In this four-week course, we’ll explore the growing popularity of flash fiction and examine how the elements of traditional storytelling like character, conflict, and plot play out in a condensed form. We’ll read a variety of flash pieces and study techniques used to sharpen detail and image. Through writing exercises, participants will experiment and create a new story (300–500 words) to share with the group the following week. 

Gessy Alvarez is the editor-in-chief of the literary and arts journal Digging Through The Fat. She is also the publisher and series editor of the Digging Press Chapbook Series. Her writing has appeared in Hobart, Asteri(x), Lunch Ticket, Volume One Brooklyn, and other publications. She earned her MFA in writing from Columbia University.

The Writing Life events in 2020 are generously underwritten by Jenny Lawrence.