Fiercely Flash—
Courageous and Compressed Writing

 12-Week Flash Writing and Revision Course

Travel the map of micro and flash creative writing in fiction and nonfiction. Over twelve weeks we’ll learn about the flash form, read from inspiring authors and produce spontaneous writing from a prompt every week. Each prompt focuses on different elements of the writing craft from narrative arc to metaphor to finding inspiration. The entire course builds across the twelve weeks from the flash introduction to full competence in flash writing.  By the end, you’ll have started at least twenty flash pieces and/or found inspiration for your longer works in progress.

Every class is recorded and available on YouTube to review or attend asynchronously. A writing community in Canvas allows everyone, including Max, to review and critique the group’s weekly writing.

Next start date—August 28, 2025

**IMPORTANT: Keep in mind that our class times are in the Pacific Time Zone. We’ve allotted two hours, but the class length sometimes might be shorter depending on attendance and the generative writing in the second part of each class. We build a writing community by posting our compressed writing and commenting on each other’s work between classes. Each class is recorded and made available on YouTube to people who have paid for the class. Below is the description for the August-November 2025 course.

 Thursday evenings 4:30 PM--6:30 PM Pacific

Schedule and Course Description:​ FIERCELY FLASH: THE BASICS OF FLASH

  • Week 1: Thursday, August 28— What is Flash? (A discussion of genre and how to get started writing flash. Second part of session: Reading—Prompt—Write Your Own Flash in Six Minutes!)

  • Week 2: Thursday, September 4—A Complete Story (Elements of Storytelling in Flash. What continues to make this form unique? Second part of session: Reading—Prompt—Write Your Own Flash in Six Minutes!)

  • Week 3: Thursday, September 11—The People We Meet & Where We Meet Them (Point of View, characterization, setting)—how to do more with less

  • Week 4: Thursday, September 18— [*Confirming*] Guest teachers Jessi Alford and Randall Madden Snoozine Editors. Genre to literary, finding the mix in literary speculation.

  • Week 5: Thursday, September 25— How do We Feel? Translating Your Vision (Writing sensory detail and using figurative language such as metaphor, simile, imagery, etc. to bring readers into your world for greatest effect)

  • Week 6: Thursday, October 2— Beginnings and Endings (How to hook 'em and keep 'em reading after the words are finished). 

 GENRES WITHIN THE GENRE: PRACTICING THE TECHNIQUES AND TYPES OF FLASH WRITING

  • Week 7: Thursday, October 9— Under a Rock (Hermit Crab and lists as techniques in flash fiction)

**Break for Writing Away Refuge Live Retreat in GULF SHORES, AL**

  • Week 8: Thursday, October 23 — Say it Again? (Repetition and Anaphora in flash)

  • Week 9: Thursday, October 30 — Imitation is the Best Form of Flattery (Hannibal Lecter isn’t the only one who tried on someone else’s skin—we’ll try on other people’s techniques for size)

  • Week 10: Thursday, November 6— A Picture Paints 1000 Words—or Fewer (Writing from images, objects, and making lists)

  • Week 11: Thursday, November 13 — Put it Out There (Places and Publishing in the world of flash.)​

  • Week 12: Thursday, November 20 — Revision is “Re-VISION” (Googly eyes and ways to see your work anew). 

 **If you'd prefer to pay for the entire course in one payment at registration, you'll receive a $50 discount, making full price $250. People attending the 2025 in-person Writing Away Refuge qualify for a 10% discount. Email us at: info@writingawayrefuge.com**