How do writers make the stories of their own lives transcend the limits of individual experience? What does the craft of memoir involve? What practices and philosophies do writers develop to produce and polish their own work? And what is publishing all about?

This class will answer these questions while providing a provocative, supportive environment where you can workshop your memoir-in-progress and receive invaluable feedback. With the aid of weekly assignments, lectures, reading, and in-class critique, you'll produce up to 30 pages of polished text as well as an outline for the rest of the book that will serve as the basis for a potential contract. You'll learn about how to develop a distinctive voice and how to make deeply personal material accessible -- and even irresistible -- to outsiders.

In this class you will learn:

• How to find your authentic literary voice
• How to develop the themes of your story
• How to turn memories into fully-realized episodes
• How to see yourself as a 'character' and give equal weight to the other characters whose lives have intersected with yours
• When it's permissible to embroider, improvise, and reorder real-life events
• How to approach literary agents
• Why (and how) you can sell a memoir before you have finished writing it

By the end of class, you can expect to have:
An outline, 30 pages of a memoir, and the knowledge you need to approach literary agents, magazine editors, and/or publishing houses