Flash Recommendation: You Have Time for This

You Have Time for This, compiled by Mark Budman and Tom Hazuka, features flash writing in 500 or less words. The 44  diverse authors come together with stories for everyone across all genres. As publisher Ooligan Press reminds us, this anthology “satiates your craving for fine literature without making a dent in your schedule.”

Anthologies are a great way to study any genre because you meet new authors, discover new techniques, and have all the perks of a curated library at your fingertips, without taking up too much shelf space. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve “met” a new fave writer via an anthology and then gone on to read everything that author has ever written. I’ve also had the fun experience of “discovering” a piece of writing by one of my existing favorite authors that I had never seen in print before. It’s amazing how many gifted writers out there are slyly getting pieces published in anthologies while their “bigger” books get the notoriety.

One thing I love about flash fiction is that the shorter the story, the less a writer can rely on (or fall into the trap of) copying predictable patterns. With flash fiction it’s virtually impossible to write a formulaic story, because there is no set form or structure for fiction this brief. Even if you tried to write a mystery or a romance in five hundred words (our limit for You Have Time for This), readers would take your story as a form of metafiction, a comment on the genre rather than a piece of genre fiction itself. And that’s what you would be doing–trying to create something new, expanding possibilities rather than conforming to the predictable expectations of a genre. ~ Tom Hazuka

My Into the Flash online and live class can help you carefully craft language and use precise 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 alongside a potter-turned-writer, a volunteer flash editor in Egypt, published authors, and middle school teachers–all of whom have taken or are now enrolled in this course. 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. Curious about what we’ll cover? Read all the details here!