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Flash Fiction Essentials: an Interview with Lauren Davis
by Writing Workshops Staff
A month ago
Step into the world of flash fiction with the guidance of Lauren Davis, known for her deft command of words and the power of brevity. As the author of the forthcoming short story collection The Nothing and the acclaimed poetry collection Home Beneath the Church, Davis brings a wealth of experience and a unique perspective to the art of storytelling. Her accolades, including the Eric Hoffer Grand Prize short-listing for When I Drowned and the prestigious Landing Zone Magazine’s Flash Fiction Contest win, are a testament to her mastery of the craft.
Lauren's upcoming course, Flash Fiction Essentials: a 4-Week Generative Workshop, promises to be an enriching journey through the intricate landscape of flash fiction. This course is meticulously designed for writers of all levels, from seasoned authors looking to refine their craft to newcomers eager to dive into the world of flash fiction. Over four engaging weeks, Davis will unravel the secrets of creating impactful, concise narratives that resonate deeply with readers.
Flash fiction, with its demands for precision, creativity, and surprise, is a challenging yet rewarding form. Under Davis's expert tutelage, you'll explore the core elements that make flash fiction compelling. The course features a blend of insightful lectures, thought-provoking writing prompts, and the invaluable opportunity to receive personalized feedback on your drafts. You will gain insights into the rich history and contemporary trends of flash fiction, drawing inspiration from literary greats like Aesop, Langston Hughes, Kathy Fish, and Mandira Pattnaik.
The course outline is thoughtfully structured to guide you through each phase of writing flash fiction:
- Week 1: Introduction to Flash Fiction - Begin your journey by understanding the essentials and crafting your first piece.
- Week 2: The Story's Beginning and End - Learn to create powerful openings and closings; submit your first story for feedback.
- Week 3: Experimental Form and Genre - Experiment with innovative structures and styles; submit your second story for feedback.
- Week 4: The Art of Revision - Refine and perfect your flash fiction with advanced revision techniques.
The asynchronous nature of the course allows for flexibility, accommodating even the busiest schedules. Through the dedicated online classroom, Wet Ink, you will engage in vibrant discussions, receive detailed feedback, and connect with a diverse cohort of writers from around the globe. Each week, you'll immerse yourself in craft materials, lectures, reading assignments, and interactive writing prompts, all designed to elevate your storytelling prowess.
Join Lauren Davis and a community of passionate writers in this transformative workshop. Embrace the challenge of brevity, harness the power of precise storytelling, and let your creative voice shine through the captivating world of flash fiction. Sign up for Flash Fiction Essentials today and discover the art of making every word count.
Waiting Workshops: You have a diverse background in poetry, short stories, and essays. How does your experience across these genres influence your approach to teaching flash fiction?
Lauren Davis: Flash fiction teaches the power of compression. It's a skill that can be used in any genre, including longer pieces such as novels or memoirs. If we learn how to use language in an economical fashion, we can better learn when it's appropriate to expand and meander.
WW: The course includes personalized feedback on two drafts. How does this one-on-one interaction help students refine their flash fiction, and what common challenges do you anticipate helping them overcome?
LD: The writer and editor Aaron Burch recently said on social media that, "One of my love languages is telling you where your story/essay/chapter/etc. actually starts and/or ends." A story's true beginning and ending are places that writers often have a hard time identifying for themselves. That's just one example of where a second reader can be an asset, but it's especially important in flash fiction where word count is so tight. In flash fiction, we often want to resist the need to tie everything together at the end. This can be freeing, but sometimes writers need to be given explicit permission to do this for them to feel confident.
WW: Flash fiction often requires writers to distill their stories into 1,000 words or fewer. Can you share some tips or strategies for achieving this level of conciseness without sacrificing depth and complexity?
LD: Get in and get out. Some questions are better left unanswered. The unexpected is a gift. A title is not an afterthought.
WW: In your course, you'll explore both the history and contemporary trends of flash fiction. How does understanding the evolution of this genre enhance a writer's ability to craft impactful flash fiction?
