Flash Fiction

I'm thinking of working with Flash Fiction with my freshman. I'm really excited to try this because it stresses tight, concise writing in order to get things down to their bare bones. Tight plot, tight language, tight characterization. I'm wondering if I'm trying to get too much out of them, but I'd rather try to scaffold the lessons, work on it, and see what comes about as we begin the writing process. I've found some amazing examples and we're going to look at models first. Then look at short story structure as a whole, strip it down, and then strip it down some more.

I'm not sure how my administrator would feel if she knew I were focusing on ficiton first. Nonfiction, essay writing is stressed above all at my school, particularly literary analysis. Fiction seems to be looked upon as something that is written in the lower grades up through middle school and analyzed in the upper grades starting with freshman. I think, though, that to read in various ways and to really understand an author's choices and analyze their style, diction, tone, etc., it helps to have tried it yourself.

So, wish me luck with the teaching of fiction of the flash variety. You may see some practice rough drafts coming. I can't promise good and polished writing, but you will see some practice.