Start to Write: Memoir and Nonfiction

sydney

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.

Friday 24 November, 10am – 4pm

Allen & Unwin – Sydney

Faber Writing Academy at Allen & Unwin – Sydney
83 Alexander Street
Crows Nest NSW 2065

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$175

This is a past course.

Step inside the actual offices of Australia’s leading independent publishing house, and join us for an intensive day at Allen & Unwin in Sydney. You’ll get the hands-on teaching you need to start writing from acclaimed tutor and memoirist Patti Miller.

This intensive will help you:

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.
Tea and coffee and light refreshments.
On completion of the course, alumni discount of 15% on future Faber Writing Academy courses and books for the Allen & Unwin website, including Patti Miller’s Writing True Stories course.

Patti Miller will be teaching her four-month intensive program Writing True Stories from February to June 2024. Bookings are now open.

Writers you'll be working with:

Patti Miller

Patti Miller is an award-winning memoirist and nonfiction writer, whose 2012 book, The Mind of a Thief, was longlisted for the Stella Prize and the Nita Kibble Prize, shortlisted for the WA Premier’s Prize for Non-Fiction, winner of the NSW Premier’s Prize for History and on the syllabus for English for the VCE in Victoria. She is…

Course outline

Some of the topics will be covered will include:

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
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
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

“Engaging in practical exercises, hearing examples from other participants, the opportunity to learn from the class as well as the presenter Patti Miller was all beneficial to my learning and growth.”

“Having a small class was wonderful as I felt like everyone got an opportunity to speak and share.”

How to Book

This is a past course.