How do we recreate experience on the page so that it retains its vividness – its ‘life-like’ qualities? How do we arrange our life’s events so they don’t read like a litany of everything that happened?
Join Patti Miller, Australia’s most experienced memoir teacher and award-winning writer, in this intimate 8-week course for beginners and those who may have started and need some guidance. It will be Patti’s only ongoing course in Australia this year.
In Writing Memoir, you will explore the craft of life-writing – how to: start; access memory; use sensory detail; create scenes; find narrative perspective and voice; navigate the complexities of narrative and other structures; and finally, face the complex issues of writing a life.
Topics and readings from the set text, Writing True Stories, will be unpacked and discussed. Exercises will be set every week and students will present their writing for group workshopping, gaining valuable input from each other and clear guidance from Patti. In a warm and supportive environment, you will be encouraged to step into the creative process of constructing a life on the page. The writing skills and inspiration will equally equip you to write biography and personal essays; in fact it will start you on the journey of all creative non-fiction writing.
By the end of the course you will:
- Have begun the journey of writing your own story (and/or of someone close to you);
- Gained a knowledge of the craft of writing and be able to use the skills you have learned;
- Gained confidence in your capacity to write;
- Extended your knowledge of the literary genre of memoir.
Your course includes:
- 8 weeks x 2 hour morning classes;
- A copy of the set text, Writing True Stories by Patti Miller;
- Critique on work produced for the course;
- On completion of the course, alumni discounts on future Faber Writing Academy courses and books from the Allen & Unwin website.
