Start or re-invigorate your memoir — or just create a handful of vivid vignettes — with this fun, satisfying form.
Join us to explore the elements of memoir in small manageable bites. We’ll read and discuss Micro Memoirs, also called Flash Memoir, (50-250 words) to inspire your own writing and enhance your storytelling skills. Each week, with provided prompts, you’ll write about a variety of incidents, stories, or memories while building specific craft skills (image, metaphor, point of view, rhetorical strategies to address memory “gaps,” and more).
In each class there will also be time for students to read their work out loud, to receive specific appreciations. Using a writer-focused workshop process, we’ll replace opinions and invasive “fix-its” with specific answers to their questions to best serve the writer and support them in revision. This class is perfect for poets and prose writers who want to write about their lives or family histories, get out of their writing ruts, and enhance their skills with feedback and revision.
Live video conference: This workshop will be held via our online video conferencing platform, Zoom. You can view brief tutorials on using the platform here. On the start date or the day before, participants will receive an email with login info (please check your spam if you don’t see it).
In this workshop you’ll learn:
- The juicy power of being concise!
- What short forms like the micro memoir, can offer to writers to create rich stories or jumpstart longer works
- To enhance your descriptive powers and build your craft skills (image, metaphor, point of view, rhetorical devices)
- How to manage “memory gaps” and use them to write effectively or forward your larger themes and inquiries
- How to integrate feedback and approach revision with more excitement and curiosity
- How to provide feedback that is useful and respectful to other writers
Time requirements
- 30-60 minutes outside of class.
Materials
- All reading materials will be provided.
Who should take this workshop?
- This workshop is designed for writers who want to write short, engaging pieces about their lives or family histories, get out of their writing ruts, and enhance their skills with feedback and revision.
If you need an accommodation for this workshop, please contact us at access@writer.org. We will attempt to fulfill all requests, but advance notice is necessary to arrange for some accessibility services.