Class Description
Whether you're working on short form personal essay or book-length memoir, writers of personal narrative need to master the these two often overlooked narrative modes. We'll look at exemplary work from writers such as George Orwell, Leslie Jamison, Michelle Kuo, Cheryl Strayed, Amitava Kumar, and others, in order to get our brains around first, what is summary and musing, and second, what makes for good examples of each and how to deploy them for the best effect. Then you'll get a chance to practice writing in these modes. By the end of the seminar you will have written first draft of a few solid passages that you can use in any personal narratives you might be working on.
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
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. After registering, a yellow Resources tab will appear in this section containing a link to join class. Please note that you will need to be logged into view the Resources tab.
Zoom Participation:
In our experience, the intimate nature of a writing workshop benefits from on-camera participation. Students are of course welcome to turn their camera off whenever they need to, but it is a community norm for cameras to be on most of the time. You can learn more about using Zoom here.
Zoom Accessibility:
You can enable closed captioning at any time during the meeting by clicking the CC button at the bottom of the screen. If you'd like to access the transcript after class, please make sure to let your instructor ahead of time that you'd like a copy.