Flash Essays: Crafting Brief Nonfiction

Class Description

If you’ve worked in the brief or “flash” essay form, you may have heard it before: an excerpt is not an essay. Extracting your best 750 or 1,000 words from a book-length project or longer essay almost never works. So, what makes for a focused, shapely piece of flash nonfiction? How can you craft bite-sized true stories that nonetheless feel expansive, with memorable characters, complicated stakes, surprise insights and satisfying endings that aren’t too neat?

In this 3-hour seminar, we’ll examine the mechanics of several published flash essays—with special focus on beginnings and reflective turns—taking them apart to see how they work. We’ll also do generative exercises, so you can apply what we learn to your own material. You’ll leave with nuts-and-bolts advice for shaping flash essays that start quickly and run deep.

Class Format

This class will take place in-person at our Center for Creative Writing in Boston's Seaport neighborhood. Please note that proof of vaccination against COVID-19 is required to attend this class. Please submit your proof of vaccination here at least 48 hours before your class begins. Read on to learn more about GrubStreet's vaccine protocol and find information about where to get vaccinated below.

GrubStreet Vaccine Protocol

Please submit your most recent proof of vaccination, which requires a booster shot for those eligible, here at least 48 hours before your class begins. If you have previously submitted a proof of vaccination that did not include your booster shot, you will need to resubmit your updated vaccine card. If you are not able to fill out our vaccination form 48 hours before your class begins, please bring your vaccine card (or a photo of it) with you to the building. Please note that if you arrive for class and you have not filled out the form and do not have proof of vaccination with you, you will not be allowed to participate in the class. And don’t forget your mask! In accordance with the City of Boston, masks will be required at all times while inside the building. Click here to read GrubStreet's full Vaccination and Masking Policy.

Vaccination status: For in-person classes and events, your vaccination status is considered up-to-date until the time you are eligible for a booster—which is 5 months after the second dose in a two-shot series. Boosters are required for all visitors on our second floor if your second shot was more than 5 months ago.

Scholarship Information

Thanks to the excellent literary citizenship of our donors, scholarships are available for all GrubStreet classes. To apply, click the gray "APPLY FOR SCHOLARSHIP" button. In order to be considered for a scholarship, you must complete your application at least one week before the start date of a class. Please await our scholarship committee's decision before registering for the class. We cannot hold spots in classes, so the sooner you apply, the better. Scholarships cannot be applied retroactively.

For more more detailed information about GrubStreet scholarships, including how to contribute to scholarship funds for other students, click here.