Shaping your Memoir: a Writing Workshop with Cathy Luna
You have an important story to tell, but what’s the best way to tell it? Memoirists grapple with many of the same structural questions that face novelists and other storytellers: where does my story begin and end? In what order should the events unfold? Should I tell it chronologically, or organize events in a different way (framed, collage, braided, circular, etc.)? What structure will keep my readers engaged and also illuminate the universal themes at the heart of my story? In this half-day workshop, we will examine and play with various ways to map, scaffold, and structure our stories. Through specific craft exercises, examining published excerpts, generating new work and receiving supportive feedback, writers will try out potential structures for their memoir and gain tools for choosing and incorporating a structure that will help their story shine.
Saturday, August 7, 9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. ($75)
Cathy Luna, PhD has published excerpts from Missing Lessons, her memoir-in-progress, in Lunch Ticket, CONSEQUENCE, and The River Teeth Journal. A former faculty member at UMass Amherst, Cathy has taught writing for more than thirty years. Since 2010, she has been a writing consultant and writing coach for Five College faculty writers.
