Description
Memoir is a process of excavation, intuition, organization, assembly, drafting, revision, and
problem-solving, often all at the same time. There are as many different ways to approach
memoir as there are memories, so this class will not assume any priority of form, but is
designed to give writers the inspiration and tools to give a book its own life.
We’ll focus on elements that recur and make up the bones of the story, where the balance of
action / exposition, front story / backstory, character / voice, and memory / mystery are
handled and revealed. Classes will feature conversation, writing, and close reading; authors
read will include Tobias Wolff, Lorene Cary, Carmen Maria Machado, Caroline Knapp, Nadia
Owusu, Melissa Febos, and Jo Ann Beard.
Class Outline
Week 1: “The Thing.” Memoir is not autobiography. Memoir offers the story of the author’s
traverse across a certain pitch; it’s about an arrival. What is the event and or / circumstance
that is singular and urgent, and that drives this project? What does your reader have to know to
experience this rather than just read about it? How can you identify and understand resistance,
trendiness, and cliché, and use these obstacles to sharpen your focus?
Week 2: Point of view. “The memoir is, at its core, an act of resurrection” (Carmen Maria
Machado). I suggest one resurrects the person who did not yet know / lose / gain / survive /
understand, and who is now writing this tale for everyone to read. Point of view allows for this
dilation of selves and is the memoirist’s primary tool. We’ll look very closely at how point of
view works at the sentence level, not least so you can find some space between your writing
self and the person who lived through all that stuff.
Week 3: Seduction. Your reader doesn’t care that things happened because they happened to
you (unless you’re a celebrity, in which case you might well hire someone else to write your
memoir). Your world must be drawn to enchant and beguile. You can do this with anger, with
fear, with love, with humor. Ideally, with all of these. We’ll look at how seduction works in
memoirs people cannot put down.
Week 4: Problems. They are always doorways. Bring your problems. We’ll trust process, and
assume that where an author feels resistance, there is energy.
Week 5: Individual meetings. Students are invited to share 20-30 pages of current work, or
outline / notes / ideas / etc., for individual conversation.
We are able to offer a limited amount of both 50% scholarships for our multi-week classes and 100% scholarships for our single-session classes on a first-come, first-serve basis. Students may receive one scholarship per term. Click here to apply for a scholarship spot.
