A look at the fragmented-connective storytelling of the novella-in-flash (NIF). In this workshop, we’ll look at the big-picture view of structure, voice and world-building, plus the focus of each piece, with its own internal logic. We’ll consider different kinds of small fictions, and how patterns and breaks in patterns help support the frame of the NIF. We’ll also consider the spaces between stories, and why they are so important. Finally, we’ll examine how all this impacts the believability of the narrative as a whole: how, with the NIF, the sum is greater than the small but shining parts.

Michelle Elvy is a writer, editor and creative writing teacher in Ōtepoti Dunedin. Her books include the everrumble and the other side of better, and the anthologies Best Small Fictions (annually) and, most recently, A Kind of Shelter: Whakaruru-taha (2023). Forthcoming is Te Moana o Reo | Ocean of Languages (The Cuba Press, 2024) and a new dual-language anthology of English and te reo Māori stories, edited with Kiri Piahana-Wong (MUP, 2025). Michelle is founding editor of National Flash Fiction Day and Flash Frontier: An Adventure in Short Fiction, and she edits at AT THE BAY | I TE KOKORU, dedicated to traditions and experimentations in Aotearoa storytelling. michelleelvy.com 52250course.com