The memoir has become one of the most popular writing genres in recent years. This seminar is designed for those who want to learn how to write a memoir, a family history, or a recollection of people, places, and experiences that are important to them.We explore how to get started, how to organize facts and memories, what to put in and what to leave out, and how to shape your narrative. Special focus is given to the nature of memory and how memoir pivots on the writer’s ability to spin the personal into the universal. Participants should bring a legal pad or notebook and a pen.

9:30 to 10:45 a.m. What Is Memoir?

The differences among memoir, memory, nostalgia, and journal writing. The roles of memory and nostalgia in creating memoir. Identifying your audience. Learning to be candid with oneself.

11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Creating a Story

An examination of story in memoir. How to sift through memories to find the story that needs to be told.Which truths are worth telling? The ethics of your aesthetics.

12:15 to 1:45 p.m. Lunch

Participants provide their own lunch.

1:45 to 3 p.m. The Architecture of Memoir

Determining the form the memoir should take. Narrative positioning and establishing attitude, intention, point of view, voice, and degree of self-revelation. How to create a timeline.

3:15 to 4:30 p.m. Tools for Getting Started

Knowing when you are ready to write and what you need to get there. How to create your process.

Instructor H.G. Carrillo, an assistant professor of English at George Washington University, is the author of Loosing My Espanish and other works of fiction and prose and a forthcoming memoir.

CODE: 1M2-424