Second, begin by reading these stories the way their creators intended: as stories. Few painters will ever capture a smile like Mona Lisa’s, but that shouldn’t keep artists from practicing lips. Instead, look at each story as a crash course in a single basic technique: irony, or revelation, or human nature, or descriptive imagery. Twain’s gift for making us laugh at human nature while simultaneously provoking a twinge of shame is something he spent a lifetime developing. Henry’s talent for irony was a sort of superpower few other writers have matched. First, don’t accept the burden of mastery.

Each, in its own unique way, demonstrates something both universal and relevant, something worth emulating. Thus, the following is a list of ten short stories every young writer should read, chosen not just because they are famous and important and brilliant, etc., etc., but because they clearly display a master’s technique. Their chalkboards are easily filled in an hour. Short stories are excellent classrooms because they are confined. It also helps to narrow the scope of your subject. You are more apt to learn if you enroll consciously, if you pay attention to the storyteller’s brushstrokes. Of course, it helps to recognize yourself as a student. Tarzan taught me about theme and danger and the law of apes, and John Carter of Mars showed me what it meant to long for home while trying to escape it. I learned at his feet, in an African jungle and on the great canals of Barsoom. I don’t admire Edgar Rice Burroughs for his literary style, but as a boy I loved him for his grasp of adventure. I don’t know which came first, the story or the writer, but it is safe to say that we are drawn to the sorts of stories we wish to tell, or at least, those stories we fear we aren’t capable of telling. Young writers probably know this instinctively. But I’m convinced that great writers take the time not only to read great stories, but to study them. I don’t think any one list can be considered essential reading material for the aspiring novelist. The title of this post is probably misleading.

Bradbury offers private lessons in blocks of ten and twenty, at less than a buck a piece. Some of the best lessons in writing are freely-or at least cheaply-available in the classroom of words.

Short stories to write for class