/07/2025

Join us and Kerry Cullen, author of HOUSE OF BETH, for a conversation about her debut novel and the writing life with One Story reader Theda Berry. This conversation takes place Wednesday, July 30th at 6:30 pm in New York City at P&T Knitwear. This event is part of the One Story Writers’ Conference, but tickets are available to the general public. Visit the link in our bio to purchase your tickets!

21/07/2025

“I have always found that the stories I can’t get away from, that I can’t not write (because writing is the disease), start with a sentence that anchors in my mind. In some ways, this sentence is the cancer.”

Weike Wang shares some insight on her story “Cava Vena” in an interview with Patrick Ryan. Visit the link in our bio to read more.

17/07/2025

Our Advanced Fiction Workshop with Matthew Lansburgh returns this October!

This unique workshop begins with three weeks of studying stories by writers including Edward P. Jones, Karen Russell, and Margaret Atwood. You’ll discuss what makes a great opening; how to use voice, mystery, and details to keep your readers engaged; how to make sure the way you reveal information builds momentum, rather than slowing down the pace of your story; and how to create complex, three-dimensional characters.

Then, armed with a shared language and understanding of short fiction, you’ll turn your attention to the work of your fellow students for three weeks.

This class is limited to 10 students and is designed for writers with workshop experience. Tuition includes a 30-minute meeting with the instructor. Applications close on Sunday, August 3. Visit the link in our bio to learn more.

09/07/2025

A woman reevaluates a secret relationship in Weike Wang’s “Cava Vena.”

To read an interview with the author and buy the issue, visit our website: bit.ly/45UE1TQ

27/06/2025

We’re so excited about our next Craft Course: Interactive Fiction with Nat Mesnard.

In interactive fiction, we add an element to the practice of storytelling that changes everything: choice. Whether you’re working with video games, immersive theater, choose your own adventure novels, or the avant-garde, a world of creative possibility opens up when you offer your readers this freedom. It is an opportunity to play with experimental, interactive forms, and it can teach us so much about “traditional” literary short stories.

In this class you’ll focus on building a short interactive story using a tool built for creative writers: Twine. This browser-based app allows you to create interactive stories without writing code.

Through video lectures, slideshows, message board discussions, and online meet-ups, Nat will help you develop your Twine practice, whether you’re returning to this wonderful tool, or learning to use it for the first time. As a working creative community, you’ll also discuss classic and new interactive pieces, mining work made in a variety of interactive formats for inspiration.

By the end of the course, you’ll have written a first complete draft of an interactive story that you can choose to release online or use as the starting point for any number of future interactive works created on your own.

We hope you’ll join us on this journey into the nonlinear narrative woods. The class runs from July 10-August 7. To learn more or to register, visit our website: bit.ly/4ncxRVr

ONE STORY publishes one great short story at a time. We bring people together through reading, writing, and learning about short fiction.