Who’s Driving this Bus?: Separating Your Narrator From Your Character in Memoir

The memoir genre is vast in style and content, but one thing all memoirs have in common is a narrator looking back on a former self. But how does one create this narrator on the page? Is there one self telling the story or two? What is the role of each? And how is all this related to voice? This session will use written exercises and discussion to clarify the narrator who is telling your story. We will also discuss the dangers of collapsing these roles, and how to use them to find the right narrative distance for your story.

Janet Pocorobba is the author of The Fourth String: A Memoir of Sensei and Me. Her work has appeared in The Rumpus, River Teeth, Post Road,Harvard Review, The Writer, and elsewhere. She has received writing residency fellowships from Bread Loaf, Vermont Studio Center, and Turkey Land Cove Foundation on Martha’s Vineyard. She directs and teaches in the Lesley Low-Residency MFA Program. www.janetpocorobba.com