Courses

Crafting a compelling memoir requires deliberate planning to shape how events unfold and connect on the page. In this workshop, we will explore how to effectively structure a memoir by managing the passage of time, drawing inspiration from such authors as Roxane Gay, Mary Karr, and Maggie Nelson. You’ll establish a primary timeline for your memoir by reconsidering where your story begins and ends and by exploring other key time periods or research "threads" you might weave into your story to enrich context, plot, tension, and characterization. We'll delve into strategies for moving fluidly between different time periods or threads of your story to deepen meaning. Writers will experiment with methods for condensing, expanding, and editing material to highlight the most relevant scenes and details, and they will produce new work based on generative prompts. Each writer will submit up to 5,000 words for peer review and instructor feedback, with individual conferences available for guidance on revisions.