Courses

Is writing memoir cathartic? It can be. After all, to take a reader on an emotional journey, a memoirist must go on that journey first. Just getting one’s feelings onto paper can be a relief. However, in order to write something that affects other people profoundly, a memoirist must eventually move beyond emotion to craft. Craft enables a memoirist to take a deeper dive and use narrative to return to the surface with the truth. This course will give you the tools to take that journey. Each week, you’ll practice a new craft element, including plot, pacing, point of view, and the creation of characters based on the complicated people in your life. Using examples from a wide variety of writers, such as Trevor Noah, Jeanette Walls, Andrew X. Pham, and Sarah M. Broom, you’ll learn to approach tough topics using humor, imagination, research, and empathy. After achieving the aesthetic distance to tell your tale well, you will receive feedback on your own well-crafted piece of memoir in a supportive, rigorous workshop.