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How could anyone put an entire story in 1000, 300, or even 100 words? Hint: it's not about cutting down. In this workshop, we'll discuss common mistakes writers make when moving into the realm of flash, how you can avoid them, and how you can craft an ultra-short narrative that evokes emotion. Through collaborative exercises and prompts, you'll leave this class with newly generated work and the tools to write stories more concisely.

Robin Van Impe is a queer Belgian writer with an MFA Creative Writing from Emerson College, where she served as the Fiction Editor for Redivider. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming from the Boston Globe, Fourteen Hills, Bending Genres, and others. She was a 2024 finalist of the Arts & Letters Unclassifiable Contest and was shortlisted for the 2024 Smokelong Grand Micro Contest. Robin works at Harvard Education Press, is a Flash Reader at Split Lip, and teaches ESL at the Cambridge Public Library.

Even as romance narratives gave rise to the modern form of the novel, romantic fiction was historically (and is often still) the focus of censure and social derision. Today, romance is fiction's best-selling genre, a monetary power-house for publishing companies, and continues to be a source of joy for readers. So how do we account for the shame that larger society often levels at this work and its readers? Increasingly outspoken fans argue the merit of romance narratives that center the characters, and agencies, and happiness of women and people across the queer community. This begs the question: who is laughing at happily ever after... and why?

Anna Burke lives in Massachusetts with her wife, dogs, and too many houseplants. She is the award-winning author of Compass Rose, Thorn, Nottingham, In the Roses of Pieria, and the Seal CoveRomance series. She received her MFA from Emerson College, where she now teaches in their Popular Fiction MFA program. You can follow her on most social media platforms @annaburkeauthor.