Writing very Short Stories or Scenes - a Practical Strategy to get our Writing going.

Flash stories are very short (250-300 words). They are good practice exercises that we like to do regularly in The Writing Group, in order to focus, get something written and get some feedback from our supportive and always interested audience. The topic can be anything really, we have several to share, the idea is simply to prompt some writing that you can then use in a longer piece, whether factual or fictional. 

Your short piece might be focused on an event or place in an ancestor's life, on a memory from your own life, or a scene in the lives of ancestors that you are imagining to fill some gaps in the historical record. All these scenarios arise for most of us as we explore family histories and wonder how to turn the research into interesting writing. The point about writing short pieces is the discipline of a tight limit in time and word count - it forces us to make every word count, it produces something to share and it's fun !

So go ahead and write a short short story to share with the group at our July meeting. 

If you're already on Basecamp, you can share it there, or just read it to us at the meeting. We'll discuss both what is brought to the meeting and what is shared on Basecamp. (If you're not on Basecamp and would like to use the forum, please just email admin@sag.org.au and ask to be added to The Writing Group's page).

Topics so far have included: early childhood memories, scandalous family stories, events and memories related to war service, family stories to captivate children, history of a house or place of significance in your family...

We are putting together a booklet of the short pieces by those who wish to contribute to that too, which we'll review and discuss at the meeting.

We look forward to hearing or reading what you have written. 

Come and join us, new attendees are always welcome.

Skill Level: All    

Group Leads: Elizabeth Capelin & Emily Purser

Each session will be recorded so you can join live or watch the recording later