Workshop: Memoir
This workshop is currently FULL. To be added to the waitlist, please email taryn@mainewriters.org.
How to Frame A Life
Memoir Writing with Elizabeth Peavey
One thing that mires many a memoir writer is knowing where to start and when to stop. We often feel the need to tell the reader everything, yet, like all good writing, judicious selection is key. But how to choose from a life so filled with juicy bits? A clear thesis.
This workshop will address how to figure out what you want to communicate through the lens of your life to your target audience. Strategies will be developed to create a narrative arc that can be supported by compelling scene work. We’ll examine how to make your world come alive for your reader through sharp prose and vivid detail. And we’ll discuss the tricky issue of truth vs. fact, the way in which imagination informs memory, and how our easiest “truths” are not always our best ones. Whether you’re knee-deep in your life story or looking for a way to begin, this workshop will give you the necessary tools and guidance to move forward.
SUBMIT
After registering, participants in the memoir workshop are asked to submit a memoir excerpt or personal narrative essay of up to 1,000-words by no later than 9:00 a.m. on April 21. Please email the manuscripts as attachments to taryn@mainewriters.org with the subject line: “PEAVEY BLACK FLY MSS.” *Word files are preferred, but you may also send a PDF..
Participants will be asked to review two peer manuscripts prior to the retreat. Constructive critiquing techniques will be provided to ensure a supportive and nurturing environment.
Elizabeth Peavey has been teaching memoir and personal narrative for MWPA since the days of quill and parchment. She is the author three books and countless print columns and features, including for Down East magazine, where she’s a contributing editor. Her one-woman show, My Mother’s Clothes Are Not My Mother, ran for six years and received the Maine Literary Award for Best Drama. She is a frequent keynote and guest lecturer at conferences and schools, and she provides communications training – with an emphasis on story – to institutions and organizations in fields ranging from finance, law, and health, to the arts, education, and advocacy.