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Spotlight Course: Spark & Sizzle: Crafting Flash Fiction           

In this issue:
Article: 7 Tips for Crafting Fantastic Flashes
Spotlight Course: Spark & Sizzle: Crafting Flash Fiction
Upcoming Classes & Workshops
Greetings!

I always enjoy chatting with the winners of our quarterly flash fiction writing contest, finding out how they came up with their story ideas and what it's like to create the shortest of short stories. To tell a great story in just a few hundred words takes discipline and skill, and when a writer nails it...wow, what a satisfying read. It also makes you want to try it yourself!

We're so pleased to offer a new course to help you learn the art of flash fiction. Spark and Sizzle: Crafting Flash Fiction with Melanie Faith starts Friday, January 20th. Melanie's classes are student favorites, and a session with her is the perfect way to start off the new year. You also receive 5 story critiques from the instructor! Enrollment is limited to ten students, so reserve your spot now.

In the article below, Melanie shares seven tips for crafting fantastic flashes. It's a small sample of what you'll learn in her class.

Also, be sure to check out all of our upcoming classes in the section below. We have several starting soon, including Writing Your Novel from the Ground Up (starts tomorrow, Jan 4, Special Introductory Price), How to Write Children's Picture Books and Get Published (Jan 7), and How to Write a Craft Book (Jan 7, Special Winter Discount of $50 Off! This session only), screenwriting and playwriting (Jan 9), and Breaking Into Magazine Writing With Regional Markets (Jan 10). These are just some of the classes we're offering in January, so be sure to check out the whole list!

Here's to your writing success! 

 

Marcia & Angela 

 

Classroom Managers: Marcia & Angela
Marcia & Angela
Classroom Managers
WOW! Classes & Workshops

[email protected] 

Fantastic Flash

 

  

7 Tips for Crafting Fantastic Flashes  

 

By Melanie Faith

 

 

 

Whether you call them short short stories, furious fictions, micro fiction, or sudden fiction, developing an intriguing flash fiction story has become an art form that has attracted the attention of curious readers and the interest of motivated writers alike. Flash fiction ranges between 250 and 1,000 words. This word count can be quite the challenge for writers used to more expansive, leisurely plot development. Consider these guidelines for penning compact and impactful fiction.  

 

  1. Zoom in on one or two characters maximum. Focus on the thoughts, motivations, and/or actions of one or two characters, rather than an entire cast of family, friends, and coworkers. For example, instead of following four sisters' reactions to an aunt's wedding, encapsulate the younger generation's reaction to the nuptials in one niece.

  2. Go visual, go specific. Michael Wilson, in his book Flash Fiction: How to Write, Revise, and Publish Stories Less Than 1,000 Words Long, suggests: "Avoid abstraction, general words, if possible. Find words that evoke an image, memory, event or situation." Instead of brother, try bratty teenage brother. That goes for verbs as well. Rather than describing a kindergartener as running across the lawn, how about scampered or galloped, to denote a more pictorial image of the protagonist's kind of running and speed through the grass.

  3. Nix multiple locations or numerous flashbacks to previous events or motivators. One conflict and a maximum of two settings will provide plenty to explore and to resolve. 

  4. Use dialogue or spatial details to encapsulate, rather than multiple-paragraphs or drawn-out exposition. For example, instead of paragraphs detailing the snowstorm that led to a character's car accident, how about having the character mention the accident to another character in a single sentence comment? Also, a short phrase detailing the character's body language while discussing the storm would more effectively encapsulate the dashing effects of the storm than entire paragraphs.  

  5. Eliminate empty words. Comb through your draft and omit general terms that carry little weight. Less, really, so, extremely, very, kind of, rather, and more should go! Instead, make your nouns and verbs do the heavy-lifting. Additionally, limit your use of cluttering prepositional phrases.

  6. Try the twist ending. One of the most unique elements of flash fiction is the twist ending. While there still needs to be a resolution and changes within the protagonist, save a savory detail or two for the final paragraph or sentence. While the twist still must make sense--sorry, no "it was only a dream" sequences--a clever remark, last minute role reversal, or stunning final image be just the thing your flash needs.

  7. Above all, aim for short bursts of action and heightened conflict from the start. Flash fictions are meant to be visceral, imaginative leaps into plot, character, setting, and theme, and then back out again. Go full throttle--or, rather, make sure your characters do from start to finish!   



Melanie FaithSpark & Sizzle: Crafting Flash Fiction  

Instructor: Melanie Faith

Workshop Length
: 5 Weeks
Price: $170
Start Date: January 20, 2012 
Limit
10 Students

Course Description: "How short can a story be and still truly be a story?" asks flash fiction editor James Thomas. This question and more will provide a context for an exploration of this highly marketable, much-adored genre. Students will receive packets of short fiction, along with weekly reading assignments and exercises from the instructional text Flash Writing: How to Write, Revise and Publish Stories Less Than 1000 Words Long. Students will also read insightful short shorts from  Flash Fiction: 72 Very Short Stories. A variety of writing prompts and tips, both in the text and at the class Grouply group, will spark students' own flash fiction. Each Friday, students will submit a new flash fiction of 1,000 words or less (topic of the students' own choosing) for supportive and constructive feedback from the instructor.  Topics covered will include: where to get ideas, crafting unforgettable characters and beginnings, drafting believable dialogue, increasing conflict, the art of brevity, revising flash fiction, and much more. Whether you call them flash fictions, sudden fictions, furious fictions, or short shorts, join this course for a rousing, pen-moving jaunt from first line through polished prose.

