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Spring Quarter

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Most Classes Begin Mar 30
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Writing Certificate


Year 1:
Fall: The Fundamentals of Memoir: Narration & Story
Winter: Memoir I: Themes and Scenes
Spring: Memoir II: Plotting Your Life
Summer: Break or Elective

Year 2:
Fall: Memoir III: From Memories to Manuscript
Winter: Memoir IV: Completion and Revision

One-on-One Tutorial
This is optional/not required to receive the Writing Certificate, but this option is available for one calendar year after completing Memoir IV.

*Students must complete one elective drawn from the open-enrollment Continuing Studies creative writing courses. The elective may be taken during the summer break, concurrent with any Memoir Writing Certificate courses, or up to a year after Memoir IV. Examples of electives include poetry, essay writing, novel writing, and courses focused on specific genres or craft elements.
Curriculum Overview
Memoirists not only recount events. We also interpret them. We ask what those experiences mean and why they matter. The Memoir Certificate Program guides writers through the process of transforming lived experience into compelling narrative, lyric, and hybrid forms in the genre. 

In the first course in the program, The Writing Life: Form and Theory, we introduce the central challenges of writing about one’s own life, establish a shared vocabulary for discussing form and craft, study published memoirs representing compelling examples of the most popular forms, and draft pages to begin sharing them with the cohort for feedback. We will also work to identify the questions and themes (known and newly discovered) guiding each student’s memoir project.

In Memoir 1–3, students focus on bringing memories to life on the page, shaping them into scenes, and structuring those scenes into a meaningful story (for those writing narrative memoir) or associative organization (for those writing in a lyric form). Writers study published memoirs and discuss one another’s work. They explore techniques for crafting scenes, developing voice, building narrative momentum, and identifying the thematic threads that give a manuscript coherence. Students can expect to submit a total of 6,000 to 7,500 words per quarter for feedback from both the instructor and their peers

Memoir 4 supports students as they work to complete and polish their memoirs. Throughout this final course, writers may complete missing sections, shape the manuscript into a unified whole, and plan or begin a substantial revision using feedback gathered across the program. Students will workshop 10,000 to 12,000 words, allowing for sustained engagement with a longer section of the manuscript.

Students aiming to complete a full memoir during the two-year sequence should continue drafting new chapters between workshop submissions, using deadlines as milestones while steadily building the manuscript toward completion. Most published memoirs are between 70,000 and 85,000 words. Reaching that length will require sustained drafting beyond what is submitted for workshop.

Many instructors incorporate writing sprints, optional residencies, or other forms of structured writing time to help students maintain momentum, sustain a regular writing practice, and move consistently toward their goals.
 
 
Elective
Learning how to write a memoir requires a varied skill set, so students in the certificate program must complete one elective to expand their narrative capacities. This elective should focus on a particular genre or craft element in which you would like to take a deeper dive.

Electives may be selected from the regular open-enrollment Continuing Studies creative writing course offerings, either online or on campus, and must be taken for a letter grade. Each quarter, students will receive a list of upcoming courses that satisfy this requirement.
 
  • If you have rich characters but find plot challenging, a short story course could help you to work on heightening conflict in scenes with a stronger sense of causality.
  • A poetry course would allow you to slow down and work on developing a quality of imagery, rhythm, and lyrics leading to more resonant work.
  • There are also craft-specific offerings, including courses on POV, character, plot, description, and dialogue.

You may or may not be able to work directly on your memoir in this course, but it will make you a better artist, and you will bring that artistry back to your book. 

Courses taken through Stanford Continuing Studies within the past five years may be applied toward this requirement, subject to the program director’s approval. Continuing Studies does not accept transfer credits; therefore, courses taken outside of this program (including at Stanford) will not meet the elective requirement.
One-on-One Tutorial
The One-on-One Tutorial is available for Memoir Certificate students who wish to work intensively with an instructor for ten weeks on revision of a full manuscript.

Before the quarter begins, the instructor will read the student’s entire memoir draft and provide a developmental edit letter. Each instructor-student pair will establish the goals of the tutorial and create a schedule of revision deadlines for the quarter. During the term, the student will have the opportunity to revise up to 100 pages (25,000 words) for feedback, accompanied by scheduled meetings to discuss their progress.

Students are invited to indicate instructor preferences, and we make every effort to honor those preferences. Pairings are never finalized without the student’s full approval. Tuition for the One-on-One Tutorial covers manuscripts up to 85,000 words. A surcharge applies for manuscripts that exceed this length.