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WORKSHOP SYLLABUS

Are you intrigued by powerful and memorable short-short stories, sometimes also called flash, sudden, micro, fast, quick, furious, skinny, or postcard fiction? Have you discovered the difficulty of trying to write them? If you want to learn more about this popular and very marketable type of writing, then this is the course for you.

This action-packed four-week online course will help you understand some effective principles for writing flash fiction. You'll receive lessons and reading assignments, and you'll experiment with exercises. You'll try your hand at analyzing good short-shorts in order to discover writer techniques. You'll learn the value of careful critiquing to help your writer colleagues and yourself. You'll also learn about formatting, market strategies, and finding markets for your work.

Facilitator: Pamelyn Casto
email: p.casto@worldnet.att.net

• Week One: Introduction to Flash Fiction

  This session is to introduce workshoppers to the flash fiction genre-- what it is, how it is, and why it is. Participants will learn a bit of history on the form and learn who some of the outstanding writers are. Participants will read selected material, will work on a story analysis, and will begin writing stories (from an exercise).

• Week Two: A Matter of Simplicity

  This session will discuss the concept of simplicity in creating short-short fiction. We will explore various "simple" (but outstanding) stories to discover how so much power can be contained in such a small space as a short-short story. There will be related stories to analyze and related exercises to try.

• Week Three: What's In A Myth?

  This session will discuss myth (charter myths, aetiological myths, literary myths, etc.) and how to create them or refashion them for flash fiction. Students will have related stories to analyze and related exercises to try.

• Week Four: Markets for Flash Fiction

  This final week will discuss marketing strategies for your flash fiction pieces and you'll learn about several markets and contests. This week will also include final critiques, final story analyses, and will include room for any unanswered questions workshop members might have.

PREREQUISITE: None, other than a strong desire on the part of workshop participants to learn as much as possible about writing flash fiction.

REQUIRED COURSE BOOK:
Sudden Fiction (Continued): 60 New Short-Short Stories
Robert Shapard and James Thomas, Ed. New York/ London: W.W. Norton & Co., 1996. ISBN 0-393-31342-5

OBJECTIVE: By the course's end, participants will have gained a greater understanding of some important principles of writing flash fiction. Participants will understand much more about how to write effective short shorts, and will have a greater awareness of the markets for this type of work. Participants also will have created several rough-drafted stories (at least, and probably some ready-to-go stories too) and will have a collection of future flash fiction story ideas.

ABOUT THE FACILITATOR: Pamelyn Casto created and runs the Flash Fiction Writing Workshop (http://home.att.net/~p.casto), and is the editor of the online monthly Flash Fiction Flash: The Newsletter for Flash Literature Writers (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FlashFictionFlash). Pam's work — articles, stories, essays poems — has been published in both print and on the 'net, including in The Toastmaster Magazine, The Art of Haiku 2000, Potpourri, Perihelion, Ship of Fools, flashquake, Mindprints, Modern Haiku, Wild Strawberries, Riding the Meridian, Fiction Fix, Amaze: The Cinquain Journal, Whim's Place, and Suddenly Sudden Fiction and Prose Poetry (Vols III & V). Pam has written several articles (with Geoff Fuller) on writing flash fiction in Writer's Digest and various Writer's Digest publications. One of her article s on flash fiction writing appears in the 2003 (7th Edition) of Bridging The Gap: College Reading (Longman). Pam is also a 2003 Pushcart Prize nominee.

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