Firefly Glossary

How we talk, what it means.

A press-back chair pulled up to an old table, with cookies, tea and a bright pink folder, open for business.

Every community has a language.

Here at Firefly we’re careful with our word choices, always striving to explain ourselves clearly and not fall into lingo… But we’re fallible. Just like fish can’t see the water they swim in, we’re not always aware of “Firefly speak”.

But words are the core units of human connection. Choosing the right one lets us hold open a door between us. If we say something you don’t understand, we’d love to know so that we can be clearer moving forward.

Here are some of the words and terms we use a lot, with their meanings.

Accessibility

The classic definition of accessibility is, “the quality of being able to be reached or entered.” We use it to refer to all the ways we work to make our work relevant and useful and of service to as many people as possible, for example only offering public programming in spaces that are barrier-free, and providing bursaries to help pay for our programs. Our accessibility statement outlines our ongoing work in this area.

BIPOC

This is an acronym for “Black, Indigenous and people of colour”, referring to people whose racial identity is from a group other than white. Of course, people of colour are invited to all Firefly’s spaces. We also run BIPOC Programming, a wing of Firefly that’s run specifically by and for BIPOC. It is managed by writing coach Mari Mendoza.

Bursaries

As much as possible, within the constraints of a small business, we build our programs around accessibility. One form of access is financial. We recognize that our pricing is a barrier to many people, so we have developed a financial aid program to bridge that gap.

Every season, before we open registration, we invite lower-income participants to apply for bursaries. We choose these randomly, and award them right away. Participants are welcome to apply again in future seasons. When classes are filling slowly, we also may open up discounted spots at the last minute to fill in the group. Keep an eye on our social media accounts for these.

Chat

Sometimes when we say “chat” we mean the typical meaning — friendly, informal conversations.

But it has a second meaning. We use Zoom for most of our virtual programming. It has a “chat” feature, letting participants connect to the group through text while the program is unfolding. We’ll often invite the group to share things in the chat, like: “Use the chat to let us know how you’re feeling as we get started tonight” or “Leave your feedback in the chat.” In these moments, we’re inviting you to answer our question in writing in the chat feature.

Chat storm

As mentioned above, we use an online platform called Zoom for most of our online programming. Zoom has a “chat” feature that lets the group write messages to each other, and to the whole group. Sometimes we’ll ask a question and invite everyone to answer a question at the same time, or to answer as many times as they want, in the chat function. We call this a “chat storm” or “chat storming.”

Class

We use the term “Class” and “Workshop” interchangeably. This means a series of writing sessions, led by a facilitator, with the same group of people. We break these into two groups:

Small Group Workshops are for no more than 8 participants, and are designed to have a lot of sharing, connecting and interactivity.
Large Format Programs are for larger groups, and have less interacting. They are designed as solo creative processes, alongside others.

Early Bird

Four times a year we open registration for a new season of workshops and retreats. One week before registration opens we send an email to anyone who has joined our “Early Bird List” to register early. This gives those extra-organized folks a chance to grab spots they want and to get a discount. There’s no fee to join our early bird list, we have one for retreats, and one for workshops.

Embodied Writing

This is a term that’s used in many different ways by different people. We use “embodied writing” to refer to writing with an awareness of our bodies, for the sake of greater wholeness and access to our histories and physical realities.

It can also be understood as a kind of writing that invites us to explore what it's like to inhabit our world within the bodies that we have, with an awareness of societal and cultural understandings of diverse bodies. Writing Towards the Body is a class that helps participants connect to an embodied process of writing.

Feedback

One of the tools we rely on in all our programs is feedback. When someone shares a piece of work, we’ll take a moment to talk about it, or to “give feedback”.

In Large Format Programs, it will usually be the facilitators giving feedback, since the group will be too big to all chime in, though we may invite participants to give feedback in the chat. (See “chat” above.) In Small Group Workshops, we’ll prime participants how to give feedback to each other in generative and useful ways. (Want to get ahead? Here’s a great resource.)

It’s essential to us that feedback is thoughtful, intentional, and focuses on the strengths in the writing. This is important because most of us have learned to be overly critical of our own work, which holds us back from writing freely. Through positive feedback, we soften our self-criticism and replace some of the negative voices in our heads with positive ones.

We have a Feedback Manifesto if you want to read more about our approach.

