Desire, conflict and choice are critical to good storytelling—without them you may have fiction, but you most certainly will not have a story. Through a combination of lecture, exercise and discussion, this workshop will show you how to weave these elements into your short stories as we explore the structural elements shared by all stories, uncover the differences between plot and structure, and give you the tools to build emotionally satisfying stories again and again.

About the Instructor: John Mavin

John Mavin has taught creative writing at Capliano University, Simon Fraser University, the University of British Columbia, New Shoots (through the Vancouver School Board), and the Learning Exchange in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

He is a graduate of SFU's The Writer's Studio and also holds an MFA in Creative Writing from UBC. A past nominee for both the Aurora Award and the Journey Prize, his short fiction has been translated, studied and published internationally. His first book-length collection, Rage, was published by Thistledown Press in the fall of 2017.