The Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award Mini Masterclasses present some of the world’s great writers talking about key aspects of how to write a short story, from how to generate an idea, to the geometry of the form, and – crucially – how to make every word count
Preti Taneja on the ways in which events, time, memory and feelings can be used in your writing to make the everyday strange and cast the world in a new light
DBC Pierre shares his tips for arousing movement and mystery in your writing from the start – and bringing your work to life
“Plan. Don’t be afraid of it, it won’t be boring.” AL Kennedy on how and why to make a plan for your short stories
"The second-person narrator, when done badly, is the form of narrator that irritates me the most": Lucy Caldwell on how to use "you" in fiction
"Things get increasingly worse": the author Jacob Ross on how to build action and tension in fiction
The author Adam Marek on how to great your readers' attentions with powerful first sentences in your short stories
The author Leone Ross on creating convincing and believable people on the page, also known as characterisation
“In a short story, the images can be the plot and be the characters”: Kate Clanchy shares her secrets for building powerful images in your writing
“Chances are, there’s material in your story that simply needs to be hacked away”: Cynan Jones reveals the secrets of editing fiction and how to apply it to your own short stories
"You learn from writing, from reading, from listening": Louise Kennedy reveals the secrets of great dialogue in fiction and how to apply it to your own short stories