Are you curious about this very short story form? Do you have a story you want to tell in about 1,000 words? Flash fiction is a fun challenge for any writer, and it’s a great way to explore different narrative styles and techniques.

In this six-week class, we’ll look at several examples of very short fiction. Each week, you will write a short, complete prose piece modeled on a writer’s example. The teacher chooses these exercises from a variety of contemporary authors. Then, during a two-hour, live Google Meet session, students present their work and receive critiques from their fellow classmates and from the teacher. We use the last fifteen minutes of the class to read and discuss the following week’s model, using the Writers Studio method of analyzing persona and narrative technique. The Google Meet sessions are not recorded.

This class is open to anyone curious about flash fiction, whether you consider yourself a fiction writer, a creative nonfiction writer, or a poet. All levels welcome, whether you are a novice writer or long-time Writers Studio student. Come dive into the exciting world of flash!

"Every week, I presented a new story. Finally something did click, the very thing that’s their specialty at The Writers Studio, emotional content. Before, my work was dead. When I brought in my breakthrough story, I felt I was carrying a weird animal in my bag. It was the first story I sold."

Jennifer Egan, former Writers Studio student, Winner of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction

Instructor

Writers Studio Teacher

Nancy Matsunaga

Nancy Matsunaga is a freelance writer and editor who studied comparative literature at Oberlin College and received her MA in teaching English as a second language. She has been teaching with the Writers Studio since 2007, and she was the founder and director of the Amsterdam branch of the school. Her stories have been published in the journals Calyx and American Writers Review and anthologized in The Writers Studio at 30. She was a finalist for the 2021 Chester B. Himes Memorial Short Fiction Prize and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. After ten years in Munich, she has recently returned to the New York area, where she is working on a novel and a book of short stories.

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