A tiny story can hold a whole world. In this course we will learn to work with language on a micro level by blending skills of poetry and fiction writing. We will look at work by writers such as Lydia Davis, George Saunders, and Amy Hempel among many others. The class will establish conventions of writing in small forms. We will interrogate questions such as, how can writing small stories help to hone an attentiveness to language and storytelling that is useful across genres? We will look at and write stories under 500 words in length, some much smaller. This course will center both the discussion and analysis of modern micro fiction as well as the workshopping of student’s microfiction. By the end of this class, students will have a deeper understanding of a craft-based approach to writing microfiction as well as feedback from the instructor and their peers on their own microfiction pieces.

Instructor: Melanie Tafejian

Dates: Begins Tuesday, July 6, 2026, and runs every Tuesday for four weeks

Time: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Level: Beginner and above

8 seats max

Location: online (hosted on Zoom)

Cost:

$430: true price

$260: base price

$285, $310, $360: donate an extra $25, $50, or $100 to our scholarship fund

(Returning students receive 10 percent off).

A note on pricing:  the “true price” reflects the true cost of the class, which includes paying a fair wage to our staff and instructors, rental fees for the Redbud headquarters and for the community spaces where we host our classes, website and administrative/commerce fees, outreach and advertising to spread the word about our offerings, and the coordination and administration for our community classes, which serve people who could not otherwise access creative writing. We’re not a university or a large corporation and that means we don’t have an operating budget we can rely on; we’re proud to be a small, local, women- and minority-run business that is passionate about bringing the transformative power of the arts to our community. Your tuition helps Redbud with the critical work of keeping the arts accessible to the public. 

We also offer students a chance to donate to our scholarship fund. At check-out, you will be given the option of choosing a donor price. If you choose one of these prices, the extra $25, $50, or $100 will go towards scholarships for students who would not be able to afford our classes otherwise.  Thank you in advance for considering making a contribution to inclusivity and access!

Read the fine print, including our refund policy, here.