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Last updated on
7 March, 2009

Fiction in a Flash
with Erin McKnight

REGISTRATION:

COST, LENGTH, PREREQUISITES:

No prerequisites.

Standard course: $180 / 6 weeks.
Extended schedule: $224 / 12 weeks. Extended course gives you two weeks to do each lesson but contains NO additional material.

Erin McKnight at ekkmcknight@gmail.com

Are you ready to plunge into the pool of flash fiction? Be prepared to hold your breath! Although the water appears shallow, the emotional impact of this writing form boasts depths rivaling the high seas of longer fiction.

Flash fiction, when crafted with care, works within the boundaries of the genre and on the periphery of traditional storytelling. In the world of flash, a compelling story can be told in fewer than a hundred words!

Experienced writers looking to fine-tune their skills in brevity and control, and aspiring writers interested in experimenting with this cutting-edge mode, will have the opportunity to explore this in-demand form of writing during the workshop.

Each work will be critiqued in a supportive environment intended to celebrate the writer’s voice and vision, and will provide the feedback essential for the reviewing and editing stages of writing.

Week 1: We will familiarize ourselves with the distilled nature of flash fiction and attempt to define this mode of writing, and its implications on the greater literary canon.

Week 2: We will consider the reasons behind flash fiction’s current popularity, and the various forms that exist. We will explore its worldwide popularity, as well as its particular suitability to the Internet.

Week 3: We will review the essential elements of flash writing. We will determine how flash conforms to traditional storytelling, taking into account the interplay between the elements of setting, plot, climax, character, and dialogue.

Week 4: We will contemplate how the student’s writing of the second flash may have evolved since the first, and will analyze how the process differs from that of traditional fiction. This week we will focus on richness of words, and the use of active voice.

Week 5: We will consider the possibilities of the form, including nonfiction and poetry, and will identify the techniques epitomized in flash fiction that may be employed in all of the student’s future writing.

Week 6: As this workshop will culminate in two fully developed and edited stories that exhibit the smooth prose epitomized in flash fiction, possible venues for publication will be identified and tips for publication success in the literary market will be discussed.

PLANNED HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS BY WEEK:
Week 1: -Identify two topics to be explored within the two flashes you will be writing. (Determining, as specifically as possible, what element of this topic will be captured in your writing will serve as a way to determine the suitability of its scope.) -Describe yourself in six words; describe someone else (familiar to you) in six words; describe your relationship with that person in another six words.

Week 2: -Submit rough draft of first piece of flash (as well as completed editing checklist). -Use your rough draft (or any other paragraph of your writing) and attempt to remove every “e” that is present. Lippograms are tricky, yet useful, exercises for helping you to think about the words you use. [Please submit both versions.]

Week 3: -Revise first piece of flash, using the instructor’s feedback as a guide. -In less than 500 words, offer dialogue between two characters without the use of tags (For example: “He said,” “She questioned”) or narration to tell a story or provide insight into their relationship.

Week 4: -Submit rough draft of second piece of writing (as well as completed editing checklist) -Use any paragraph of writing and halve its word count. [Please submit both versions.]

Week 5: -Revise second piece of flash fiction, using the instructor’s feedback as a guide. -Choose any object and describe each associated sensory element (smell, sight, sound, taste, and touch) in less than 100 words.

Week 6: -Submit both pieces of flash fiction for instructor’s final review (as well as completed editing checklist).

Born in Scotland and raised in South Africa, Erin now lives in Dallas. Her writing—including multiple pieces of flash fiction—has been widely published in-print and online, in venues to include: flashquake, PRECIPICe, Ginsoko Literary Journal, Siren: A Literary & Art Journal, and The Flask Review. Her work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, The Best of the Web Anthology, and W.W. Norton's The Best of Creative Nonfiction, Volume 3. Erin’s short nonfiction is held by the Scottish Mining Museum. She holds an AA in liberal arts, a BA in English, and an MFA in creative writing with a specialization in fiction. Erin is currently at work on an MA program in literary linguistics. She is the fiction editor for Prick of the Spindle: A Quarterly Online Journal of the Literary Arts, and works as a certified tutor for students ranging from the first grade to college level in English and essay writing.