NORWAY – In conjunction with the Celebration of the Short Story, a four-part workshop is being offered at the Norway Memorial Library. Lisa Moore will instruct the four-month workshop that will see original short stories through stages of development over the winter.

Four monthly 1.5-hour workshops (6:30 to 8 p.m. Thursdays) will engage participants in reading, writing and hearing short stories. Published stories will serve as models and discussion points throughout the workshops and copies will be provided free. Instructor will be available for one-on-one mentoring throughout the winter.

Nov. 1, “Prewriting”: Instructor will read aloud a short story of her own, share a publishing experience and offer a definition of a short story for the purpose of the workshop.

Participants will discuss the broad shape of a short story, elements of fiction and brainstorm ideas. For fun and exercise, participants will write a three-sentence short story based on a Far Side cartoon.

Dec. 6, “Drafting”: Participants bring drafted material to discuss and share, with focus on character, setting, plot, dialogue and point of view.

Jan. 3, “Revising”: A tool chest of ways to rethink, enhance, clarify, sharpen, crystallize, question and professionalize a story; also a discussion of dangers and pitfalls.

Feb. 7, “Publishing”: A discussion of format and correctness and how to submit a story to a contest or literary journal. Participants bring working drafts to class to share and discuss. All finished stories will be published in a class anthology, free to participants.

Moore lives on the Crooked River in Harrison. She has published four collections of poetry: “Queen Anne in Winter” (1990), “Women of Steam” (1995), “Murmurs” (2000) and “Smoke” (2005).

Her book, “There is a Crooked River,” offers poems about the Maine woods. Her “Haiku Project” (2003) combined writing, performance and visual art to share 100 original haiku.

In 2005 Moore authored a biography for high school students called “Elie Wiesel: Surviving the Holocaust, Speaking Out Against Genocide.” She has written a baseball novel called “Fielder’s Choice” and drafted a collection of shorts called “The House of Baskets and Other Stories,” coming-of-age stories set in a small town.

One of her early stories, “The Green Man,” won honors in a Glimmertrain Short Fiction contest in 1995. Moore was a pioneer female at the University of Notre Dame, held her first teaching job at Hebron Academy, and earned a master’s degree in linguistics and writing from Northeastern University.

Today, she writes for textbook companies and shares life with two sons, dogs, a cat and a scientist. She has been writing nearly every day since she was 4.

This and all programs associated with the Celebration of the Short Story are made possible through a grant from the Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation. It is open to the public and free, but preregistration is required. For more information or to sign up for the workshop, call the library at 743-5309.