Author presents workshop for the shortest of short stories

A free creative writing workshop will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday, May 4, at the Irene Ingle Public Library. Children's book author and artist Michael Bania will help participants create "micro-stories."

"The idea is to get a prompt of some sort, which I'll provide," Bania said. "You have to, in 50 words, tell a story."

The author found inspiration for her 50-word story challenge through her membership with the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, a nonprofit organization that provides resources and community-building opportunities for children's book creators.

"It just makes you think outside the box," she said. "Because a lot of people, when they start writing ... they're pretty generic. But the ones that sell are the ones that are clever and fun, or got some kind of hook."

Bania provided some examples of simple prompts like "magic wand" that could inspire a story. "Like if you got a magic wand, what might you do with it?" she said.

She suggested other possible prompts like having an evil twin or finding a portal to a fantasy world in your backyard.

She added that everyone in the workshop will create a different story based on the same prompt. "It's fun to read them at the end and see what people came up with."

Though it may seem challenging to participants to write a complete story in 50 words or less, Bania thinks it can be done. "What makes a great 50-word story?" she said. "The same things that a longer story has. You've got to get captivated right at the beginning, a character has a problem or a desire or a story arc, and it builds to a critical point, and it has a resolution of some sort. But it just happens fast!"

Bania hosted a writing workshop in 2017 that was aimed more at submitting completed work to publishers. "Since that time, things have changed so much," she said. "People are just publishing on their own, online."

Advance registration is not required for Saturday's workshop. Library assistant Kaitlin Wilson said people can bring their own laptops or pen and paper, or they can use the library's materials.

In addition to her work as a writer, Bania is also an illustrator, having provided the artwork for her own books. In 2018, she presented an art workshop at the Nolan Center on drawing cartoons. She was inspired by her father who worked for Disney Animation in the 1940s as a storyboard artist.

Bania has lived in Alaska for over 40 years. Originally from Southern California, she became a rural educator of young children for districts in Kotzebue, Buckland and other communities in Alaska's northwest, living above the Arctic Circle for 20 years. After retiring, she moved to Soldotna, then Homer before settling into Wrangell in 2009.

It was during her time as a teacher that she began writing children's books. Her first published work was "Kumak's House" in 2002. It started a series of stories about an Inupiaq villager, including "Kumak's Fish" and "Kumak's River," as well as a coloring book depicting village life in Arctic Alaska.

She also illustrated a counting book about sled dogs by Cherie B. Stihler called "Wiggle-Waggle-Woof 1-2-3."

A big fan of comics, Bania is working on a graphic novel for young children that features balloon characters, tentatively titled "The Balloonies."