Personal Narrative Essentials: Hooking the Reader - Remote!

Class Description

Want to hook your reader on the first page? Whether you are working on a nonfiction personal essay, op-ed, or book-length memoir, you can employ both classic techniques and new tricks to get your story, theme or topic up and running fast and make your reader feel irresistibly compelled to read all the way to the end. These strategies include beginning in a scene, posing questions, foreshadowing, teasing your themes, playing with point of view, establishing a compelling voice, signposting and orienting your reader, and the strategic use of "confusing" your reader. We'll look at examples from a variety of writers—such as Geoffrey Dyer, Michelle Kuo, Cheryl Strayed, Dave Demerjian, Ariel Gore, Richard Rodriguez, and Jaquira Diaz, among others—to see what they do, then via short in-class writing exercises, you'll try your own beginnings. You'll leave with a few drafts of some beginnings. Feel free to bring any works in progress whose starts have you stumped.

This class will be hosted using live Zoom meetings! You will be able to participate in class via Zoom videoconference from wherever you’re most comfortable. All you’ll need is a laptop or a phone! 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 via Zoom–no need to download anything or sign up for Zoom in advance! If you have questions about remote learning, please feel free to reach out to [email protected] for more information.

For a glimpse at how remote learning works, look no further than the deep Zoom discussion of writing and literature below:

Scholarship Information

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

Part of The Personal Narrative Essentials series taught by Ethan Gilsdorf. Take every class in the series or simply choose the craft topics that are relevant to the challenges you face in your work. Classes include:

• Personal Narrative Essentials: Hooking the Reader
• Personal Narrative Essentials: Writing Great Scenes
• Personal Narrative Essentials: Summary and Musing
• Personal Narrative Essentials: The Close-Up Detail
• Personal Narrative Essentials: Building Characters