1 Saturday, January 21, 10am-4pm
$130 members/$145 non-members
Testimonials for Andy
Big things can come in small packages—their own perfect beauty tied to their size. The short short story—also known as “flash fiction,” “suddens,” “nouvelles” (in France), “pocket-size stories,” and “the smokelong” (the time it takes to smoke a cigarette)—is literary proof that great fiction can come in a small package.
A tale told quickly offers pleasure long after its telling, perhaps because the form sits on so many thresholds, or because brevity and urgency demand study. In this workshop, says Andy Touhy, “You’ll get a taste of this quicksilver genre by closely reading a variety of short shorts for inspiration, as well as to understand how they operate, all with an eye toward approaches that suit your writing style, mind, and personality. You’ll also, through a series of generative exercises, try your hand at multiple versions of the form. We’ll discuss these together, exchange feedback, then reopen the conversation.”
Finally, this class will take a look at the many places these microfictions are being published now, in print and online, and at strategies for submitting and placing them.
“A word about my approach: I’m craft obsessed, fancy myself a prose stylist, and always seek the happy marriage of story and linguistic event through inspiration (lust) and revision (tough love).”
By the end of the class, everyone will come away with a Tiny Kingdom or two of their own, to polish up and send out.
Andrew R. Touhy, a recipient of the San Francisco Browning Society’s Dramatic Monologue Award and Fourteen Hills‘ Bambi Holmes Fiction Prize, is also a nominee for inclusion in Best American Voices. His work appears in Alaska Quarterly Review, New England Review, Conjunctions, New American Writing, The Collagist, New Orleans Review, Colorado Review, Eleven Eleven, and other literary journals. He lives in Oakland with his wife and child.