The fundamental challenge of memoir writing lies in taking the emotionally significant events of your life and transforming them into a carefully crafted narrative that resonates with unknown readers; readers who may not know you personally and have no inherent reason to care about your story unless you can make them.
Working with the proven Writers Studio approach, we will carefully study published memoirs by authors who have successfully transformed their personal stories into works that achieve universal resonance and appeal.
What kind of narrative persona did memoirs like Tara Westover's "Educated," Roxanne Gay's essay collections, Joan Didion's reflective works, or James Baldwin's "Notes of a Native Son" create? How do these authors position themselves as characters on the page? What narrative techniques and devices do these writers use to transform raw life experience into engaging and compelling storytelling? By concentrating on the craft elements, we will discover how to establish sufficient emotional distance from our experiences so that we can connect authentically with their power without becoming overwhelmed or unable to shape the material effectively.
Each week, we will analyze and discuss a carefully selected excerpt from a different published author's memoir. Our course goal is to learn by example; extract useful narrative strategies from established models; and apply these techniques to unlock the full potential of our own stories.
Memoir writing class sessions occur at your scheduled time through Google Meet videoconferencing, and you have the option to participate with or without video enabled, or to call in using your phone. Each student will complete two page-long exercises weekly, which you will share electronically with the group. The live class format mirrors in-person instruction, with students and instructors providing constructive feedback and discussing the following week's assignment. Google Meet technology provides all necessary videoconferencing capabilities and is straightforward to use.
