Break the Shell: with Hermit Crab Flash
In this workshop, we’ll spend time exploring the hermit crab flash–which is a story that is told in a borrowed, familiar structure, such as a shopping list, recipe, or a quiz. We’ll take a deep dive into a published example and figure out what makes it so evocative and surprisingly emotional. How can we exploit that tension between the hard exterior of a known form and a gutsy, visceral, heart-pounding story? In other words, how can we break the familiar with the unfamiliar? In this generative workshop, you’ll get the chance to write your own hermit crab flash, with three guided prompts, and you’ll have an option to share your fresh work in a supportive, encouraging environment. I’ll also share resources, such as a compilation of hermit crab flash and suggestions for literary journals that accept this exciting experimental form.
What Participants Will Take Away
- An introduction to the hermit crab form
- Analysis of a successful hermit crab flash, exploring what makes it work
- Three fresh drafts
- An extended reading list
- List of journals where you can submit your hermit crab flash
There will be an optional opportunity to share.
Suitable for all levels.
Date Saturday, May 11, 2024: 8 AM PDT / 11 AM EDT / 4 PM BST / 8:30 PM IST / 1 AM AEST
This workshop goes for 2 hours.
About Instructor
Cheryl Pappas is the author of the flash fiction collection The Clarity of Hunger (word west press, 2021), and her flash has appeared in Wigleaf, The Chattahoochee Review, SmokeLong Quarterly, and elsewhere. She is a 2023 MacDowell Fellow and the recipient of a 2022 artist fellowship grant in fiction from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. She is working on a novel.
Where is my workshop link?
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Registration opens April 1:
Click here for the text version of the May 11 time zone map.