Writing Life Stories (B)

Why write our own stories? Memoir writing may help us capture enduring portraits of the people in our lives, recreate with words the landscapes we once walked, and take the time to reflect on our ever-changing personal, familial, or social circumstances. Yet writing about one’s own life can be daunting. Where does one start? What should be included or left out? How should you organize your thoughts? Chronologically? By themes? Brief anecdotes or chapter-long memoirs? What about style? How do you create scenes or dialogue? How do you make a story flow? Poetry or prose? Whether beginners or experienced writers, we will help each other tackle some of these questions in our memoir writing group. Every other week we will have an opportunity to present our work to a sounding board of like-minded memoirists and to give and receive helpful feedback. We will also hone our writing skills by drawing from a wide variety of resources dealing with the genre. If you ever wished to try your hand at writing compelling, real-life stories, this is your chance.