How to Write Short Stories : a masterclass with Ken Elkes, Sanjida Kay, Joe Melia & Brontë Schiltz
A 90-minute masterclass on writing compelling short stories — from first draft to final submission — with expert authors and an editor, including a live Q&A and bonus handout with tips and practical exercises.
Discover the art and craft of short story writing in this unique masterclass. Join award-winning short story writers Ken Elkes, Sanjida Kay, Brontë Schiltz and editor and former co-ordinator of the Bristol Short Story Prize Joe Melia for an inspiring 90-minute session.
We’ll explore:
How to develop your story from a first draft to a polished piece (Ken Elkes)
How to create tone, atmosphere and affect in Gothic fiction — making your stories feel the way you want them to feel (Brontë Schiltz)
Ways to shape plot and voice in short fiction (Sanjida Kay)
Recommendations for how to get your stories published, increase your chances in competitions, and discuss what editors may be looking for (Joe Melia).
We’ll also discuss why there is no single ‘right way’ to write, and share destinations for your fiction — from journals to competitions to anthologies.
The session will finish with a live Q&A, giving you the chance to ask questions about writing and publishing your own work.
You’ll also receive a bonus downloadable handout of writing exercises, tips and references from each writer and editor to develop your skills further.
20% discount for subscribers to our Substacks Newsletters:
Writing Talk & Wild Writing with Sanjida
Biographies
Ken Elkes
K.M. Elkes is the author of the short fiction collection All That Is Between Us. He has been longlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award and individual short stories have won, or been placed, in international writing competitions including the Manchester Fiction Prize, Royal Society of Literature VS Pritchett Prize, Fish Publishing Prize and the Bridport Prize. He was commissioned in 2025 by the BBC to write a short story for broadcast on BBC Radio 4.
His short stories and flash fiction have appeared in more than 60 literary anthologies and journals, and have featured on school curricula in the USA, India and Hong Kong.
He holds an MA in Creative Writing from Oxford Brookes University, where he won the Blackwell’s Prize.
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Sanjida Kay
Sanjida Kay has had four psychological thrillers published by Corvus Books: Bone by Bone, The Stolen Child, My Mother’s Secret and One Year Later. Bone by Bone went straight into the Amazon kindle best-selling list. It was long listed for the CWA Steel Dagger Award and nominated as one of the best crime and thriller books of 2016 by the Guardian and the Sunday Express. Her books have been optioned for TV, and published in other countries. She’s had two short stories published in collections: The Beautiful Game, in The Perfect Crime, published by Harper Collins, which was shortlisted for a CWA Short Story Dagger; and The Divide in The Book of Bristol (Comma Press), which won the CWA Short Story Dagger. Grace’s Cave has just been released on BBC Radio 4 and Meat will be out shortly in The Monster, Capital (Comma Press).
Under her own name of Sanjida O’Connell, she’s had four novels and four non-fiction books published. She’s also contributed to two encyclopaedias, had poetry and short stories published in anthologies and edited two collections of work by students for the charity, First Story. Sanjida has been shortlisted for the BBC Asia Awards, the Betty Trask Award for Romantic Fiction, the Daily Telegraph Science Writer's Award, Asian Woman of the Year, and was highly commended for BBC Wildlife Magazine's Award for Nature Writing.
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Joe Melia
Joe Melia is a bookseller, literary events producer, fiction editor, proofreader and creative writing teacher, specialising in supporting new and emerging writers. He was Bristol Short Story Prize co-ordinator for 16 years before handing it over to Bristol University last year. He co-edited the short story anthology, The Book of Bristol (Comma Press) and is currently editor on the PLOT project with Making Space productions. He was previously Books and Spoken Word editor for Bristol 24/7 magazine & website.
The Book of Bristol edited by Heather Marks and Joe Melia, published by Comma Press
Brontë Schiltz
Brontë Schiltz is a Bridport Prize short-listed short story writer, a journalist with The Big Issue and Big Issue North, and a PhD candidate researching the Televisual Gothic at the Manchester Centre for Gothic Studies, Manchester Metropolitan University. Her work has been published in journals including The First Line, Hungry Ghost Magazine, Olney Magazine and Lotus-Eater Magazine, and Comma Press collections including The Book of Manchester and The Monster, Capital. Her debut collection is forthcoming.
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Books:
- The Book of Manchester - A City in Short Fiction | Comma Press
- The Monster, Capital - New Horror for Our Times | Comma Press