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Winter Registration Opens Dec 02
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OWC 203 B — Memoir I: Themes and Scenes

Quarter: Winter
Instructor(s): Rose Whitmore
Duration: 10 weeks
Location: Online
Date(s): Jan 16—Mar 20
Class Recording Available: Yes
Class Meeting Day: Thursdays
Grade Restriction: Letter grade only
Class Meeting Time: 6:30—7:30 pm (PT)
Tuition: $1240
   
Refund Deadline: Jan 19
 
Unit(s): 2
   
Enrollment Limit: 15
  
Status: Registration opens Dec 2, 8:30 am (PT)
 
Quarter: Winter
Day: Thursdays
Duration: 10 weeks
Time: 6:30—7:30 pm (PT)
Date(s): Jan 16—Mar 20
Unit(s): 2
Location: Online
 
Tuition: $1240
 
Refund Deadline: Jan 19
 
Instructor(s): Rose Whitmore
 
Grade Restriction: Letter grade only
 
Enrollment Limit: 15
 
Recording Available: Yes
 
Status: Registration opens Dec 2, 8:30 am (PT)
 
This course is not open to the public, but rather by admission only. For more information on the Writing Certificate Program and is application process, please click here.

The focus of this course is on crafting compelling memoir openings. Through close analysis of a variety of published memoirs, we will assess the impact of various strategies for beginning personal narrative. We will examine both prologues and first chapters, studying how they engage readers while revealing underlying themes. Reading assignments, structured discussions and thought-provoking prompts will nurture the development of vivid scenes, enabling you to generate content without needing to structure your entire memoir yet. Seeking to uncover the central theme of your story will provide you with a guiding principle as you continue to select material to include. You will finish this course with an intentionally crafted beginning and a collection of thematically connected scenes.

ROSE WHITMORE
Author; Former Jones Lecturer and Former Stegner Fellow, Stanford

Rose Whitmore’s writing has appeared in The Southern Review, The Missouri Review, The Sun, The Kenyon Review, and elsewhere. She was the recipient of the James Jones First Novel Fellowship and has received residencies and fellowships from the Hemingway House in Ketchum, the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, and Hedgebrook. She has taught creative writing at the University of New Hampshire and Stanford, where she was the recipient of the Phi Beta Kappa Teaching Award.

Textbooks for this course:

There are no required textbooks; however, some fee-based online readings may be assigned.