LD: Sometimes writers and readers think flash fiction is a trend. But it has deep roots. Humans have always told concise stories, in both written and oral traditions. So clearly, there is a deeper purpose and instinct for brevity. Exploring why and how that came to be can show us what flash fiction is capable of.
WW: Week 3 of your course covers experimental forms and genres within flash fiction. Could you give us a sneak peek into some of the innovative structures and styles students might explore?
LD: I love teaching "Lapis Lazuli" by Tania Fordwalker. Lapis Lazuli – Flash Fiction Online This story shows you can world-build in less than 1,000 words. We'll also look at experimental structures, such as lists and letters. Experimentation can free writers to say the thing they cannot say otherwise.
WW: You mention drawing inspiration from masters of flash fiction like Aesop, Langston Hughes, Kathy Fish, and Mandira Pattnaik. How will studying these authors help students develop their unique voices and styles in flash fiction?
LD: There is no substitute for reading. I can tell students all day that complete stories under 1,000 words are not only possible, but also necessary to the literary cannon. But "Early Autumn" by Langston Hughes speaks for itself.
WW: What unique elements do you believe flash fiction offers compared to longer forms of storytelling, and how can these elements be leveraged to create powerful narratives in a short space?
LD: Flash fiction often resists answering questions. This is sometimes inappropriate in longer pieces, especially novels. At the end of a novel, the reader wants to see a nod at resolution, even it's just to say there will never be any. But flash fiction often celebrates uncertainty, something we live with every day. Titles can do more heavylifting in flash fiction than in novels. I don't think a novel's title can do what Joyce Carol Oates's title in her four-word story called "Widow's First Year" does. I'm willing to be proven wrong, though.
WW: Your course promises to help students craft both compelling beginnings and endings. Can you explain the importance of these elements in flash fiction and share a few techniques for making them particularly striking?
LD: I like to sometimes compare flash fiction's opening and closing to a movie's opening and closing. Trends in movies have obviously changed over the decades. But often now, when you sit down to watch a movie, the first few minutes will give a hook. The director wastes no time in grabbing our attention, even though they have an hour and a half to tell the story. And why would they take their time, when we've given them the precious commodity of our attention? Time is valuable, so we learn to honor our readers by bringing them to the heart of the story quickly. We then bring them to the heart of the ending quickly, too.
WW: The workshop includes a focus on the art of revision. How do you approach revising flash fiction differently than longer works, and what key revision techniques will you be teaching in the course?
LD: The workshop will include different levels of revision, including proofreading. Proofreading is a skill that's often overlooked in workshops. We think if we have basic grammar and punctuation knowledge, then we should be able to proofread our own work no problem. This simply isn't true. There are techniques that will shift our focus enough so that we can start to see mistakes hidden in our work, the slippery ones that multiple reads are still not bringing to light. We'll learn how to revise with a bird's-eye view, also, remembering that character and plot are just as essential in flash fiction as they are in longer works, though we have to learn what details and actions are necessary to the story. Trim the fat, but don't throw out the steak.
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Avoid the waitlist and sign up for Lauren Davis upcoming class: Flash Fiction Essentials: a 4-Week Generative Workshop.
Instructor Lauren Davis is the author of the forthcoming short story collection The Nothing (YesYes Books), the poetry collection Home Beneath the Church (Fernwood Press), the Eric Hoffer Grand Prize short-listed When I Drowned (Kelsay Books), and the chapbooks Each Wild Thing’s Consent (Poetry Wolf Press), The Missing Ones (Winter Texts), and Sivvy (Whittle Micro-Press). She holds an MFA from the Bennington College Writing Seminars. She is a former Editor in Residence at The Puritan’s Town Crier, and she is the winner of the Landing Zone Magazine’s Flash Fiction Contest. Her stories, essays, poetry, interviews, and reviews have appeared in numerous literary publications and anthologies including Prairie Schooner, Spillway, Poet Lore, Ibbetson Street, Ninth Letter and elsewhere.