 

Visit the Classroom Page for a complete listing and what you'll be learning week by week.   

 

Register  

 

 

   

About the InstructorMelanie Faith is a poet, essayist, and photographer who holds an MFA from Queens University of Charlotte, NC. Her poetry was a semi-finalist for the 2011 James Applewhite Poetry Prize, and she recently had an essay about editing poetry published in the Jan/Feb 2011 issue of Writers' Journal. Her poetry was published in Referential Magazine (July and June 2011), Tapestry (Delta State U., Spring 2011) and her essay about Thoreau and the Internet appeared in Front Range Review (U. of Montana, Spring 2011). Her photos were published in Foliate Oak (May 2011) and forthcoming from Up The Staircase (November 2011). A travel essay was featured in Quicksilver (U. of Texas, March 2010), and another published essay (Shape of a Box, Oct. 2009) was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her work won the 2009 Anne E. Sucher Poetry Prize for the Iguana Review. Her current poetry chapbook, Bright, Burning Fuse, was published by Etched Press (www.etchedpress.com) in Dec. 2008. She has been a small town journalist, an ESL classroom teacher for international students, and (currently) a literature and writing tutor at a private college prep high school. She has enjoyed teaching poetry and essay writing classes for WOW! for two years. In addition to writing two novels seeking representation, her instructional articles about creative writing techniques have appeared in RWR (Dec. '08) and The Writer (Nov. '09), among others.

 


Upcoming Classes & Workshops
WOW! Classes
Below are some classes and workshops that are starting soon. Click on the links to be taken to a full listing that includes a week-by-week curriculum, testimonials, instructor bio, and more. Keep in mind that most class sizes are limited, so the earlier you register the better.

All the classes operate online--whether through email, website, chat room, or group listserv, depending on the instructor's preferences--so you do not need to be present at any particular time (unless a phone chat is scheduled and arranged with your instructor). You can work at your own pace in the comfort of your own home. If you have any questions, please reply to this email or email us at: [email protected] Enjoy!


Starts Every Friday (Self-Study Course):
Independent Publishing: How to Start Your Own Self-Publishing Business | $99 or $150 with 1 Hour Phone Consultation

January 4
Writing Your Novel From the Ground Up New! Starts Tomorrow! | 8 Weeks | $250 Introductory Rate | Limit: 20 Students

January 7
How to Write Children's Picture Books and Get Published | 6 Weeks | $175 | Limit: 15 Students

How to Write a Craft Book | 5 Weeks | $125 (New Year's Discount! $50 Off this session only! Normally $175) | Limit: 15 Students

January 9
Empower Your Muse, Empower Your Writing Self | 4 Weeks | $75 (New Year's Discount! $50 Off this session only! Normally $125) | Limit: 25 Students

Querying and Writing Non-fiction Articles | 5 Weeks | $125 | Limit: 20 Students

Write From Your Soul: Memoir Workshop | 6 Weeks | $249 | Limit: 10 Students

See You at the Movies: Introduction to the Craft of Screenwriting | 6 Weeks | $150 | Limit: 10 Students

All the World's a Stage: Introduction to Playwriting | 6 Weeks | $175 | Limit: 10 Students

January 10
Breaking Into Magazine Writing With Regional Markets | 5 Weeks | $125 | Limit: 10 Students

January 16
Literary Devices Writing Workshop | 8 Weeks | $175 | Limit: 8-10 Students

January 18
Social Networking for Writers: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and More | 4 Weeks | $100 | Limit: 20 Students

January 20
Spark and Sizzle: Crafting Flash Fiction New! | 5 Weeks | $170 | Limit: 10 Students

January 30
Digital Revolution: How to Publish Your Book as an eBook New! | 4 Weeks | $299 | Limit: 10 Students


February 1
Writing Character-Driven Fiction New! | 6 Weeks | $180 | Limit: 20 Students

February 6
How to Write a TV Pilot New! | 4 Weeks | $150 | Limit: 10 Students

How to Get the Right Agent for Your Manuscript | 4 Weeks | $299 | Limit: 10 Students

February 10
Blogging 101 | 5 Weeks | $125 | Limit: 20 Students

February 22
Writing a Middle-Grade Novel | 6 Weeks | $150 | Limit: 20 Students

March 5
Writing for Children: Short Stories, Articles, and Fillers | 7 Weeks | $175 (Winter Sale! Regular price: $200) | Limit: 15 Students

March 21
Vampires Optional: Writing Young Adult Fiction New! | 6 Weeks | $180 | Limit: 10 Students


Click here to see all of our upcoming workshops 

 

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