Sudden Truths: Writing Flash Memoir and Super-Short Personal Essay — 6-Week Online Memoir Workshop with Blaise Allysen Kearsley Starts Thursday, April 15th, 2027
Sudden Truths: Flash Memoir Workshop | April 2027 Online
Sudden Truths: Writing Flash Memoir and Super-Short Personal Essay with Blaise Allysen Kearsley
Begins Thursday, April 15, 2027
Class will meet weekly via Zoom on Thursdays, 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM ET
🌍 Class Times by Time Zone:
- Los Angeles (PDT): 3:30 PM – 5:30 PM
- Chicago (CDT): 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM
- New York (EDT): 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM
Now Enrolling!
Any questions about this class? Use the Chat Button to talk with us.
Instructor Blaise Allysen Kearsley is a Black-biracial writer, teacher, coach, and artist. She is the creator of the live show and magazine How I Learned, and a contributing editor for Vestal Review. Her writing has appeared in Catapult, Longreads, Memoir Land, Oldster, The Boston Globe, Midnight Breakfast, and elsewhere. Her work is included in five anthologies, including Mortified, Nonwhite and Woman, Bad Bone, and Oldster (the latter two forthcoming in 2027). She also wrote for several online outlets dating back to the early aughts that are perhaps not worth mentioning by name, and they definitely do not even exist anymore. Blaise was awarded a month-long residency at the Vermont Studio Center and has since been rejected by all the other ones. She has appeared as a panelist at The Gotham Storytelling Festival, and performed at The Moth, Risk!, The Liar Show, Story Collider, The Rejection Show, Literary Death Match, Cringe, and the Oblivio Reading Series. She's been teaching for Writing Workshops since 2022 and offering private workshops, write-ins, and editing and coaching services for over a decade.
Who is this class for?
This class is for writers who find the constraints of their current practice too limiting and want exposure to a range of new approaches. If you want an expanded sense of what is possible in your work in 2027 and beyond, this online memoir workshop is for you.
What to expect:
Our focus in this workshop is figuring out how we might tell a story with a beginning, middle, and end, in just 500-1000 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 various word counts, generate ideas through in-class writing, and discuss structure, pacing, narrative thread, and the revision process within the context of micro stories. Writers will have opportunities to share their work for thoughtful, constructive peer and instructor feedback.
Come prepared for a super fun creative writing class with live interaction on Zoom each week and plenty of writing, reading, and talking!
What are the writing goals?
In this course, students will generate new flash memoir and personal essay material through weekly in-class writing, experiment with various word counts, and work toward telling a complete story in 500-1000 words. Students will share work for thoughtful, constructive peer and instructor feedback throughout the six weeks.
COURSE OUTLINE
- Week 1 - Truth Telling: the fluidity of memory and how to find your stories
- Week 2 - Ways of Seeing: constricting and expanding word count to explore observation, imagination + language
- Week 3 - Feeling + Form: examining pacing, situation, story, and structure
- Week 4 - The Collage Essay: practicing points of view and perspective
- Week 5 - The Braided Essay: playing with a three-part narrative
- Week 6 - The Hermit Crab Essay: telling a story within a story
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.
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."
— Former Student
"Sudden Truths: Writing Flash Memoir and Super-Short Personal Essay with Blaise Allysen Kearsley exceeded my expectations. I learned a tremendous amount about personal essays mostly by example (which is much more interesting than by lecture). The instructor created a nurturing, supportive environment which isn't super easy in a zoom room. Before I started the class I wrote a personal essay on a difficult subject. I employed the second person. Although I never shared that essay in class, on the last day of the class, I looked that essay over and found I was ready, even eager, to claim my story by rewriting it in first person. This class did that for me."
— Former Student
"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."
— Former Student
"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."
— Former Student
"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."
— Former Student
"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."
— Former Student
"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."
— Former Student
"Sudden Truths: Writing Flash Memoir and Super-Short Personal Essays with Blaise Allysen Kearsley was such a good class! I especially loved the in-class exercises and Blaise's guidance over the six weeks. It truly exceeded my expectations. Thank you!"
— Former Student
PAYMENT OPTIONS:
Tuition is $445 USD. 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.
ONLINE COURSE STRUCTURE:
- Instructor: Blaise Allysen Kearsley
- Begins Thursday, April 15, 2027
- Class will meet weekly via Zoom on Thursdays, 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM ET
- Tuition is $445 USD.