Learn to transform fleeting ideas into complete, compelling flash fiction through four weeks of focused generative writing.
Discover how a single moment can hold an entire world: write bold, luminous flash fiction in this flexible, go-at-your-own-pace four-week generative workshop. Each week, you’ll read short examples of flash fiction and explore craft elements such as compression, image, voice, and narrative movement. Through guided prompts, participants will generate new work and have the opportunity to share drafts in a supportive, craft-focused environment. By the end of the workshop, participants will have written several original flash pieces and developed strategies for expanding or revising them into polished stories. There will be reading assignments.
Learn at your own pace: This workshop will take place over Wet Ink, which is an asynchronous creative writing platform. The instructor will post a lesson and assignment at the beginning of each week, and participants can log in and read the lessons/post assignments/comment on other classmates’ work at their convenience. Shortly before the start date, participants will receive an invite from Wet Ink to create their login info and access the class. Please check your spam if you don’t see it.
In this workshop you’ll learn:
- Techniques for compression and narrative economy; how to build a complete story in under 1,000 words.
- How to use image, voice, and precise detail to create emotional resonance in very short fiction.
- Strategies for generating flash fiction quickly through prompts and constraints.
- Methods for shaping a flash piece through structure, surprise, and meaningful endings.
- Approaches to revision and expansion, including how flash pieces can evolve into longer stories
Time requirements
- You can choose to spend as much or as little time as possible. But an average of 3-4 hours a week is reasonable to expect.
Materials
- Reading materials will be provided.
Who should take this workshop?
- This workshop is designed for beginning and intermediate fiction writers interested in exploring flash fiction, as well as poets, essayists, and experienced writers curious about working in a compressed narrative form. Writers looking to generate new work, sharpen their sense of image and voice, and experiment with short, powerful storytelling will find this workshop especially useful.
If you need an accommodation for this workshop, please contact us at access@writer.org. We will attempt to fulfill all requests, but advance notice is necessary to arrange for some accessibility services.
