WHAT’S YOUR STORY?

Writing Memoir & Fiction: From Memory to Imagination

Have you ever thought, I have to write that down someday? Or maybe you’ve imagined a character, situation, or world that doesn’t exist yet—but you can’t stop thinking about it.

Every story begins somewhere.

It might begin with something that actually happened. A childhood memory. A relationship. A family story. A journey. A moment you still think about years later.

Or it might begin entirely in your imagination.

This six-week creative writing workshop is designed to help you discover the story you want to tell and begin putting it on the page.

You may choose to write memoir, staying close to your own experiences. You may begin with something true and then fictionalize it—changing characters, circumstances, chronology, or even what happens. Or you may write a story that is entirely fictional.

You don’t have to decide before you begin. Sometimes we discover what kind of story we’re writing by writing it.

Through exercises, discussion, and guided instruction, we’ll explore character, setting, dialogue, conflict, structure, and voice—and learn how memory, observation, and imagination can all become material for storytelling.

You don’t need to consider yourself a “writer” to participate. You simply need a willingness to write, experiment, and discover where your ideas take you.

OUR GOAL

By the end of six weeks, you will have begun developing a story of your own and gained the fundamental tools and confidence to continue writing it.

WEEK 1 — FINDING YOUR STORY

Memory, Imagination & the Story Idea

Where do stories come from?

Sometimes they come from something we’ve experienced. Sometimes from something we’ve witnessed or heard about. And sometimes a character, place, image, or completely invented situation simply captures our imagination.

We’ll explore:

·      Finding inspiration

·      Mining memories for material

·      Beginning with a character, place, image, or idea

·      Sensory detail

·      Asking “What if?”

·      Showing versus telling

·      Discovering which ideas contain a story

Writing exercise: Begin with something you remember—or something you imagine.

WEEK 2 — CREATING CHARACTERS

Real, Imagined & Somewhere In Between

Every compelling story needs people we want to follow.

Your characters may be entirely invented. They may be inspired by people you know. Or, in memoir, one of those characters may be you.

Whatever their origins, characters need to feel like complicated, recognizable human beings on the page.

We’ll explore:

·      What characters want and need

·      Strengths, flaws, contradictions, and secrets

·      Writing yourself as a character

·      Transforming real people into characters

·      Inventing characters from scratch

·      Character relationships

·      Revealing character through action and dialogue

Writing exercise: Create a character based on yourself, someone you know, or someone who has never existed.

WEEK 3 — CREATING CONFLICT

What Makes Something a Story?

A memory, character, or interesting situation is a beginning. But something has to happen.

We’ll explore the conflict that gives a story momentum and makes a reader want to know what happens next.

We’ll explore:

·      What does your character want?

·      What stands in the way?

·      Internal and external conflict

·      Obstacles and complications

·      Raising the stakes

·      Creating tension

·      Turning points

·      Finding the deeper question beneath the story

For memoir writers, we’ll look for the conflict within events that actually occurred. For fiction writers, we’ll discover how conflict can be invented and intensified. And for writers somewhere in between, we’ll explore how changing what happened can sometimes reveal a more compelling story.

WEEK 4 — BRINGING THE STORY TO LIFE

Scene, Setting & Dialogue

Whether something really happened or exists entirely in your imagination, the reader needs to feel as though they are there.

We’ll explore:

·      Turning ideas and memories into scenes

·      Creating vivid settings

·      Writing believable dialogue

·      Subtext—what characters don’t say

·      Using sensory details

·      Showing versus telling

·      When to summarize and when to create a scene

·      Reconstructing dialogue from memory

·      Inventing what you don’t know

Writing exercise: Write a scene in which two characters want different things.

WEEK 5 — HOW TRUE DOES IT HAVE TO BE?

Memoir, Fiction & the Territory Between Them

What happens when a true story isn’t quite working on the page? What if you don’t remember exactly what happened? What if changing something makes the story stronger?

And what if you’re writing fiction but discover that pieces of your own life keep finding their way into it?

This week we’ll explore the choices writers make about how closely a story follows reality—and the creative possibilities that open up when imagination enters the picture.

We’ll explore:

·      Memoir and autobiographical writing

·      Fiction inspired by life

·      Entirely invented fiction

·      Emotional truth versus literal fact

·      Changing names and identifying details

·      Compressing time

·      Combining characters and events

·      Inventing scenes and conversations

·      Point of view

·      Writing about real people

·      Deciding what kind of story you’re telling

There isn’t one correct choice. The goal is to understand the choices available to you and decide what best serves your story.

WEEK 6 — BUILDING YOUR STORY

Structure, Voice & Where the Story Goes

Real life doesn’t necessarily happen in a satisfying narrative order—and even an invented story needs shape.

We’ll step back from our individual scenes and begin looking at the larger story.

We’ll explore:

·      Beginning, middle, and ending

·      Where your story should begin

·      Chronological versus nonlinear storytelling

·      Story structure

·      Pacing

·      Turning points

·      Choosing what belongs—and what doesn’t

·      Finding your narrative voice

·      Writing a strong first sentence

·      Creating an opening that makes readers want to continue

·      Creating a roadmap for the story ahead

·      Revising and strengthening your work

We’ll finish by reading and celebrating some of the writing created during the workshop.

BY THE END OF THE WORKSHOP, YOU WILL HAVE:

✓ A story idea you can continue developing
✓ A memorable central character
✓ A central conflict or question
✓ Several written scenes
✓ Experience writing dialogue, setting, and action
✓ Explored memory and imagination as sources for stories
✓ Considered whether your story is memoir, fiction, or somewhere in between
✓ A basic structure or roadmap for continuing your work
✓ A strong opening
✓ Greater confidence in your own voice as a writer

Most importantly…

You will have started your story.

It may be something that happened.

It may be something you imagined.

Or it may live somewhere in between.

The important thing is that it’s a story you want to tell.