Fiction

Writing is often sorted into the loose categories of “fiction” and “nonfiction.” We use these categories a lot. Fiction refers to writing that’s made up, usually led by characters who aren’t real. Nonfiction refers to writing that’s based on facts, our own experiences, memories or research.

Financial Aid

As much as possible, within the constraints of a small business, we build our programs around accessibility. One form of accessibility is financial. We recognize that our pricing is a barrier to many people, so we have developed a financial aid program to bridge that gap.

Flash Fiction

Flash fiction refers to very short fictional (made up) stories. There are lots of formats, from single-sentence stories to 100 or 500 word ones.

Flash Nonfiction

Flash nonfiction refers to very short true stories. There are lots of formats, from 6-word memoirs to 100 or 500 word stories. Brief Bursts is our flash nonfiction workshop.

Flow

This is a term that is used in many different ways. It was coined Austrian sociologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, who, following traumatic experiences in World War Two, studied the creative practices of artists, searching for positive ways to contribute to the world.

He developed the theory of “flow state” as:

A state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience is so enjoyable that people will continue to do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it.

When we talk about flow, we’re drawing from this lineage. We tend to see it as a feeling of ease and forward motion in our writing. Focus and Flow is a class that helps participants get “in the flow” of writing, inspired by Csikszentmihalyi’s research.

Freewrite

When we write together in workshops, we call this “freewriting.” This means writing for a set period of time – usually between 5-15 minutes – with others. Ideally, in these “freewrites” we try not to judge or think too hard about our words — we just write.

Usually, at the end there will be a chance to share some or all of what we wrote to get positive feedback on our writing. Sharing is a bigger part of our Small Group Workshops which are designed for a lot of interactivity, but we also do some sharing in our Large Format Programs. The idea is that by setting a timer and writing together with the possibility of sharing our work at the end, we can overstep some of our inhibitions, and have an experience of writing that’s more free and energized than we may be able to access on our own.

Inner Critic

For many — maybe most — of us, the process of writing is fraught with insecurity and self-doubt. We often use the term “inner critic” to describe this phenomenon. We believe that one of the tools that can help us write more freely to soften our relationship to our inner critic, so that we can work from confidence and self-trust… Though we also know this work is endless, and we may never be entirely rid of those voices.

We have a workshop called Getting Out of Our Own Way (affectionately referred to by its acronym GOOOOW) to help writers understand their inner critics better, and listen to them less.

Large Format Programs

Our classes fall into two loose categories:

Small Group Workshops are for no more than 8 participants, and are designed to have a lot of sharing, connecting and interactivity.
Large Format Programs are for larger groups, and have less interaction. They are designed as solo creative processes, alongside others.

Large Format programs include Morning Coffee Sessions, Push Week, the BIPOC Writing Space and others that we offer intermittently. They are ideal for people who aren’t motivated to to share their writing, but still want a creative process with community and accountability to move their writing forward.

Life Stories

“Life Stories” is the word we use to describe writing we may do based on our memories or personal experiences. These are sometimes called “memoir” or “creative nonfiction”. These may not be the same as “autobiography”, which assumes that everything written will be factually accurate. Life Stories are intended to be true, but recognize that memory is fallible, and have room for creative license.

The Life Stories Workshop is specifically designed for people who want to write and share life stories.

Lights Out

We believe that rest is part of creative life, community life, and work life. We close our doors three times a year – in December, February and June – so that our team can experience deep rest. We call these our “Lights Out” weeks.

Lower the Bar

This is a phrase we use a lot, especially in first classes, when participants tend to be nervous. Most of us learn to write in school, which means we’re used to being evaluated. When we sit down to write, especially with new people, we can easily slip into feeling the need to perform.

At Firefly, we want to create spaces where you can relax that instinct and reconnect to the joy of writing. We’ll often say “lower the bar”, “trust your hand”, “there is no way to do this wrong” as affirmations that you don’t need to evaluate your work, just to engage in it.

Material

When we talk about “material” or “our material”, we’re generally referring to the things we want to write about, and feel ready to write about. These are dynamic and changeable as our creative and emotional lives shift and grow.

For example, the death of a loved one might feel like “our material” one day, but too sad to write about the next. We may get an idea for a fictional world which quickly becomes “our material” but didn’t exist before. As with most things, there is no right or wrong “material” – it simply implies that we all have things we are motivated to write about at any given time, and we can work from that material to write.

