Class Description
This course is designed to help writers turn fifty to eighty years of life experience into a collection of page-turning stories. Where to start? What to leave out? You will practice foundational storytelling skills in characterization, voice, setting, dialogue, and plot while also developing tools unique to this challenge, like growth timelines, turning point detectors, and ways to focus the lens of perspective. By the end of this class, students will have completed the first story in their collection, an origin story about unforgettable people and influences.
Each class will include a mix of craft lecture, generative prompts and writing time, community discussion, and close investigative reading of examples from memoirists including Mary Karr, Maxine Hong Kingston, Frank McCourt, Sandra Cisneros, and more. There may be short take-home readings, and students are encouraged to work outside of class to produce a draft they can bring in for end-of-session feedback that will be both verbal and written.
This class is suitable for experienced humans who are new writers, and for experienced writers looking for community and scaffolding in writing life-stories, and for memoirists of any experience level interested in writing a collection of stories instead of a novelistic memoir.
Please note: Class does not meet Thursday, February 19.
Driving to the center? For evening or weekend classes, we recommend SP+ Parking at 45 Binford Street for the most affordable parking around. It's about a 10-minute walk to GrubStreet and offers a flat rate of:
$13 after 4pm Monday-Friday
$9 all day Saturday-Sunday
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 in-person at our Center for Creative Writing in Boston's Seaport neighborhood.
Covid-19 Update:
GrubStreet's space will be mask-optional when Boston's Covid-19 Community Level is low or medium. When the Covid-19 Community Level is high, our space will require masks. Please check GrubStreet's Covid-19 page for the latest info on masking and Community Levels before visiting in person.
Space Accessibility:
Our space is ADA accessible with automatic door openers, ADA-compliant restrooms, desk and table spacing, braille signage, and elevator. Our classrooms can be equipped with ALS for hard of hearing individuals. We cannot guarantee a scent-free environment. For more accessibility requests, please contact our Operations team at [email protected] or (617) 695-0075.