Making More of Memoir: Tools for Drawing Readers to and into Your Writing

Making More of Memoir:
Tools for Drawing Readers to and into Your Writing 
(starting at $50)

The memoirist writes, above all else, to redeem experience, to reawaken the past, and to find its patterns; better yet, to discover behind bygone events a dramatic, explanatory narrative. Storytelling fails when the narrative cannot coax sympathetic resonance from the reader.
-Sven Birkerts, The Art of Time in Memoir

Coaxing this “sympathetic resonance from the reader” is the difference between writing the stories people choose to read on airplanes and the ones that speak gently to the depths of the human spirit. Primarily designed for new writers, but offering unique insights for more seasoned ones, this workshop offers both practical tools and personal advice for adding depth to your own non-fiction writing—keys for building better bridges between yourself, your story, and your reader:

Time: The then and now of memoir
Structure: Hanging more layers from the narrative arc
Scene and Summary: The Siamese twins of story
Carnality: Images that take your breath away
Voice: The critical role of the narrator in reality-based writing
Come and leave with tools for writing the next chapters of your life.

Judith Huge has spent over 30 years developing innovative approaches to both learning and writing. As president of her own national consulting firm, teacher of both undergraduate and graduate-level college courses, and director of writing workshops across the country, she has made a difference in the way thousands of people find, craft, and promote their writing voices. She is a co-author of 101 Ways You Can Help: How to Offer Comfort and Support to Those Who Are Grieving (Sourcebook, 2009), as well as A Middle Aged Woman and the Sea, a tale of loss and transition.