This is an in-person workshop that takes place at Inprint House.

Flash Fiction: Distilling the Art of Narrative

Flash fiction, or the short short story, might seem like a contradictory genre. The word “story” implies length—a long yarn, a tall tale—but we just as often tell quick anecdotes. Flash fiction isn’t a new mode of storytelling, and its roots can be traced to parables, fables, and jokes. In this hyper-compressed form, language is pressurized to convey a whole story in just a few lines. Flash fiction can serve us either as a trial run for longer work or as the ideal container for the story you want to tell.

Over the course of this intensive, we’ll consider craft topics such as the making of propulsive narrative, the creation and subversion of patterns, manipulating time, and the use of precise language and vivid imagery in creating atmosphere. We’ll use constraint-based prompts to generate multiple pieces of flash fiction. On the second day, we will workshop our stories, providing generous feedback on each other’s small, efficient tales. Along the way, we will read other practitioners of the genre including Osama Alomar, Venita Blackburn, Robert Coover, Lydia Davis, Clarice Lispector, and Grace Paley.