Flash fiction was one of the first forms of prose writing I learned, and I still believe it is one of the best places for a new creative writer to begin. Generally ranging from around 50 to 1,000 words—with roughly 750 words giving us a fantastic playground for this class—flash fiction challenges writers to strip storytelling down to what matters most. There is no room for twenty pages of backstory before something happens. We have to step into the action, meet our characters, establish conflict, create emotion, and tell a complete story almost immediately.Throughout this class, we’ll break down the fundamentals that make short fiction work: strong openings, character motivation, conflict and stakes, purposeful description, dialogue, point of view, pacing, showing versus telling, and endings that leave the reader with something to feel after the final sentence. We’ll also talk about one of my favorite lessons in writing: brevity isn’t about making a story smaller, but making every word more powerful!Students won’t simply listen to me talk about writing, either. We’ll brainstorm characters and scenarios together, experiment with opening lines, look at what can be cut or strengthened in a passage, and use short writing exercises to put each technique into practice. Students will begin developing their own flash fiction piece while learning techniques they can carry into short stories, novels, screenplays, and virtually any other kind of storytelling they pursue.As a published author and lifelong storyteller, I know firsthand that learning to write creatively is less about memorizing a collection of rigid rules and more about understanding the tools available to you, and discovering what happens when you make those tools your own. My goal is to create an encouraging, energetic space where beginning writers can experiment, ask questions, take creative risks, and leave class thinking, "Wait. I can actually do this!"I’ve been telling stories for as long as I can remember—first in front of the camera as a child actress, and eventually on the page, where I found the kind of creative freedom I never wanted to give up. I earned my BFA in Creative Writing for Entertainment from Full Sail University and my MA in Screenwriting from Regent University, and I’m currently pursuing my PhD in English at Liberty University. I’m also a published author whose work explores character, emotion, relationships, and the wonderfully messy parts of being human.Flash fiction holds a special place in my writing journey because it was one of the first forms of prose I learned to write. It taught me that powerful storytelling isn’t about how many words you have, but about what you do with them. I’m excited to help beginning writers build those same foundations, strengthen their voices, take creative risks, and discover that they already have stories worth telling.
