Class Description
You’ve got a terrific story to tell—now, how should you tell it? Building on the Memoir Essentials discussions of handling time and narration, we’ll move on to considering structure. The structure of a work can help capture or enhance that work’s thematic meaning. Rarely is the best way to tell a story in the order it happened. In this class, we’ll consider several classic and not-so-classic structures and the advantages and disadvantages of each. We’ll experiment with plugging the content of our memoirs into these structures. You do not need to bring draft pages to this class, but you should have already put some thought into what story you’re trying to tell and why. This is the fourth in a series of one-day classes in writing the memoir that will span the year, appropriate both for memoirists with advanced drafts and for those just beginning their writing.
Part of GrubStreet's "Memoir Essentials" Series, led by Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich and dedicated to exploring the core elements of memoir writing. Classes in this series include:
- Memoir Essentials: Finding Your Story
- Memoir Essentials: Me, Myself, I (Refining the Narrator)
- Memoir Essentials: Nothing But Time
- Memoir Essentials: The Structure of Memoir
- Memoir Essentials: They’re Such Characters! (Characterizing Others)
- Memoir Essentials: You’re Such a Character! (Characterizing Yourself)
- Memoir Essentials: The Spotlight and the Shadows
- Memoir Essentials: Shaping Your Story
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.
This class will take place using Zoom videoconferencing. Please visit the Resources tab to access the video-conference link.
Zoom Participation:
Students are not required to turn their camera on, but are encouraged to participate any way they feel comfortable through functions such as the live chat, emoji reactions, and unmuting the microphone. Learn more about using Zoom here.
Zoom Accessibility:
We ask that instructors enable closed captioning and send a transcript of the session after class. You can also enable closed captioning at any time during the meeting. If your instructor forgets to send the transcript, just send ’em an email!