About the Flash Fiction Groups

We believe that writers at all stages of their writing experience have room to grow and can learn from each other. Writers at any level may participate in the Flash Fiction Workshop. There is no application process. 

After registering, you’ll receive a survey that tells us a little about your writing and what you hope to get from the experience. Using this information, writers will be placed into small cohorts in Discord. 

We will do our best to place you into groups with like minded writers. Please be honest about your priorities but open to meeting (and learning from) writers who may be very different from you.

You will also have access to a bundle of pre-recorded classes to watch while you're waiting for the groups to begin!

Participants will: 

• Write a new flash fiction story every week
• Critique 3–7 other stories every week
• Be self-moderated and follow critique and discussion guidelines

Each week, you’ll receive a new prompt. Video lectures on writing, critiquing, and story generation will be provided. You are not required to write to any of our prompts, but we hope they’ll inspire if you need it to finish (or start) your story!

Why?

Every week, Flash Fiction Workshop participants who submit stories meeting the word count requirement by the deadline can choose to enter a lottery to receive a personal critique from this year’s Flash Fiction Mastermind, Brian Evenson.

What’s the time commitment? 

Here is a sample schedule (please read carefully; the schedule has been adjusted this year based on participant feedback):


Monday-Tuesday

Write your story and read your group's work (3-7 stories, depending on group placement)

Wednesday

(Starting June 18) Story critiques are due by midnight Pacific Time 

Thursday

Work on your story

Friday

Stories and lottery entry due on Fridays by noon pm Pacific Time (starting June 13th)

Craft talk video and story prompt via Teachable (the first lecture will go out on Saturday, June 7 all subsequent lectures will be released on Friday)


Note: Lottery selection for critique from Brian Evenson will be announced on or before the following Monday.

*You must have submitted a flash story of 1,500 words or less, by 12:00 PM PT on Friday evening for your story to qualify for the lottery that week. Participants are eligible for only one story to be selected for a lottery throughout the Write-a-thon. 

Requirements

You will need access to Teachable and Discord to participate in the groups. You can access Teachable via a web browser. We ask that you commit to the entire four-week experience. Story submission is not mandatory, but you should aim to critique the stories submitted by the rest of your group every week. You may only submit one story per week. 

• Read and follow our Code of Conduct
• Adhere to our anti-harassment policy
• Embrace diverse writers and stories and conduct yourself with kindness and respect for others
• Do your best to submit stories and feedback on time
• Be prepared to give and receive feedback
• Attend critiques (if done in a group) and be prepared to give and receive feedback

The Clarion West staff reserves the right, in our sole discretion, to remove anyone from the critique group for not following our Code of Conduct or anti-harassment policies. 

Note: For this program, we are considering flash fiction to be a complete story told in 1,500 words or less. If you choose to submit a longer story or a piece of a longer story, your group members will not be asked to read past the word count. Additionally, longer or incomplete stories will not be eligible for the weekly lottery.