MEM 24 — Five Secrets to a Publishable Memoir: An Agent-Led Workshop
Quarter: Winter
Instructor(s): Elizabeth Kracht
Date(s): Jan 7—Mar 11
Class Recording Available: Yes
Class Meeting Day: Thursdays
Class Meeting Time: 5:30—8:00 pm (PT)
Tuition: $1040
Refund Deadline: Jan 9
Unit(s): 2
Enrollment Limit: 18
Status: Registration opens Nov 30, 8:30 am (PT)
Memoir remains one of the most popular forms of nonfiction, driven by readers' enduring appetite for compelling true stories. But what transforms personal experience into a memoir that captures the attention of agents, editors, and readers? Drawing on decades of experience as a literary agent, Elizabeth Kracht has identified five essential craft principles that can help memoirists bring their stories more fully to life. Some are questions of structure: where to begin, how to handle the passage of time, how to shape a narrative arc that keeps a reader moving forward. Others are questions of judgment: what your story is really about, and what belongs on the page vs. what should be left out. Weekly writing exercises, discussion, and feedback on up to 5,000 words will give you the chance to put these principles into practice. Whether you're outlining a new project or revising an advanced draft, you'll develop practical strategies for creating a memoir that is emotionally resonant, distinctive, and ready to find its audience.
ELIZABETH KRACHT
Literary Agent, Kimberley Cameron & Associates
Elizabeth Kracht is the author of The Author’s Checklist: An Agent’s Guide to Developing and Editing Your Manuscript. She teaches at writing conferences internationally and throughout the US as well as for online programs such as Writer's Digest University. Kracht received an MFA in creative writing from San Jose State and a BA in technical writing from the New York Institute of Technology, Ellis College. Textbooks for this course:
(Required) Elizabeth Kracht, The Author's Checklist: An Agent’s Guide to Developing and Editing Your Manuscript (ISBN 978-1608686629)
(Required) Nina Schuyler, How to Write Stunning Sentences, 2nd Edition (ISBN 979-8897400003)
(Required) Mary Karr, The Art of Memoir: : A NYT Bestselling Memoirist’s Guide to the Craft of Writing (ISBN 978-0062223074)
(Required) Rebecca Wright Stevens, QSisters of the Midnight Sun: A Murder in Arctic Alaska (ISBN 978-1640097711)
(Required) Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (ISBN 978-0812980028)
(Required) Nina Schuyler, How to Write Stunning Sentences, 2nd Edition (ISBN 979-8897400003)
(Required) Mary Karr, The Art of Memoir: : A NYT Bestselling Memoirist’s Guide to the Craft of Writing (ISBN 978-0062223074)
(Required) Rebecca Wright Stevens, QSisters of the Midnight Sun: A Murder in Arctic Alaska (ISBN 978-1640097711)
(Required) Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (ISBN 978-0812980028)