How does memory become story?
In this four-week generative workshop, writers will explore how personal memory becomes narrative across genres including memoir, poetry, creative nonfiction, lyric essay, and autobiographical fiction.
Through close reading of contemporary writers and guided writing exercises, we will examine how memory shifts when it is written. We will explore how writers shape lived experience through voice, image, structure, and reflection.
Participants will experiment with techniques such as writing the self as a character, building narrative from fragments, balancing scene with reflection, and allowing memory to expand into meaning and story.
Each session includes close reading, craft discussion, and generative writing prompts.
By the end of the course students will:
• generate multiple new pieces of writing
• learn techniques for transforming memory into narrative
• practice writing memoir across genres including poetry and prose
• experiment with image, voice, reflection, and structure
• develop strategies for shaping lived experience into compelling story