I Took A Flash Fiction Class And All I Got Was This Lousy Stack Of Stories

I know I’ve gone on about this a few times but I can’t say enough about the flash fiction workshop at LitReactor taught by Richard Thomas.

It was a grueling two weeks. Reading and lectures and then a short story due the next day. Then wash, rinse and repeat again. But I came away with a stack of stories in various stages. Some are closer to being finished and ready to submit than others. But I learned so much in such a short time.

One thing I’ll take away from this class is to trust my instincts more. Usually when an idea isn’t gelling for me, I leave it to work on something else. Well, I didn’t have time for that in this class. I had no choice but to keep working away at it until I could see where I was going wrong.

I also learned that even if you like something you’ve written, that doesn’t necessarily mean it needs to be in the story. If it isn’t serving the plot or the characters, the tone or mood you are trying to create, cut it.I kind of wish it was longer, just for the simple fact that all that intense focus and repetition (of trying to hit those specific points in a story) made me better at them. But I also know I couldn’t sustain that amount of active brain-drain for much longer. LOL!

I do have time now to rework those stories so I can send them out, plus all the other things I’m working on that I put on the back-burner (like the serial). besides, I have a new book to start plotting soon, the one I’ll be writing all of 2020 in Richards’s Novel In A Year class. 

Hell, I just need to take one more class of his and I’ll have done them all! I originally joked to Richard that when I found out about his classes I wanted to take each and every one of them. I’m almost there! 🙂