Writers’ guild to begin Flash Prose class July 16

The Rehoboth Beach Writers’ Guild will offer a three-week Flash Prose class starting Wednesday, July 16, featuring both micro memoir and fiction. The class emphasizes the writing of both essays (memoir) and short stories that are fewer than about 500 words. The goal of flash prose - and this is a word length perfect for blogs, short readings, and increasingly being published in both commercial and literary magazines - is to condense experience into a quick, beautiful impression.

The course, which will be held in a central Rehoboth location, will run from 10 a.m.to noon and is being taught by Ethan Joella, who writes and publishes flash prose. Joella is also a published poet, is working on a novel, and is an adjunct instructor at the University of Delaware. “He’s an amazing teacher,” says Maribeth Fischer, writers guild executive director,  who was a student in Joella’s flash fiction class last summer. “He brings his knowledge of all the different genres - novel, memoir, essay, story, poem - to this class and really understands how to pare the work down to what is essential.”

In this class, participants will work on their own micro pieces, either bringing in stories or memoirs they’ve been working on and editing them down to their core - or creating new pieces. "Participants will be surprised,” says Joella, “at how much they can accomplish in a short amount of space.”

The class, which runs Wednesdays July 16, 23, and 30, costs $135 for Rehoboth Beach Writers’ Guild members and $150 for nonmembers. To register or for details, email contactus@rehobothbeachwritersguild.com. For more information about Ethan Joella, check out his writer's page at www.rehobothbeachwritersguild.com.