“The teaching of craft can be done without damage to a writer’s original voice or artistic self-esteem.”
― Pat Schneider (the 4th precept of the AWA Method)
FIRST DRAFT MEMOIR, Autumn 2024, facilitated by SUE REYNOLDS
In 2024-25, Sue will be once again leading a First Draft Novel Approach to Memoir workshop on bi-weekly Tuesday afternoons from 1 – 3:30 Eastern Time. Workshop size will be limited to 8 participants.
Recent Background
In 2022, Sue took a year off leading First Draft Novel Approach to Memoir workshops. At that point she’d been leading them for 13 years. Both she and the course needed some rejuvenation.
She spent the next 12 months reading many, many memoirs, taking memoir workshops from other teachers and institutions, and working on her own memoir. She also led two 10 week Mining for Memoir workshops, focusing on shorter memoirs.
In her sabbatical year, many of the workshops she took were a-synchronous, online workshops where the focus was on self-study. Occasionally there would be a live Q&A session where the instructor would gather with colleagues to address issues students were encountering, but most of the work was done on privately by her in her own time. She feels she learned a great deal of theory, but ultimately the lack of live, face-to-face time in-person was dis-incentivizing.
Sue was trained by Pat Schneider in 2002 and certified as an AWA affiliate at that time. In the more than 20 years since then, Sue’s belief in and passion for the AWA method in holding safe and generative workshop space has only intensified. Her time in the a-synchronous workshop environments in 2022-23 convinced her that in-workshop writing and strengths-based feedback is essential for doing the emotionally demanding work of writing memoir.
For the academic year of 2023-2024 Sue returned to leading A Novel Approach to Memoir, First Draft with a renewed passion for the art form, and many many new resources and new thoughts about the shape that memoirs can take.
That year’s course had a similar structure to previous years’ workshops: bi-weekly workshops with a synchronous, in-class focus on memoir theory and writers’ craft and lots of time for on the spot writing and receiving feedback.
In between, participants also read and looked at published memoirs with a wide range of structures.
That new format for the workshop did everything Sue hoped it would do, and she is building on that re-design this year 2024-25.
ANA to Memoir, 2024-25
Early sessions in the fall will focus on work that “discovers” what wants to be written about from your life.
At the same time, we will be looking at published memoirs, but focusing on those that are more fragmented / collaged / mosaic-like in structure.
In December we will look at the work you’ve produced so far with an eye to discerning the organic shape your memoir seems to want to take.
Then the six months from January to June will be spent fulfilling the early promise of your work from the first part of the workshop; you’ll be fleshing out the shape your memoir wants to take into a full, first draft manuscript.
There is time to write in each class, as well as time to share what you’ve written and received feedback from your colleagues.
Bi-weekly you will be asked to submit UP TO 3000 words to Sue. Once a month you will have an online meeting with Sue to receive response to your work to date.
HOW DOES A NOVEL APPROACH HELP YOU WRITE YOUR FIRST DRAFT?
- You meet biweekly online, face to face, in a small group of memoirists who are also writing their first drafts.
- You read and share strengths-based feedback with each other on work written during time together.
- In each of the 20 workshops, a vital aspect of the memoir craft is addressed
- Every two weeks you send Sue up to 3000 words via email.
- Every month you have a meeting with Sue to discuss the work you’ve submitted and the shape your memoir is taking as well as the challenges and victories you’re encountering while doing the work.
- In each of the 20 workshops, a vital aspect of the writing craft is addressed
- In the weeks between the workshops you’ll read at least a portion of the chosen published memoir for that session, and will discuss what you’ve noticed about the structure and material during workshop the following week.
- At the conclusion of the workshop you will have written 60,000 words (or more) and learned the key skills to writing compelling life-based stories.
- You will forge long-lasting writing friendships with your fellow participants.