write a short story in one day!

In this energetic, generative class, we’ll start with prompts and guided exercises to help us find our story or essay’s most propulsive and immersive beginning, its most compelling voice and characters, and the beating heart of its central conflict.

story in a day

fri, august 28, 2027

w/ author and book editor Susanna Daniel and

Meets live in person from 9a-12p CT

Meets live on Zoom from 1-4p CT / 2-5p ET

Class fee: $75

Limited to 8 writers.

join us in 2027

can i write a story in a day?

Yes, you can!

After a writing sprint to get our beginnings on paper, we’ll work with guided exercises and prompts to write as much of our story’s middle as possible, with a focus on intensifying action and emotional stakes.

Writers will leave workshop with the beginning, middle, and end of a story and much of its content, as well as a revision plan to keep up your momentum. This session includes generative writing time, brief opportunities to share, and nuts-and-bolt craft guidance.

Bring your creative energy and any tools you need to write!

Choose Your Session

For our live-in-person morning session, we’ll meet on the west side of Madison, WI. Bring your laptop or notebooks. Light snacks and coffee and seltzer will be provided. This session is limited to 8 writers.

For our live-on-Zoom workshop, ready your writing space and brew your favorite beverage. This session is limited to 8 writers.

During our meeting, writers will:
• Develop a new story or essay on the fly
• Receive guidance focused on swift, immersive storytelling
• Learn revision and polishing techniques to take away

Our workshop includes:
• Generative writing sprints
• Small-group encouragement, feedback, and brainstorming
• Guided exercises and prompts
• Group-wide discussion

who should join us?

Experience level: The craft skills we’ll cover in this workshop apply to writers of all experience levels, whether you’ve been writing for a month or decades.

Participants: Limited to 8, to encourage investment in each writer’s work and process. Writers of fiction and memoir are equally welcome.

 

story in a day Meets locally and virtually on fri, aug 28, 2027.

The live meeting (9a-12n CT) will take place on the west side, and the online meeting (1-4p CT / 2-5p ET) will take place on Zoom.

Meet the Instructor

  • Susanna Daniel, author and editor

    Susanna Daniel is the author of three novels. Girlfriending is a spinoff of her award-winning short story, "The Goddess of Illicit Choices," Stiltsville, was awarded the PEN/Bingham prize, and Sea Creatures, was a Target Book Club pick.

    Susanna is the co-founder of the Madison Writers’ Studio with author Michelle Wildgen, and she’s been leading the Book in a Year workshop since 2013. She’s coached and edited more 100+ novelists and memoirists, either from the blank page or from the full draft.

    Susanna is a graduate of Columbia University and the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and was a Teaching-Writing Fellow at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and a Carl Djerassi Fiction Fellow at the UW Institute for Creative Writing. She’s been awarded residencies at the MacDowell Colony and UCross, and has been published in the Sewanee Review, Newsweek, Slate, One Story, Wisconsin People & Ideas, Significant Objects, Epoch, and elsewhere. Before co-founding MWS, she taught college-level creative writing for ten years.

    You can learn more about Susanna at her website, and you’re welcome to contact her about Book in a Year via email.

  • Michelle Wildgen, author and editor

    Michelle Wildgen is the author of the novels Wine People, Bread and Butter, But Not For Long, and You’re Not You (both available in paperback from Picador), and is the editor of an anthology, Food & Booze: A Tin House Literary Feast (Tin House Books). You’re Not You has been adapted for film, starring Hilary Swank and Emmy Rossum.

    Michelle received her MFA in fiction from Sarah Lawrence College and has taught fiction and nonfiction at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the Iowa Summer Writing Festival, and the Tin House Writers’ Workshop. She was a long-time executive editor at Tin House Magazine and former books editor with Tin House Books. Michelle’s nonfiction has included a weekly column on food television as well as individual essays on a wide range of topics: from American Girl doll Rebecca Rubin, Burt Reynolds’ 1970s fan mail, and obscure Wisconsin card games to the craft of writing, fresh mozzarella, deer-hunting for the neophyte, and the number of times one must endure anaphylactic shock before giving up shellfish for good.

    Her fiction, personal essays, and food writing have appeared in publications including The New York Times Book Review and “Modern Love” column, O, the Oprah Magazine, RealSimple.com, LitHub, and anthologies such as Naming the World and Other Exercises for the Creative Writer, Dirty Words, Best New American Voices 2004, Best Food Writing 2004 and 2009, Death by Pad Thai and Other Unforgettable Meals, and journals including StoryQuarterly, TriQuarterly, Prairie Schooner, and elsewhere. Awards and honors include a scholarship to Bread Loaf, residency at the Hall Farm Center in Vermont, and the Virginia Faulkner Award for Excellence in Writing from Prairie Schooner.

    You can learn more about Michelle’s work at her website, and you can contact her via email.

  • “You are both excellent readers/commenters, and your styles and takes are, you will not be surprised to hear, very different. So yes, there’s a real value in getting comments from both of you.”

    — Adam H.

  • “I’m so incredibly grateful to have been in your BIAY workshop this year. I learned so much from you and the other writers. I’ll be recommending the Madison Writers Workshop to anyone who wants to write a book. ”

    — Vivian B.

  • “Susanna and the other members of our little troupe picked me up when I stumbled, encouraged me when I doubted, slogged through the messy middle with me, and we came out the other end together. Twelve months later, we’ve handed each other completed first drafts. We’ve done the unimaginable, often driven by nothing more than Susanna’s unwavering belief that we could.”

    — Eric B.

  • “Susanna was able to show me the most important things I had to offer as a writer: authority and authenticity. That knowledge vastly increased my confidence to trust in my own creative process.”

    — Clelia M

let's write a story.

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let's write a story. *

is story in a day right for you?

We’re happy to jump on a call to discuss your book and situation.

Book an appointment or email us to make time.

join us in 2027

Enroll NOW

We’ll get in touch with details and an invoice within 48 hours of receiving your registration.

Please note that all returning students receive a 10% discount on workshops.

We look forward to getting to know you and your work!