Short Fiction Workshop

Our Short Fiction Workshop meets twice a month–on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays–at 6:00 pm. This moderated workshop provides an opportunity for writers to develop writing skills, share original work, and give and receive constructive feedback on works-in-progress. Our focus is specifically on prose fiction of less than 4,000 words, though pieces of less than 2,000 words are most commonly shared.  A typical session might feature a writing exercise or prompt, announcements of upcoming programs or submission opportunities, readings of new in-progress stories, discussions of craft, and feedback from the assembled participants. The group also plans to share their work in public readings as well as in online and print publications.

No previous writing experience is required to participate; writers of all levels of experience are welcome. The group is open to adults and teens over 16-years-old; no admission fee is charged and no pre-registration is required.

The Community Library in Cobleskill is excited to announce our 2024 February Flash Fiction writing competition open to patrons of member libraries within the Mohawk Valley Library System. We invite library patrons to submit short stories of no more than 1000 words. We are open to stories of any genre, style, or subject matter, though we are particularly eager to receive stories set in or dealing with winter.

The competition is open to authors in three age categories: Tweens (ages 8-12), Teens (ages 13-17), and Adults (ages 18 and over). The stories will be reviewed by a panel of judges and selected stories will be published online on the library’s website. For complete details, visit our submission rules page.

In the summer of 2023, The Community Library sponsored a new writing contest focused on very short fiction pieces. This short form, commonly known as a “drabble,” challenges a writer to pack an entire story into exactly 100 words–no more, no less.

We accepted entries from writers living within the service areas of any of the four public libraries in Schoharie County. Our judging panel read all the submissions and selected the following submissions as winners. Click the titles below to read the winning stories.

Winner of the Youth Division:
“The Coyotes Attack” by Kelsey Barbato of Summit

Winners of the Adult Division:

First Place: “Birth Order” by Chris Keefer of Central Bridge

Second Place: “A Boy and a Bear” by Jack Nanuq of Delanson

Third Place: “The Moment” by Yajaira Lopez of Schoharie