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Flash Fiction: Short Shorts and Restrictive Briefs

8 weekly sessions, on Tuesdays at 6 - 8pm, starting from Tuesday 3 February

Overview

The emphasis of this short course will be on working within restrictions to bring about creative solutions and original story ideas. No more staring at a blank page! With word limits imposed, subjects pulled from a hat, locations locked in, or random obstacles thrown at your characters, your creativity can thrive when solving problems.

If a short story or piece of flash fiction has a limited number of words to play with, how do you decide what to leave out? How much can you cut back on while still having it make sense? Using a series of prompts and writing exercises can help take your short fiction pieces in unexpected directions. Some prompts will act as a brief or a starting point for a new story, while others might be useful in disrupting or shaking-up an existing story draft that has lost energy.

This course aims to provide participants with a grasp of what makes a good short story (or very short story). It will cover universal story elements (character, dialogue, structure etc) as well as aspects and techniques that work particularly well with short fiction.

Participants will develop their ability to read as writers and to give constructive feedback. They will also feel equipped to edit and redraft their fiction and able to spark life into stories. By the end of the course, they will feel tuned into the world of short fiction and be aware of various literary magazines and competitions to submit stories to.

No prior creative writing knowledge or experience is required. Those dipping a toe in for the first time will be guided through the basics, while those who have previous experience in writing flash fiction and short stories will get to develop their fiction, taking inspiration from the prompts and writing exercises. A willingness to share work as well as to give and receive feedback with other writers in the group will ensure participants get the most out of the course.

Syllabus

There will be no class on Tuesday 3 March. 

  1. Story types (epical, lyrical, absurd) & Structure (introductions, interruptions, endings) + discovering if you are a gardener or an architect (seeing how your seed of an idea grows as you write vs plotting out your story before beginning any creative writing).
  2. Character (protagonists with their motivations and flaws; antagonists with their reasons and redeeming features).
  3. Dialogue (eavesdropping and making it sound authentic, tagging with action, avoiding exposition).
  4. Narration and POV (who is telling this story and why? Are we getting a limited or unreliable perspective? Is it taking place now, or being reflected on?)
  5. Descriptive prose (adding detail while keeping things moving) & World-building / location (conjuring a sense of place whether real or imagined).
  6. Genre and audience (does your reader know what to expect?)
  7. Linked stories and recurring themes (short story collections and anthologies that share characters, locations or themes) + looking at the Novella-in-Flash and stories told in unusual formats e.g. lists.
  8. .Editing and redrafting (sharpening stories while retaining the excitement of that original idea) & Submitting (looking at where to submit short stories and flash fiction pieces – from competitions to literary journals).

Course lecturer

Phil Olsen is a short story writer with a Creative Writing MA from the University of Manchester’s Centre for New Writing. In 2023 he ran a Canning Dock flash fiction competition with Writing on the Wall and National Museums Liverpool, delivering workshops across Merseyside libraries. He has also run workshops for Write Generation in Toxteth, the L20 Hub at Netherton Library, and the Community Lottery-Funded Floral Civilians project in New Brighton.

Winner of the University of Liverpool’s Short Story Competition in 2022, Phil has previously won the Northern Short Story Festival, WoWFest, and Book Week Scotland flash fiction competitions. His short fiction has been published by Ad Hoc Fiction, Cōnfingō, The Liminal Residency, Storgy and Strix. He was commissioned as a writer by the Science Museum and by Manchester’s Victoria Baths. Phil’s editorial roles have included Fiction Editor at Sabotage Reviews and Contributing Editor at Vestal Review.

Course fee

  • Standard fee: £125
  • Concession fee: £65