About the Workshop

    This course is designed to give experienced fiction writers who are already familiar with workshops the opportunity to give and receive feedback on work in progress. It is a great place to get an "almost there" story to a place where it is polished and "ready for submission/publication." This course offers a model for workshopping short stories or novel excerpts in which participants will receive written comments from the students and the instructor before their work is discussed in class. Instead of remaining silent, writers will be an active participant in the conversation about their story, with a focus on concrete revision options. Classmates will be encouraged to incorporate content-based questioning (e.g. “how does this character challenge or reinforce stereotypes? does this story hold up to fact checking/seem plausible?”) with craft-based questioning (e.g. “how does the author show this character’s change over time? "is the balance between scene and summary where it needs to be?") in both written and verbal feedback. Together we will read and discuss published work, do occasional generative writing exercises, and discuss craft as it relates to the pieces scheduled for discussion.This structure aims to give the writer a stronger voice in their own critique, for readers to thoughtfully examine and learn from their initial feedback during the workshop, and for everyone to leave class with a strong creative community and a clear revision strategy for their work. ​

    About the Instructor

    ​KATE SENECAL  received an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts in 2013. She is the former fiction editor of Storychord, the Assistant Director of Pioneer Valley Writer’s Workshop, a fiction instructor for Writers for Recovery and Grub Street, and an adjunct professor at Clark University. She has received an honorable mention in Glimmer Train’s 2019 Short Fiction Contest, and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2016. Kate’s fiction has been published in The Laurel Review, The Foundling Review, and in Storychord.com.
    When: 8 Weeks: Tuesdays, May 5 - June 23 ( 6 - 8pm)
    Where: Williamsburg MA*
    *Directions: Specific directions to our Williamsburg classroom, as well as other info, will be emailed to all registered participants 2 - 3 weeks before the first class.

    Application for Advanced Fiction Workshop 

    Max file size: 20MB

    Thank you for your interest in PVWW's Advanced Fiction Workshop! We look forward to reviewing your application and will be in touch soon!

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What People Are Saying About PVWW

"Can't say enough about PVWW, Joy, and her amazing team of teachers! Writing is very much about the ability to sit in your seat for hours and put pen to paper, but coming to PVWW has helped me build a community around my writing, breathe new life into my efforts, and get out of my own head a bit. And beyond that, I've learned lots of practical, nuts-and-bolts techniques that have vastly improved my work."
- Emily Everett, Editor at The Common

Contact Us

Email: joy@pioneervalleywriters.org
Phone: 518-645-1113 
Location: Williamsburg, MA

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