Class Description
Whether your passion lies in high fantasy, hard scifi, or fiction with just a touch of the weird, learning to craft (inter)stellar short stories can be a great building block on the way to completing a novel, a way to test drive characters and concepts, or a fulfilling career in itself. Short and flash fiction provide a bird's eye view of the dramatic arc and practice in writing to "The End." NK Jemisin, the triple Hugo Award-winning novelist, credits work on short fiction for teaching her about "the quick hook and the deep character" and giving her "space to experiment with unusual plots and story forms." Plus, shorts are marketable! From online journals to print magazines to anthologies, outlets for speculative shorts abound.
In this seminar, we’ll discuss techniques for fitting big ideas into small spaces and learn about expectations specific to speculative shorts. You’ll have the opportunity to mine potential ideas, and consider a flash fiction prompt to get you started. Authors discussed may include Catherynne M Valente, Isabel Yap, Daniel Jose Older, Charlie Jane Anders, Rebecca Roanhorse, G Willow Wilson, and Ken Liu.
Class Format
This class will take place using Zoom videoconferencing. About 15 minutes before your class is scheduled to begin, you'll receive an email from your instructor with a link to join the class meeting!
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.
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 detailed information about GrubStreet scholarships, including how to contribute to scholarship funds for other students, click here.
This class will take place using Zoom videoconferencing. About 15 minutes before your class is scheduled to begin, you'll receive an email from your instructor with a link to join the class meeting!
Zoom Participation:
Students are not required to turn their camera on, but are encouraged to participate any way they feel comfortable through functions such as the live chat, emoji reactions, and unmuting the microphone. Learn more about using Zoom here.
Zoom Accessibility:
We ask that instructors enable closed captioning and send a transcript of the session after class. You can also enable closed captioning at any time during the meeting. If your instructor forgets to send the transcript, just send ’em an email!