MEMOIR: THE STORY OF YOUR LIFE
‘I want to write my life story’
Course: Memoir - the story of your life
Format: one-to-one via email (see group coaching for Cape Town courses)
Duration: six modules over six weeks
Course fee: R3 000
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Suitable for: Writers who have completed the Introduction to Creative Writing course and who are ready to tackle a memoir, travelogue or excerpt from their personal story.
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Aim: To help writers select and structure material into manageable sections, choose a framework and begin the process of documenting their memories.
Overview: Everyone has a story worth telling, but deciding on what to include and what to leave out can be daunting. In these sessions you will create a time line of your life or the particular period you want to write about, identify major sections and start to group material into categories or chapters.
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What do you get? Each week you will be emailed a document containing notes, an exercise or questions, and a short assignment designed to explore a particular aspect of memoir writing, for which you will receive detailed written feedback.
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How does it work? The first module will be delivered on receipt of payment for the number of modules you have selected. When the first assignment is submitted I will return the feedback within three days, along with the next module. Each subsequent module will be emailed as the previous module’s assignment is received.
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How much time do you need to set aside for this course? Three or four hours a week to reflect on the questions and complete the writing assignment, although ultimately you will need to devote many hours to writing you memoir, which is a long, slow and fulfilling process.
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Course outline:
Module 1: Memoir styles and options, the difference between memoir and autobiography, preparing the ground, choosing a frame and making a time line.
Module 2: Where do you come from? Who is your tribe? What time are you living in? Characters and the back story.
Module 3: Writing tips, starting small, settings and descriptions, writing about home.
Module 4: Rituals and routines: the details of everyday life that flesh out the story.
Module 5: Your writing process. Turning points, challenges, choices and consequences.
Module 6: The power of story, looking back, leaving a record, re-framing and moving on.