Discussion Questions
--The Shale authors range from new authors (author's first publication) to notable and experienced ones (authors have published many notable books).
Try to find some interviews or articles by or about the authors. Next, use what you have learned to add some context to your reading of the Shale story/stories.
--The subtitle of Shale is "Extreme Fiction for Extreme Conditions." What are the extreme conditions represented in a specific story or set of stories?
Did the author's exploration of these conditions change your attitudes about anything (any person, place, or thing)? To what extent does the author use this short form to delve deeply into some serious issue? What passages or sentences particularly trigger a response from you?
--What conflicts appear or emerge from these stories?
Consider the scheme we often hear about kinds of conflicts in fiction:
Man vs Man
Man vs Self
Man vs Nature
Man vs. Society
Are the Shale stories heavy on a certain style or type of conflict? Write about or discuss this. And so importantly, think about why these conflicts (as themes, as talking points) could de a trend in recent art and writing.
The "Storyboard That" educators website provides some interesting angles and materials on this framework, suitable for young people: http://www.storyboardthat.com/articles/education/types-of-literary-conflict.
--Read Lynn Levin's Flash Fiction Elements: A Primer. Compare and contrast how two of the Shale authors address one or more of the important key elements.
Alternatively, if more than one work is featured by a particular author, discuss how they use a key element similarly or differently.
Beyond the how, address the why.
--A few of the Shale offerings could be called "non-traditional" stories; they read rather like prose poems or hybrid form works (examples include works by Cihlar, McGilloway, Hamm, and Cortes). Write your own non-traditional flash piece, using one of the Shale offerings as a model.
Writing for class? Use the Owl at Purdue to help you quote and format properly.
(Here is the Owl's MLA page: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/03/).
Contributed by Valerie Fox