Short Story Collection in a Year
With Cyn Vargas
This is the year to give your writing, and your publishing dreams, the focus they deserve.
Our Short Story Collection in a Year program will support you during the long road from idea generation to composition to revision and beyond. It’s a unique opportunity to join a writing cohort, study craft, workshop key scenes, measure your progress, meet deadlines, and give and get support in the development of long-form literary work.
This cohort is completely online through the 2026 session.
In this year-long program, you won’t just learn how to write short stories—you’ll write them, revise them, and build a plan to get them out into the world. Whether you’re starting from a single sentence or have a handful of rough drafts, this class will help you create strong, polished stories and a clear strategy for submitting them to journals, contests, and eventually shaping them into a collection.
You’ll join a supportive online cohort of writers who will challenge and encourage you, month after month. Together, we’ll focus on the craft of short fiction while blending in the practical, behind-the-scenes skills every writer needs to navigate publishing.
APPLICATIONS OPEN OCT. 2026
Cyn Vargas is the author of On The Way, named one of Book Scrolling’s Best Short Story Collections of All Time, and Nothing’s Ever The Same, which received a starred review from Booklist. Her work has been widely published in literary magazines, including Split Lip, Word Riot, and Literary Orphans, and was selected for the Chicago Reader’s Fiction Issue. Her fiction was also performed at NPR’s Selected Shorts in New York by Sonia Manzano of Sesame Street (yay!).
Cyn, who is of Mayan descent with roots in Guatemala and El Salvador, brings her heritage, empathy, and insight into both her writing and teaching. She was voted Stories Matter Foundation’s 2022 Instructor of the Year and is the upcoming featured speaker for the University of Illinois Chicago’s Center for Latinx Literature of the Americas.
With an MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia College Chicago, Cyn is passionate about helping writers develop their craft, stay accountable, and create stories they are proud to share with the world.
WHO SHOULD APPLY
This class is for writers at any stage: whether you’re starting from scratch, revising stories that have been sitting in a drawer, or determined to finish a full collection, you’ll leave with polished stories, a concrete publishing plan, and a sustainable writing practice that lasts. Bring your ideas, your drafts, and your ambition. Leave with finished work, submission-ready stories, and a clear path toward building your collection, and your writing career.
PLEASE NOTE: This application-based class is selective. We are looking for students with talent and drive, though familiarity with the workshop process or previous experience writing a book is not mandatory. This program is for writers who are ready to make a strong commitment to their work, and our waitlist for the course is typically very long. Students are expected to participate in the full program.
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN
No disclaimers in this class. You’ll learn that you are a writer. Not that you want to be one. Writers work hard by spewing words and themselves into their work, fiction or not. Writers acquire new skills and evolve in their craft, read continuously to learn from others, give and take constructive feedback.
We’ll engage in a series of activities (adapted for online engagement!) to get our stories on the page.
Specific topics covered during the class sessions include:
- Story development and structure
- Character and voice
- Setting and atmosphere
- Conflict and plot
- Theme and resonance
- Movement (how to keep a story alive)
- Revision strategies for polishing stories to a publishable level
- How to research, track, and submit your stories to the right markets
- Giving and receiving constructive feedback that actually helps
You’ll also use a publishing tracker, a tool that doubles as your short story collection tracker, so you can see your progress in real time—both creatively and strategically.
HOW IT WORKS
We’ll meet once a month for 3 hours via Zoom (CST) for a mix of craft lessons, in-class exercises, and story workshops. Between sessions, you’ll write, revise, and stay connected to your cohort through our private online forum.
We’ve structured this program to provide maximum benefit without demanding too much time away from focusing on your own work. In addition to workshopping short sections in class, participants will meet individually with Cyn for 100-page manuscript reviews.
Students enrolled in this course will receive complimentary admission and early registration to three (3) virtual PJ Seminars. (Recent and upcoming writers include Alexander Chee, Pam Houston, Terese Marie Mailhot, Garth Greenwell, Laura van den Berg, Kaveh Akbar, Nick Flynn, and Matt Bell among others.)
You’ll also receive:
- a clear plan for building and finishing your stories
- guidance and accountability for submitting your stories during the year
- check-ins to keep you motivated and on track.
YOUR WRITING COMMUNITY
Whether you’ve already made headway on your book or are just gathering ideas, your cohort will provide the structure, companionship, feedback, good humor, and emotional support to help you see your project through.
You’ll also join StoryStudio’s larger community—in person and on social media—where you can connect with students from other classes, receive “first chance” invitations to special programming, and stay informed about literary events around the city.
The Short Story Collection In a Year program is a program modeled after our highly successful Novel in a Year and Memoir in a Year courses, and you will have the opportunity to benefit socially and professionally from a strong network of alumni, many of whom are experiencing publishing success.
The program fee is $2,750.
This tuition includes:
11 sessions, meeting once per month for 11 months
A manuscript review with Cyn Vargas
Various online social gatherings with your cohort
3 comped passes to our PJ Seminars
Discounts to the Writers Festival and Pub Crawl
A private online chat forum
VIP status at the Studio
A literary community to take well beyond this program
2026 Schedule Meets Online on the Following Dates, 6:30pm – 9:30pm Central Time
January 8
February 12
March 12
April 9
May 14
June 11
July 9
August 13
September 10
October 8
November 12
HOW TO APPLY
This course is limited to 12 students and is submission based.
- You will be asked to submit a 10-page writing sample in a .doc or PDF. The sample can be a story or novel excerpt.
- Someone who submits on the first day has the same chance as someone who submits on the last day, so don’t worry, and don’t rush.
- Payment isn’t due until after the application period is closed and acceptances have been sent out. We are happy to discuss payment plans with students who are accepted.
- You can indicate you’d like to be considered for the Doro Boehme Scholarship fund, a $500 grant toward tuition.
The next cohort will begin in January 2026, and applications will open in the fall of 2025. Please subscribe to our newsletter to get the most up-to-date information.