Nonfiction

Writing is often sorted into the loose categories of “fiction” and “nonfiction.” Fiction refers to writing that’s made up, usually led by characters who aren’t real. Nonfiction refers to writing that’s based on fact, based on our own experiences, memories or research.

Pop-up Workshop

Every so often, we’ll offer short, free workshops online or at random locations around Southern Ontario, where we all live. We call these “Pop-Up Workshops”.

Program

This is our most general term to describe anything we offer – workshops, retreats, coaching packages, and so on.

Prompt

When we’re writing together, we’ll often offer a prompt to get us started. This is a phrase that we can use to begin writing. It’s always optional, if writers would rather start with their own prompt they are welcome to. An example might be “I remember the way she…” Or, “Today I want to write about…” It’s always optional, if writers would rather start with their own prompt they are welcome to.

Retreat

Retreats are writing programs that span multiple days, sometimes in person, sometimes online. Our most popular retreats are in-person weekend retreats at a location in Southern Ontario. These include lodging and meals.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we started to offer online retreats, which we still bring back from time to time, and more recently Daytime Retreats, where we gather in person during the day, but participants retire to their own lodgings at night.

Sanctuary Session

In our programs we’ll sometimes have extended periods of time to simply write. These are loosely facilitated – the facilitator may offer a check-in question or optional prompt – but the essence of them is to simply draw from the energy of being connected to other people to help us tune out distractions and write.

We use these in groups when writers are warmed up and have material to work with. Examples of programs with sanctuary sessions are Rising Tides, The Big One, and Retreats.

Sentence Stems

We have lots of tricks to help you find things to write about. One of them is “Sentence Stems.” This is where the facilitator gives the group 3-5 half-sentences to finish. Examples might be “These days writing feels like…” or “I’m a person who wonders about…”

After going through a few, the facilitator will invite the group to look over their sentences, choose one they’re curious about, and use it as the first line of a piece of new writing.

Sharing

When we talk about “sharing our work”, we’re referring to reading something we have written to the rest of the group. In our Large Format Programs there’s less sharing, often just taking 2-3 volunteers out of the group. On the other hand, our Small Group Workshops have a lot of sharing, though it’s always optional.

Speculative Fiction

This is a term we use from the literary world, referring to fiction that is influenced by other-worldly factors like shape-shifting, time travel, alternative histories, dystopian futures, fantasy and magic. It’s a wide genre with lots of interpretations. It is sometimes also called “spec fic" for short. We run two classes in speculative fiction, Stranger Horizons is for a general audience and New Suns is specific to Black, Indigenous and People of Colour.

Themed Workshop

Some of our workshops are designed for finding out writing voice and asking elemental questions like, “What do I want to write?” “What does it mean to me to write?” “How can I get started?” Some examples of these are Keep Your Pen Moving and Begin Here.

Others are “themed workshops” with a specific focus in the content or genre. Some of these are Hearts on Paper, which focuses on writing romance, Stranger Horizons, which focuses on writing speculative fiction, or The Further Shore, which focuses on writing about death and dying. Our themed workshops tend to run less frequently – once or twice a year, instead of every season.

Warmup

Just like we might warm up for physical activity with a short, easy exercise to get our bodies ready, we often start our classes with a writing “warmup” to get our creative muscles primed. These are short writing exercises we’ve selected to be fun and not-too-challenging to help us sink into a creative process.

Word Play

This is a general term referring to all the silly and playful ways we can have fun with words. Language can be very serious, but it can also be hilarious. Some examples of word play might be writing tongue twisters, using old slang, amalgamating words, cutting words up to make new words, and generally letting the rules around language blur, to discover more joy and meaning behind them.

Workshop / Workshopping

In some classes and retreats, participants will be invited to write pieces between our facilitated sessions to share for feedback. We call this “workshopping”. When we’ve read our work, the group’s will provide positive feedback, focused on the strengths of the writing. We can also ask questions to receive deeper feedback on what we’ve written.

Zoom

Zoom is the platform where we run our online programs. It lets us see each other (when we have our videos on) and interact in real time.

Do you have more? Hit us up!

This is a living document, it keeps evolving through conversation, connection and ongoing growth. What do you see us saying? What’s confusing here? Help us see the water we’re swimming in.