Course

Flash Fiction in a Flash: Writing (and Submitting) Publishable Flash Fiction. Kelly Dwyer, Instructor

Ended Dec 3, 2023

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Full course description

IOWA SUMMER WRITING FESTIVAL 

 

Fall 2023–Winter 2024 

 

 

Flash Fiction in a Flash: Writing (and Submitting) Publishable Flash Fiction (Weekend Workshop)

 

Kelly Dwyer, Instructor 

 

 

Dates/Time 

 

Friday, December 1–Sunday, December 3, 2023 

 

Introductory Meeting and Overview, Friday on Zoom: 

 

  • 7:00–8:00 pm Iowa/Central Time 

  • 8:00–9:00 pm Eastern Time 

  • 5:00–6:00 pm Pacific Time 

  • 6:00–7:00 pm Mountain Time 
     

Workshop Meetings, Saturday & Sunday on Zoom: 

 

  • 11:00 am–4:00 pm Iowa/Central Time 

  • 12:00–5:00 pm Eastern Time 

  • 9:00 am–2:00 pm Pacific Time 

  • 10:00 am–3:00 am Mountain Time 

 

Saturday and Sunday meetings include a one-hour break. Class meets for four hours each day. 

 

 

Fee: $350 

 

 

Course Description 

 

Flash fiction is fiction that tells a story in a flash—anywhere from six words (“For Sale. Baby Shoes. Never worn.” —attributed to Hemingway) to under a thousand words. In this weekend workshop, we’ll discover what flash fiction is and what makes it so interesting, we’ll study and discuss some examples, and we’ll complete exercises and assignments, writing some flash of our own.   

 

The wonderful thing about this genre is that you can be anywhere in your process—from someone who has never written a fictional or poetic word, to someone who has published three novels—to benefit from its joys and constraints. Our goal is to leave our time together with a number of finished pieces of fiction, ready to submit to magazines, which tell stories in a beautiful, breathtaking flash.  

 

Class structure: This weekend workshop will consist of a Friday evening introductory meeting (if you are an international student and cannot make that meeting, that’s fine; please contact Kelly to let her know); and morning and afternoon workshops Saturday and Sunday. The class will include lectures, discussions, and workshops of writers’ work. 

   

Takeaways:  

  • Writers will understand what flash fiction is, how to write flash fiction, and how to improve their flash fiction writing.  
  • Writers will write publishable pieces of flash fiction. 
  • Writers will know where to submit their work.  
  • Writers will gain confidence in their writing (and in some cases, overcome writers’ block).  
  • Writers will experience writing for fun as well as for publication.  
  • Writers will be part of a supportive and stimulating writing community.  
  • Finally, writers will enjoy some stress release and comradery by doing something delightful for themselves during the holidays.   

 

This workshop is for writers at all levels! Beginners will learn to write creatively in an unintimidating environment, while advanced writers will hone their skills and craft in a genre that helps improve writing in general. The emphasis of this course is on generating new material. 

 

Instructor 

 

Kelly Dwyer taught in the University of Wisconsin system for fifteen years and has taught at the Iowa Summer Writing Festival for over twenty-five years. A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and Oberlin College, Kelly grew up in San Pedro, California, and now divides her time between Madison, Wisconsin, and Los Angeles. Kelly’s third novel, Ghost Mother, will be published in fall 2024 by Union Square & Company, the imprint of Barnes & Noble.  Kelly also writes flash fiction and plays, which have been produced in Boston, New York, and Glasgow. Feel free to visit kellydwyerauthor.com or contact kelldwyer@yahoo.com. 

 

Registration & Fees 

 

The fee for this course is $350. Payment in full is required to register. 

Registrations are accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. 

Class size is limited to 12.

 

Note: Your credit card payment will be processed by an external provider and will appear on your credit card statement as “UI Writing—Magid Center.” 

 

Refund & Cancellation Policy 

 

If you need to cancel your enrollment, please let us know as soon as possible. We can only offer full refunds if you cancel one week prior to the start of class. After that, before the start-date of class, we can offer a 50% refund. We cannot refund day-of cancellations, and we cannot refund or partially refund registration fees once the class has begun. 

 

Terms & Community Policy 

 

1.  The Iowa Summer Writing Festival is a program for adults. You must be at least 18 years old to enroll in Festival workshops. 

 

2.  The Iowa Summer Writing Festival is a community built on an assumption of shared enterprise, in the spirit of mutual respect. We reserve the right to a) revoke the registration of or b) dismiss from the program any person who disrupts the learning/working environment of others. Participants in the Festival are subject to all University of Iowa policies governing conduct in our community, whether online or in person. 

  

Questions? 

  

Contact the Iowa Summer Writing Festival: iswfestival@uiowa.edu. Phone: (319) 335-4160. 

  

Our small staff is out and about. If you phone and we miss you, please leave a detailed message!