The 2024 Flash Fiction Group Registration is Now Closed
About the 2024 Write-a-thon Flash Fiction Groups
June 16-July 27
To participate, you must first register for the Write-a-thon and then follow directions to register for the Flash Groups and complete the information survey by or before June 10. The survey will be sent to you after registration.
Space is limited, registration for the Flash Fiction Groups is first come, first served, and registration may close before June 10 if we reach capacity, therefore the sooner you register the better!
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
How?
You must be registered in the Clarion West Write-a-thon to sign up. After registering for the Write-a-thon, you’ll receive a link to sign up for the Flash Fiction Workshop. There is a sliding scale fee to participate. Limited free registration is available. Please email write-a-thon@clarionwest.org for more information.
Sign-ups for the Flash Fiction Groups close on June 10 or when we reach capacity. Don't wait!
After you sign up, you will receive a survey that must be completed by June 10. We will do our best to place you with writers with similar goals for the summer. Please be honest about your survey responses and be open to meeting (and learning from) writers who may differ from you.
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, Yvette Ndlovu.
New this year! By entering the weekly lottery, you consent to have your story and critique shared with all participants of the Flash Fiction Groups.
What’s the time commitment?
Here is a sample schedule (please read carefully; the schedule has been adjusted this year based on participant feedback):
Friday
Craft talk video and story prompt via Teachable (the first lecture will go out on the first day of the Write-a-thon on Sunday, June 17th, all subsequent lectures will be released on Friday)
Monday
(Starting week three) Story critiques are due by midnight Pacific Time
Tuesday
(Starting week two) Stories are due on Tuesday by midnight Pacific Time
Lottery selection for critique from Yvette Lisa Ndlovu* [Starts Week Two]
*You must have submitted a flash story, meeting the story criteria of 1,500 words or less, by midnight PT on Tuesday 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
We ask that you commit to the entire six-week experience. Weekly story submission is not mandatory, but you should aim to critique the stories the rest of your group submitted every week.
To participate, you must:
- Be able to access Teachable via a web browser and create an account
- 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) prepared to give and receive feedback
- You may only submit one story per week.
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. Longer or incomplete stories will not be eligible for the weekly lottery.