This October we’ll write about dangerous women, soul suckers & shapeshifters. We’ll discuss themes such as the extraordinary in the mundane, fierce women, vampires and other energy suckers—all within the context of Magical Realism and Flash Fiction. No class will be the same. Every instructor will bring their expertise and flavor to every session.
What you can expect: To generate tons of work in a safe, supportive environment. Every class will have prompts provided and a designated time to write and share.
Date & Time: Every Wednesday in October at 7 p.m. EST (4 sessions via Zoom)
Week 1: Shapeshifters
Have you ever thought of shedding your skin? If yes, join us as we explore literary metamorphosis, the alchemy of words, and what it means to truly embody other forms in flashes. Every day is a Freaky Friday on the page when we’re writing about mighty morphin’ tricksters, changelings, Butterfrees, aswangs, werewolves, and transformistas. Be prepared to be changed. Permanently.
Week 2: Soul Suckers
Soul suckers: from vampires to duendes, zombies, to witchcraft, no one is safe from those presences in our lives that suck the life out of us. Let's take some of that power back and write some stories that have active characters fighting back and making decisions---even if the decision, after all, ends up being joining the dark side!
Week 3: Dangerous Women
Who has the privilege of declaring a woman as "dangerous"? Does a woman herself get that privilege? What makes a woman dangerous, and how can we pack this danger in a flash story? We’ll read flash pieces about them to get us inspired and create our own version of fierce women. Dangerous does not necessarily mean scary, but the beauty of this is that she can—indeed—instill fear.
Week 4: Prompt party!
In this session, all three instructors will be in attendance with prompts and costumes. This class will be extremely generative, supportive, and fun! We’ll write using spooky prompts and share work. Bring snacks, spooky vibes, and a party spirit.
Workshop Leaders:
aureleo sans is a Colombian-American, queer, formerly unhoused writer with a disability who resides in San Antonio, Texas. She has been named a Sewanee Writers Conference Scholar, a Tin House Scholar, a Roots Wounds Words Writers Retreat fellow. a Lambda Literary fellow, an ASF Workshop Fellow, and a Periplus fellow. Her work has appeared in No Tokens, Shenandoah, Salamander, Electric Literature, Fractured Lit, and is forthcoming in Joyland. In 2018, she served “Monster Realness” as Mz. Flipper in full delphine regalia and snatched a trophy at the Glowed Up Ball in Austin, Texas.
Victoria Buitron is an award-winning writer who hails from Ecuador and resides in Connecticut. She received an MFA in Creative Writing from Fairfield University. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Normal School, SmokeLong en Español, Southwest Review, The Acentos Review, and other literary magazines. Her debut memoir-in-essays, A Body Across Two Hemispheres, was the 2021 Fairfield Book Prize winner and is available wherever books are sold. A VONA fellow, her work has been selected for 2022’s Best Small Fictions and Wigleaf’s Top 50. In 2023, she received the Artistic Excellence Award from the Connecticut Office of the Arts, which also receives funding from the National Endowment for the Arts. She is the editor of the 2023 Connecticut Literary Anthology, which will be available wherever books are sold on October 3, 2023.
María Alejandra Barrios Vélez is a writer born in Barranquilla, Colombia. She has an MA in Creative Writing from The University of Manchester and currently lives in Brooklyn. She was the 2020 SmokeLong Flash Fiction Fellow and her stories have been published in places such as Reservoir Journal, Cosmonauts Avenue, Jellyfish Review, Lost Balloon, Shenandoah Literary, Vol.1 Brooklyn, El Malpensante, Moon City Review, Fractured Lit, SmokeLong Quarterly and The Offing. Her first novel, THE WOMEN OF CAMINITO, is forthcoming Spring 2024 by Lake Union Publishing. Find more of her work at www.mariaalejandrabarrios.com.
