Advanced Memoir Planning & Draft Builder

In this advanced memoir class spanning five months, you will come with an idea for a book-length memoir, and leave with a solid start of a draft and a plan for where to go next. This class is perfect for those interested in eventually participating in the Memoir Generator or Memoir Incubator program.

In the first half of this class, we will focus on planning and outlining your memoir. Students will share some of their favorite memoirs by a variety of authors, and we will look at how those authors structured their stories. We’ll do exercises in class designed to help you figure out how to tell and structure your story. We’ll look at exemplary readings from writers like George M. Johnson, Chanel Miller, Nick Flynn, and Grace Talusan, and discuss memoir craft aspects such as situation & story, moments of being, research and interviewing, character development, use of dialogue, etc.

In the second half of class, we will transition towards building your draft. For some students, this will mean using an outline you devised in part one, and for others it will mean diving in and creating a roadmap as you go. You have three opportunities to workshop material from your memoir during this half of class, and will receive feedback from both your classmates and the instructor. Equally important, each week you are expected to read and critique three workshop submissions from your fellow students. We will also spend the second half of class reading a selected memoir and discussing the craft techniques and story development from that week's reading each week. 

Please note: Class does not meet February 6th or May 28th.

Important dates:

Applications are due Tuesday, January 2nd, by 11:59PM EST. Late applications will not be reviewed. The payment deadline for admitted students is Monday, January 8th.

To apply, please click the red "SEE DIRECTIONS TO APPLY" button in the top right corner of this page. This application will ask you to detail your workshop experience. It will also ask you to upload a 5-10 page writing sample. Please make sure this writing sample is in Microsoft Word, double-spaced, and in 12-point font. For tracking purposes, your name should appear in the file name (e.g. Smith.Memoir Title.Submission). Decisions will be emailed to applicants approx. 1 week after the deadline. You can also track the status of your application in your Grubstreet profile. Please make sure your application is complete before you finally click "APPLY." If you have any technical difficulties filling out this application, please email [email protected]. You will receive a confirmation email once our system has received your submission.

Class Format

This class will take place using Zoom videoconferencing. About 15 minutes before your class is scheduled to begin, you'll receive an email from your instructor with a link to join the class meeting!

Scholarship Information

Please note: In order to be eligible for acceptance into an advanced class, you must submit an application via the “See Directions to Apply” button above. You can then submit a separate scholarship application via the “Apply for Scholarship” button. We cannot consider applicants who only fill out a scholarship application without applying to the class itself.

Thanks to the excellent literary citizenship of our donors, scholarships are available for all GrubStreet classes. To apply, click the gray "APPLY FOR SCHOLARSHIP" button. In order to be considered for a scholarship, you must complete your application at least one week before the start date of a class. Please await our scholarship committee's decision before registering for the class. We cannot hold spots in classes, so the sooner you apply, the better. Scholarships cannot be applied retroactively.

For more detailed information about GrubStreet scholarships, including how to contribute to scholarship funds for other students, click here.