Craft of Writing Flash for the Heart

craft of writing flash

The craft of writing flash fiction has always intrigued me, ever since I pulled Flash Fiction: 72 Very Short Stories edited by Tom Hazuka, Denise Thomas, and James Thomas off the shelf in my father’s library, and read the opening story, I knew immediately I could no longer be the same writer. That anthology, along with many other flash collections published since, simultaneously baffled and inspired me: How could these writers do so much with so little?*

Years later, reading an anthology introduction written by Charles Baxter, I found an answer. Baxter explained that a novel can win readers over by points, but flash fiction has to win by TKO. Technical Knock Out—that’s what the best flash fiction does, marking a moment in the story with such vivid texture, the reader has no choice but to feel it right between the eyes.

Over time, my own style as a flash writer and editor has become refined. I’m a sucker for image-based metaphor and, perhaps against better judgment, I also love stacked adjectives. That said, knowing when to let a sentence run on, and when to cut something short, are also crucial to writing flash. A writer who employs a precise verb to conjure place, emotion, and action with a single word is a writer who understands about economy of language and allegiance to story.

My Into the Flash online and live class can help you carefully craft language and use exact imagination. It’s about using just the right moment to not only hit your reader between the eyes, but also in their heart. Reserve your spot along side a potter-turned-writer, a volunteer flash editor in Egypt, published authors, and middle school teachers. The common denominator is that these participants care about applying craft techniques to their writing, and they care about working with the imagination in fresh ways in order to deepen their abilities as writers and creative types.

Early Bird Registration is open through end of business day, March 23, 2018 for $290.00 or $365.00 with added on writing critique. Come join us!

*Part of this blog post was originally published by Trachodon, LLC, as an introduction to BITE: An Anthology of Flash Fiction, edited by Katey Schultz and John Carr Walker.

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