I will be conducting a one hour workshop on Flash Fiction at the San Miguel Writers' Conference.

The San Miguel Writers' Conference will be a fabulous two day event, Saturday and Sunday , February 24 & 25th, featuring keynote luncheon speaker Featuring

Tony Cohan

author of bestselling travel memoirs,
On Mexican Time and Mexican Days

and

Guest Speaker
Chronicle Books
Editor-at-Large for Children's Books
Victoria Rock

  Go to for more info:  http://sanmiguelwritersconference.com/

The idea behind flash fiction is to write a complete story that is anywhere from three hundred to one thousand words. (Anything shorter is micro fiction and anything longer is a short story). People who have become really proficient at doing this begin to try to write stories that are only two hundred words and I have read some that are less than fifty words. What this does for writers is to push them into thinking about what are the essential elements of their plot. The other lesson learned is how to make each and every word count. For example, I could use an entire paragraph to describe a person as fat or I could simple say “she lifted her bulk out of her chair.” I am allowing the reader to take the words and use her/his imagination. If I chose my words well then the reader will be able to do this easily. Some of flash fiction stories can later be developed into longer stories or even novels but by beginning by limiting myself to five hundred words (more or less) I can be sure from the get go that I have a solid skeleton to hang all the drapery of words upon.