The Flash Fiction Workshop is an intensive six-week online writing group experience. Writers will be placed into small cohorts and write and submit a new flash fiction story every week. 

Writers are also expected to critique the stories submitted in their cohort and provide feedback to their fellow writers. 

Every week, all stories that meet the word count requirement and are submitted by the deadline can be entered into a lottery for a one-on-one critique session with author and longtime Clarion West instructor, Andy Duncan. 

Note: As this is a flash fiction workshop, stories must be 1,500 words or less. Stories longer than 1,500 words will be ineligible for the weekly lottery, and your group members will not be asked to read past the word count.

The workshop is a great place to try new things in your work! We encourage you to challenge yourself to write a fresh story each week or try out that idea you’ve had for a story floating around in the back of your mind.

We will provide weekly writing prompts to help inspire you (though you are not required to write to a prompt) and lots of writing sessions as part of the free Write-a-thon programming.

That said, there are no penalties for submitting a previously written story. We suggest that you use the time to revise or make any final tweaks before showing it to a new set of eyes, especially if it has been workshopped before.

For folks curious about the Clarion West Workshop experience, this is a great way to get a taste of what it's like!
 

We ask that you critique all the stories submitted by your group (up to seven) within a week (or two) of submission. If your group opts to meet virtually to deliver critiques together, you should plan to have your critiques finished by the start of your group meeting. 
 

We will provide you with guidance on how to read stories with a critical eye and tips for providing constructive feedback. You will also learn by receiving feedback from your fellow writers.

After registering for the Write-a-thon you’ll be sent a link to the Write-a-thon classes and sprints, which will include the Flash Fiction Workshop. Simply select the Flash Fiction Workshop and complete the registration as prompted. 

After registering, you will receive an email confirmation with a link to a brief information survey. You must complete the survey by June 17.

Once you have completed the survey, you will be placed in a group of 6-8 other writers in a private Discord channel on Saturday, June 18.

The deadline to register for the Flash Fiction Workshop is June 15.
 

The Flash Fiction Workshop is officially part of the Write-a-thon, a fundraiser for Clarion West. The $15 fee helps cover the entire six-week experience, including the time of our staff and workshop instructor. 

If you are under more limited economic circumstances and/or identify as from a marginalized background, we offer a 26% discount. Enter this code at checkout: CWDISCOUNTS4WRITERS. You are invited to use this discount code for all online classes and workshops if this will help you take the class. Read about why we offer this discount here.
 

We reserve a percentage of free seats for writers who identify as Black, Indigenous, and/or Persons of Color (BIPOC) on a first-come, first-served basis, regardless of financial need. If you are interested, before signing up for the Flash Fiction Workshop, please send your Write-a-thon registration information to us at: info@clarionwest.org.
 

We believe that writers at all stages of their writing experience have room to grow and can learn from each other. Writers at any level may participate in the Flash Fiction Workshop. There is no application process.

You must be a registered Write-a-thon participant and sign up for the workshop by June 15. We ask that you commit to the entire six-week experience. Story submission is not mandatory, but you should aim to critique the submitted stories every week. You may only submit one story per week. 

By joining a critique group, you agree to:

• Follow story and critique guidelines
• Read and follow our Code of Conduct 
• Adhere to our anti-harassment policy
• Embrace diverse writers and stories
• Conduct yourself with kindness and respect for others
• Do your best to submit on time and, if in a group, attend critiques prepared to give and receive feedback
   

In this case, an affinity group would be a group of writers who share a common characteristic of identity, particularly one that may have been traditionally underrepresented: gender identity, race or ethnicity, sexual orientation, dis/ability, life stage (ex. parents, mature writers, etc.)

A group can be formed based on a variety of considerations. We leave it blank for folks to tell us what part of their identity would be important to them to have recognized with a group. If we have enough folks with common group preferences, we'll do our best to match them up. 

To some folks, it may not feel important to be placed in a group this way, so affinity groups are, of course, completely optional.

We use the term very similar to how it might be applied in a business setting: https://www.indeed.com/hire/c/info/what-is-an-affinity-group

We encourage folks to challenge themselves by getting critiques from different people. However, once you have registered, there will be a space in the emailed survey to provide the name(s) of others you wish to be placed with. We will do our best to accomodate placement requests.
 

Yes. If you have concerns about your group placement, please email writeathon@clarionwest.org, and we will do our best to reassign you to a new group as quickly as possible.