Please note: this course replaces Amanda Hampson’s Memoir Made Simple course, which appears in the 2018 January-June course booklet. This course will run for five sessions rather than six sessions.

If you’ve started writing and would like to write memoir or memoir-based fiction, this is the course for you. We’ll start by finding how to translate memories into words, images and scenes, then explore ways to ground your writing and to shape what you’ve written. We look at how memoir writers can use innovative techniques & use the techniques of fiction to tell life stories.

There will be presentations on the writing process and writing craft, but the course will focus equally on your writing and your participation, with writing exercises in class, thoughtful discussion of literary texts, and guided discussion of your writing. This course will help you to get started, develop your writing, and inspire and sustain your writing practice.

Week 1:  Understanding the writing process, getting started, finding a way back to your memories
Week 2:  Putting memories on paper: the importance of locating your memories in time and place
Week 3: What’s the story? Shaping your memories, using the techniques of fiction
Week 4: Who’s telling the story: your voice and other voices
Week 5: Developing a writing practice: strategies for continuing and sustaining your practice

 

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Expected Learning Outcomes

1. Develop craft skills required to produce memoir or memoir-based fiction writing
2. Learn ways to develop and sustain a writing practice
3. Gain insight into the possibilities and challenges of memoir and memoir based fiction

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Participant Requirements

Pen and paper