Class Description
A 10-week workshop for writers who want to think seriously about book-length memoir in the context of narrative voice, structure and improving their craft. We’ll work with prompts, exercises, and consider strategies for revision to help you see your memoir in a new light. Each week we'll look at exemplary readings and tackle issues such as characterization, description, scene vs. narrative summary, time and pacing, arc, outside research, and the real-world consequences and ethical considerations when writing and publishing true-to-life stories. Depending on enrollment, you should expect to present a new or revised excerpt from your memoir for workshop every third week. Students are expected to read and comment on 3 of their fellow student's submissions each week. While new writing is encouraged, interested writers should also consider this an opportunity to work through problems that have arisen with an existing manuscript.
Important dates: The application deadline for this class has now passed. Applications submitted after Monday, September 2nd 11:59pm (EST), will not be reviewed and will not receive a response. The payment deadline for admitted students is Monday, September 16th.
Please note: Class does not meet on Tuesday, November 5th.
Writing Roadmap: We've created a simple, goal-based writing roadmap to help you find the perfect GrubStreet course for your writing needs.
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.