FLASH in FIVE: an online Creative Writing Experience
June 1, 8, 15, 22, 29, from 9a-11a PST
$250 per person
REGISTRATION INFORMATION COMING SOON
More is not always better. Why not write stories that can be devoured in a quick bite but still have flavor that lingers beyond digestion? Great stories can be told in fewer than 1,000 words and in many different forms. During each two-hour online session, you will draft a new flash fiction or creative nonfiction piece and learn a new technique for refining your craft. There will be mini lectures that focus on character development, scene building, creating tension, using vivid sensory language, choosing precise verbs, playing with point of view, refining dialogue, and various forms.
We will read like writers, examining flash from online journals and discussing what techniques these writers employ to create their published work. We will practice re-VISION techniques, cut and shape ideas to fit the word count for your selected journals. In sessions three and four, you’ll have the opportunity to share your work. In the last session we will review the ways you can continue generating work, discuss how you can participate in the literary community, and end with a submission strategies session.
For the Love (or Not) of Food at Riverside City College
Tuesday, April 2, 2024
with Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo
Chicana Writers and Community Bearers at Casa Zamora, El Monte
Saturday, March 30, 2024
with Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo Stacy I. Macias, Daisy Elizeth Magallanes, and Pat Alderete
Activism and Literature at Bombay Beach Literary Festival
Saturday, March 23
with Melissa Chadburn
Roar Shack
Sunday, March 17, 2024
with fellow USC PhDs Melissa Chadburn, Marcus Clayton, Brian Lin, Erin Marie Lynch, and Krishna Narayanamurti
Women Writing in Community at Bel Canto Books, Long Beach
Sunday, March 10, 2024
with fellow Macondistas Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo, Désirée Zamorano, Lucy Rodriguez-Hanley, liz gonzalez, and Karina Muñiz-Pagán
Books That Shaped Me: Conversations at the Culver
Sunday, March 3, 2024
with other Inlandia authors Romaine Washington, Carlos Cortez, Stephain Barbe Hammer, Judy Kronenfeld, Thatcher Carter, and Victoria Waddle
AWP PANEL: Should I Just Give Up?
Friday, February 9, 2024
with Michelle Otero, Anel Flores, and Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo
TRANSFORMATION: Creating Change Through Collaboration
Friday, February 9, 2024
with Sarah Rafael Garcia, Nikia Chaney, Ryane Granados, and Noriko Nakada
Macondistas Celebration of Words, Mattie Rhodes Art & Cultural Center, AWP off-site reading, Kansas City, MO
Thursday, February 8, 2024
Chicana Writers and Culture Bearers at LA Public Library Exposition Park Branch
Sunday, January 21, 2024
with Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo, Myriam Gurba, and Gina Duran
Where culture, place, and voice collide at The Book Jewel
Saturday, January 20, 2024
with Ryane Granados and Hazel Kight Witham
Altadena Library Indie Author Night
Tuesday, January 16, 2024
with Sara Chisolm, Ryane Granados, and Rachael Warecki
L.A. Book Launch for Breaking Pattern at Beyond Baroque
Saturday, December 9, 2023
watch the livestream here
Inlandia Book Launch for Breaking Pattern at Riverside Main Library
Thursday, December 7, 2023
watch the recording here
Flash in Four MORE: A Creative Writing Experience at Beyond Baroque
Saturday, August 19, 2023
12pm-4pm
at Beyond Baroque 681 Venice Blvd; Venice, CA
Can you write a story in 1,000 words? How about in 100 words? Not sure? Here’s your chance to try! (Again, if you participated in the previous experience.) During this four-hour, in-person, creative writing experience for writers at all levels, you’ll learn about flash fiction, flash nonfiction, micro-fiction, and micro-memoir and have time to practice these short forms not once, not twice, but four times! We will look at samples from various online journals, review elements of scene and precise use of language, play with verbs and point of view. We will practice cutting and shaping ideas to fit the word count. There will be two opportunities to share your work.
The Waiting Room virtual reading
Tuesday, August 8, 2023
6:00 pm
on zoom
The Waiting Room is a literary journal that breaks the chokehold that keeps us captive. It walks arrogantly, whispers insecurely, and breathes hopelessly. The Waiting Room captures our most ugly and most beautiful. Buy your own copy at https://www.nervousghostpress.org/product-page/the-waiting-room-journal
MADE IN L.A. Volume 5 Reading and Conversation
Saturday, August 5, 2023
6:00 pm
at The Book Jewel, 6259 W 87th Street; LA 90045
Flash in Four: A Creative Writing Experience at Beyond Baroque
Saturday, January 14, 2023
12pm-4pm
at Beyond Baroque 681 Venice Blvd; Venice, CA
Can you write a story in 1,000 words? How about in 100 words? Not sure? Here’s your chance to try. During this four-hour, in-person, creative writing experience for writers at all levels, you’ll learn about flash fiction, flash nonfiction, micro-fiction, and micro-memoir and have time to practice these short forms not once, not twice, but four times! We will look at samples from various online journals, focus on scene building and precise use of language, play with verbs and point of view. Before you leave, you’ll have the opportunity to share your work.
Made in L.A. Vol. 4: Beyond the Precipice
An Interactive Literary Discussion
Saturday, November 5, 2022
5:00 pm
at The Book Jewel 6259 W 87th Street; Los Angeles, CA 90045
Submission Strategies
Saturday, October 16, 2021
9:00am online
National Latinx Writers Gathering
When Where You’re From Has a Bad Reputation: Writing about the Inland Empire
Saturday, January 18, 2020
4:00 pm
Beyond Baroque
USC PhD Writers of Color Showcase
Saturday, September 28, 2019
5:00pm
at Skylight Books
How do people of color make literary careers? Find out in a showcase of POC writers in USC’s PhD program in creative writing and literature. Part reading, part panel, the evening will demystify the multiple paths taken by writers of color at different stages of their careers.
