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​​ABOUT THE EVENT ✏︎

​We’re going to cover how editors read, what makes a poetry submission stand out (in a good or bad way), and how to make smart choices about where—and how—you send your work. Real advice from someone who reads a lot of poems.

​So the first sentence of a story? It’s like a handshake, a curtain opening, a spark in the reader’s brain that ignites a desire to keep going. If it’s boring, people are out before they even get to the good part. If it’s sharp, weird, bubbling with unanswered questions—boom. They’re in. That first sentence sets the tone, hints at what’s coming. It’s the writer’s chance to say, “Trust me, this is worth it.” So, no pressure, but get that first line right.

​In this 90-minute class, we’ll dive into first sentences from published books and short stories, picking apart what makes them so irresistible. Why this word? Why that syntax? That image? What’s there—and just as important—what’s not there? Then, using those sentences as blueprints, you’ll craft your own. By the end, if all goes well, you’ll have a solid stack of opening lines ready to sprout into full-blown stories.

​INSTRUCTOR BIO ✏︎

​Nina Schuyler is an award-winning author whose short story collection In this Ravishing World won the W.S. Porter Prize and the Prism Prize for Climate Literature and will be published by Regal House in 2024. Her novels and craft books, including Afterword, The Translator, and How to Write Stunning Sentences, have earned numerous honors and bestseller status. She teaches creative writing at Stanford Continuing Studies, The Writing Salon, and Book Passage, writes a prose style column for Fiction Advocate, and reviews for The Millions. A graduate of Stanford, UC Law SF, and San Francisco State (MFA), she lives in Northern California with her family.