Start to Write: Memoir and Nonfiction

online

Start to Write: Memoir and Nonfiction

w/ Patti Miller

Do you have a true story to tell? Is it your story, or the story of someone else? Start to Write is the writing series at the Faber Writing Academy designed to kick-start your writing life.

15 – 17 November

3 x evening sessions 6.30 – 8.30pm (AEDT)

Online

Course fee: $ 195/$ 165.75 alumni

This is a past course.

Over three nights, you’ll get the hands-on teaching you need to start writing from acclaimed tutor and memoirist Patti Miller.

• Discover the tools you need to start writing.
• Overcome common problems shared by emerging writers.
• Understand the fundamentals of nonfiction.

Your course includes:

A complimentary copy of a recent A&U publication
On completion of the course, alumni discounts on future Faber Writing Academy courses and books for the Allen & Unwin website.

Patti Miller will be teaching her four-month intensive program Writing True Stories from February to June 2023. Bookings are now open.

Writers you'll be working with:

Patti Miller

Patti Miller is the author of ten books, including Australia’s best-selling life writing texts, Writing Your Life, The Memoir Book and Writing True Stories (A&U) as well as a novel Child (A&U) and The Last One Who Remembers (A&U) Whatever The Gods Do (Random House), the critically acclaimed The Mind of a Thief (UQP), long and…

Course outline

Tuesday

Finally sitting down to do it
Overcoming ‘one day I will do it’ syndrome
Getting ready for the journey
Gathering your materials – what you need to pack, what you need to leave behind
Facing the fear and doing it anyway
Readings, discussion and writing exercise

Wednesday

Genre – what kind of a book are your writing?
What is memoir and creative nonfiction exactly?
How is it different from other genres?
Great memoir and nonfiction books
What are the skills you will need?
What can be transferred from your own writing background as a journalist? academic? science writer? blog writer? Business writer? great email writer?
Readings, discussion and writing exercise

Thursday

Ways to begin
What engages your attention in a beginning?
What engages other readers?
Where do you want your reader to go?
How to point your reader in the right direction
Writing that opening page
Readings, discussion and writing exercise

Praise for this course

‘I thought Patti had a lovely manner and the three areas we talked about – overcoming blocks and fears/ the genre/ and beginnings were very useful to help order my thoughts for the book I am trying to write.” 2021

‘I loved the way Patti was enthusiastic about each and every writers contribution. She has also thought deeply about this genre. I had so many questions arising from these sessions and felt energised to explore these on my own.’ 2021

‘Patti provides a brilliant mix of knowledge, skill and deep listening as part of her teaching structure. Her humour and reality based communication style only compliment her professionalism and sense of authenticity as a person.’ 2019

How to Book

This is a past course.