Flash—stories less than 1,000 words—is enormously popular. Google “Flash Fiction Contests” and the very first result lists 109 places to submit. But while flash may be easier to read, it is by no means easier to write. The daunting task of packing profound meaning within an economy of space has elicited enormous literary achievements in poetry and songwriting, and flash is no exception. As Edgar Allen Poe once observed, “A short story must have a single mood and every sentence must build towards it.” During our meeting, Andrea Firth will teach us why and how short prose, whether fiction or nonfiction, is changing the way we tell stories.
Andrea will provide us with a deep introduction to this prose form with stories from 6-words to 100, 400, and more. We’ll read and analyze a range of shorts, stories, and essays, and see how to engage readers in a small space by eliminating the excess and keeping what’s most essential. We’ll explore how urgency, conflict, and a twist are keys to the form. And we’ll see how voice, language, point-of-view, and structure contribute to the overall impact. You will leave ready to write your own short pieces with ideas for where to submit them.
Andrea A. Firth is a writer, journalist, editor, and educator living in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is an Editor at Brevity Blog and the cofounder of Diablo Writers’ Workshop where she teaches and provides editorial consulting. Andrea was a finalist for The Missouri Review’s 2021 Perkoff Prize in nonfiction, and her essays are published in Brevity Blog, Dorothy Parkers’ Ashes, The Coachella Review, Motherwell, Please See Me and elsewhere.
When: Monday, August 14 at 6:30pm
Where: Triton Museum, 1505 Warburton Ave, Santa Clara, CA 95050
Admission: Member $10, Nonmember $15