About Annette Gendler
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Finding the Thread: Writing Memoir and Autobiography (10 weeks)
How do we transform memory and personal experience - our lives - into compelling writing? Given the recent media attention on fraud in memoirs, how do we tackle the challenges of this genre? This class is a workshop in the writing of memoir. We will read and review a variety of memoirs and study what makes them successful. Each class will focus on an element of memoir with writing exercises for practice and exploration. Students will be asked to submit a writing assignment each week, either trying out something new based on a writing prompt, or submitting from a memoir project in progress. Over the course of the class, students should expect to develop two or three nonfiction narratives based on personal experience. To inform our discussions and as a practical guide, we will read Writing the Memoir by Judith Barrington, 2nd edition, The Eighth Mountain Press (available at amazon for about $10).
CLASS OUTLINE
Class 1: What is memoir?
We will discuss the genre and our expectations of it. We will also explore how memoir differs from fiction or personal essay.
Class 2: Narrative Stance/Point of View
From what point of view are we telling our story? Is it always first person? What are the other choices and what opportunities or constraints do they bring with them?
Class 3: Framing & Form
How do we structure a memoir? What devices can be used? What forms does memoir take?
Class 4: Truth in Memoir
The topic of truth in memoir will creep up again and again, so it will be a theme throughout the course, but in this class we will discuss what guidelines might be helpful.
Class 5: Scene, Summary, and Musing
These are important elements of storytelling and we will study how they are employed in memoir.
Class 6: Writing About Living People
Which secrets are ours to tell, and which aren’t? What choices do we have in writing about family?
Class 7 & 8: The Five Senses
Using the five sense to evoke the past is such a crucial skill to good and engaging writing that we will devote two classes and several writing exercises to it.
Class 9: Time
Moving around in time without confusing our reader is one of our greatest challenges as writers. We will look at the different options of situating a story in time and what issues they bring with them. We will also look at tools that can help us organize the timeline of our narratives.
Class 10: The Larger World
How do we situate our narratives in the larger world? Why does it matter? How does the personal inform the world at large, and vice versa?
About Annette Gendler
Annette Gendler writes creative nonfiction. Her work has appeared in Bellevue Literary Review, Under the Sun, South Loop Review and on flashquake.com. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Queens University of Charlotte and also teaches memoir at StoryStudio Chicago. With three young children and a demanding job, she wakes up at five in the morning to write. She lives in Chicago with her family.
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