Suzanne Strempek Shea and Elizabeth Searle

Saturday, November 5th, 1:00- 4:00 pm Eastern

Price: $90*

*Our Access Fund provides self selected Sliding Scale Pricing to residents of Passamaquoddy Territory, Charlotte & Washington Counties.

The flash form demands precision. Let’s spend the afternoon talking about, studying and trying out short forms in this combination of lecture and generative experience led by two writers who are big on short. Whether it’s flash fiction, flash creative nonfiction, flash scriptwriting or flash prose poetry, writing short requires magnified attention to craft. So, how do you write compelling lyrical prose or a complete narrative within a few hundred words, or even far less than that? Participants will be encouraged to bring one of their own flash pieces to share and analyze, as well as a favorite published flash piece in any genre. Expect handouts and a fabulous final exercise that will leave you inspired and ready to write on.

Elizabeth Searle is happy to be teaching with her longtime friend and literary soul sister, Suzanne. Elizabeth writes fiction and scripts; she is the author of five books of fiction, most recently We Got Him and the librettist of Tonya & Nancy: The Rock Opera, which has been widely produced and has drawn major media coverage. She is co-writer of I’ll Show You Mine, a Duplass Brothers Production feature film forthcoming in 2022. Elizabeth has other film scripts in development. Along with We Got Him, a finalist for the Midwest Book Award, Elizabeth’s previous books are the novel Girl Held in Home; Celebrities in Disgrace, a novella that was a finalist for the Paterson Fiction Prize; A Four-Sided Bed, a novel that was a Boston Globe Paperback bestseller and was a finalist for an ALA Book Award, and My Body to You, which won the Iowa Short Fiction Prize. Elizabeth is also co-author of two anthologies: Idol Talk (co-edited by Tamra Wilson) and (with Suzanne Strempek Shea) Soap Opera Confidential: Writers and Soap Insiders on Why We’ll Tune in Tomorrow as the World Turns Restlessly by the Guiding Light of our Lives. Celebrities in Disgrace and A Four-Sided Bed were produced as short films, screening widely at festivals. A Four-Sided Bed is in development as a feature film; the script has won multiple awards. Elizabeth's theater works have been featured on Good Morning America, CBS, CNN, NPR, the AP and more. Her Tonya & Nancy: The Rock Opera has had productions in Boston, LA, Chicago, NYC and more. It had an award-winning 2020 production starring Broadway's Andrea McArdle and has a CD from Broadway Records. Both Elizabeth's rock opera and forthcoming feature film have generated national media attention. Visit Elizabeth at: www.elizabethsearle.net

Iota celebrates the small, the brief, the miniature. Through online learning opportunities lasting from two hours to six months, writers learn skills, get feedback, and develop an understanding of how to say more with less. Alongside offerings focusing on the specifics of short forms, Iota offers opportunities to learn writerly basics such as revision, grants, artists statements, and more.