Writing the Short Short
Date: Saturday, October 21
Time: 10 am-3 pm (with lunch break)
Instructor: Melanie Abrams
Ages: Adult
Maximum Enrollment: 9
Genre: Fiction
Price: $175
How do you jam a complete story into a single page (or two)? Join us for this fun, one-day class in which we’ll experiment with creating compelling conflict, vibrant characters, and fully developed scenes in 1000 words or less. Whether you’re afraid of commitment or an admirer of the richness of compressed storytelling, this class will deepen your understanding of the tradition of the short short, and you’ll leave with at least one draft of a complete story. We’ll look at iconic examples of the genre by William Carlos Williams and Raymond Carver, and contemporary examples by Stuart Dybek and Aimee Bender. Then, we’ll hone our skills with exercises that inspire and get us more comfortable and confident with various aspects of craft. After lunch, we’ll discuss our drafts so that you leave the workshop feeling excited and prepared to refine your story.
Melanie Abrams is the author of the novel Playing (Grove Atlantic) and the recently completed Meadowlark. She received her MFA from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and teaches at UC Berkeley. She’s married to the novelist Vikram Chandra, and they live with their daughters in Oakland, CA.
More about Melanie: www.melanieabrams.com