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Sudden Truths: Writing Flash Memoir and Super-Short Personal Essay 6-Week Zoom Workshop, Starts Wednesday, May 15th, 2024
Regular price
$395.00

Sudden Truths: Writing Flash Memoir and Super-Short Personal Essay 6-Week Zoom Workshop, Starts Wednesday, May 15th, 2024


Unit price per

Begins Wednesday, May 15th, 2024

The class will meet weekly on Wednesday nights via Zoom, 6:30PM  ET - 9PM ET

*Note: There will be no class on June 5th, and the course will conclude on June 26th.

Open to All writers!

Any questions about this class? Use the Chat Button (lower left) to talk with us.

Taught by Blaise Allysen Kearsley, a Black-biracial writer and teacher based in Brooklyn. Her writing has appeared in Catapult, Longreads, the Boston Globe, Electric Literature's The Nervous Breakdown, Elle, Midnight Breakfast, The Weeklings, and in the anthologies Mortified: Real Words. Real People. Real Pathetic, Nonwhite and Woman, and Cringe: Teenage Diaries, Journals, Notes, Letters, Poems, And Abandoned Rock Operas. Blaise is a contributing editor at Vestal Review, the oldest flash fiction journal on the planet.

What is the purpose of a micro-story? How do you craft something interesting with a beginning, middle, and end in 150-1000 words? We'll explore the craft of flash memoir and personal essay and the ways in which the super-short form can enhance our writing practice, improve our skills, and contextualize our truths. 

We'll experiment with word counts, generate ideas through in-class writing, and discuss language, structure, pacing, narrative thread, the revision process, and more. We'll read Sonja Livingston, Bhante Sumano, Jill Talbot, and others. Participants will share their work and receive constructive peer and instructor feedback.

COURSE TAKEAWAYS:
  • Develop new writing skills and hone existing ones, dig deeper into the practice, understand and master the workshopping (feedback) process, generate solid story ideas, and experiment with a literary art that, as Anne Lamott would say, could fit inside a 5x5 picture frame.

  • Find the stories you want to tell and the ones you didn't know you had in you, understand and master the workshopping (feedback) process, and how different authors navigate this complicated terrain.

COURSE SKELETON

Week 1: Digging In: Intro to Micro Memoir, Personal Essay + Finding Your Stories

Week 2: Ways of Seeing: World Building Through Observation + Description

Week 3: Essential Figures: Primary + Secondary Character Development

Week 4: Inside/Outside Scene: When To Show + When To Tell

Week 5: Feeling + Form: Micro Plot, Story, Situation + Structure

Week 6: Love + Revision: Editing Ruthlessly

TAKE THIS CLASS IF:

  • You're finding the constraints of your current writing practice too limiting.
  • You want exposure to a range of new approaches to bring to your writing practice.
  • You want an expanded sense of what is possible in your work in 2024 and beyond!

TESTIMONIALS:

"I love the readings we do, and especially that they so often feature writers of color. The written feedback from you is always so helpful and in-depth. The prompts helped me to develop a lot of content. I always look forward to workshop nights -- it's a safe space to share."

"I felt so often in college, that I was writing against these very confident men who were forthcoming about the problems within my work and style. Working in your group has been restorative and has allowed me to trust myself without fear of being torn apart."

"Working with Blaise has made me a more confident writer. She's helped me to see my writing as a larger work, and creates a safe, inclusive, encouraging space to share and connect with other writers."

"Blaise is such a skilled reader and editor, and her notes are always valuable. She offers wonderful perspectives, and assembles groups of writers with keen perspectives of their own."

"I really loved the class. You treat every question with such a genuine desire to give the best possible answer and it made me happy every time. I admire that you focus on building people up. For someone like me, that means the world."

"During quarantine I had to show up for myself and others who counted on me, even when I felt like all I wanted to do was hide under my couch. Being part of this creative group of writers saved me."

ONLINE COURSE STRUCTURE:

This class meets weekly via Zoom. Come prepared for a super fun class with live interaction on Zoom each week and plenty of writing, reading, and talking!

PAYMENT OPTIONS:
You can pay for the course in full or use Shop Pay or Affirm to pay over time with equal Monthly Payments. Both options are available at checkout.
  • Instructor: Blaise Allysen Kearsley
  • Class size limited to 10 writers
  • Class begins Wednesday, May 15th, 2024
  • The class will meet weekly on Wednesday nights via Zoom, 6:30PM  ET - 9PM ET 
  • *Note: There will be no class on June 5th, and the course will conclude on June 26th.
  • Course is fully ONLINE.

Instructor Blaise Allysen Kearsley is a Black-biracial writer and teacher based in Brooklyn. She comes from a long line of teachers, builders, visual artists, and writers. Her writing has appeared in Longreads, the Boston Globe, Electric Literature's The Nervous Breakdown, Elle, Midnight Breakfast, The Weeklings, and in the anthologies Mortified: Real Words. Real People. Real Pathetic. (Simon Spotlight Entertainment) and Cringe: Teenage Diaries, Journals, Notes, Letters, Poems, And Abandoned Rock Operas (Crown Archetype). She has essays forthcoming in Catapult and the anthology Nonwhite and Woman in February 2022. She is the creator/producer/host of the How I Learned storytelling series and has performed at The Moth, Literary Death Match, Risk, and The Liar Show. Blaise is a contributing editor at Vestal Review, the oldest flash fiction journal on the planet. Learn more about Blaise here.