Ready to write stories you had no idea you’d ever write, explore subjects you never thought you’d explore, take risks, experiment, and surprise yourself in the process? Ready to write a lot? This class will be more of a fiction workout than workshop (although we’ll do a bit of that, too) that will challenge you to write a complete, 300- to 500-word flash fiction by the end of the weekend, one that is ready to go out into the world.

How will we do that? By thinking of our writing as an exercise. An exercise in dialogue, tone, imagery, point of view, setting, characterization—you name it, just don’t call it a “story” quite yet. That comes later. Together we will explore the world of flash fiction (stories of 500 words or fewer) through discussion of published examples and through multiple writing exercises that will break you out of your comfort zone. We’ll roll up our sleeves together and think of art as an exercise. Whether you have a dozen story ideas in mind or none whatsoever, you will leave this class with a greater appreciation of the flash form. 

On Saturday we will discuss published examples of flash fiction (I’ll provide these at our first class meeting) and complete multiple writing exercises. You will have the opportunity to polish up your best writing exercise and workshop it on Sunday. 

In this workshop, we will generate new writing through exercises and assignments; provide feedback on writing on writing you produce in our weekend.