What can a writer learn from compression? In a word, everything. Short works allow us to examine in a granular way how we make art out of language. Every great work, no matter its length, issues out of precision–of language, of structure, of vision and voice. In the first session, we’ll discuss sentence-making, voice, and structure, with specific examples, in an interactive format. We’ll end with a few prompts from which to chose. In the second session, we’ll share work that we’ve created, look at strategies for refining the work (including titles), and consider the ways that short pieces can be layered into longer narratives. The door is open to innovation and suggestion, to language, to mystery and to surprise.