The Cornerstones of Story
Online
Instructor: Ben Adams
Schedule: Thursdays 6:30 - 8:30 PM PT
Oct 15 – Nov 19, 2026
Tuition: $450
A Writing Workshop for Beginning – Immediate Writers of Fiction
Have you ever wondered what principles all stories share? Or how you can use story essentials to make your writing come alive? In this 2-hour class, we’ll dive into the fundamentals of
storytelling: Plot, Character, Setting, and Theme.
Through fun writing exercises, you’ll develop
narrative skills you can use to make your writing sing. We’ll also examine stories by Justin Torres, George Saunders, Carmen Maria Machado, Venita Blackburn, Peter Kispert, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, and others.
At the end of the six weeks, you’ll have a better understanding of what makes characters complex, plots satisfying, settings feel real, and how authors steep their stories in theme.
But mostly, we’ll have fun exploring how these principles are used to make great fiction. This class is intended for writers of all levels, from folks just starting to put pen to page, to experienced writers looking to recharge their creative batteries.
Ben Adams
Ben Adams grew up in a Kansas town he lovingly remembers for its Main Street parades, campsite bonfires, and PBS station broadcasting 60s and 70s science fiction shows. He has since authored three critically acclaimed novels, The Enigmatologist (Ravenswood Press), The Resurrectionist (Ravenswood Press), and the Pushcart Prize-nominated Relativity (BHC Press), which was called “Vividly imaginative and unassumingly assured …” and “… deliriously enjoyable.” His short fiction can be found in past or upcoming issues of Mojo, Menagerie, Flash Fiction Magazine, Lenticular, Everyday Weirdness, and other places. He has an MFA in Creative Writing from University of San Francisco. He is a Teaching Artist Fellow at San Francisco Creative Writing Institute. He is the cofounder of Two Staple Press and Editor in Chief at Destapled Literary Magazine.