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Memoir Workshop

Unlock the power of your personal story in the Memoir Workshop at The Writers Studio. Discover the techniques used by successful memoir writers to shape their charged experiences into captivating narratives. Emulate the voices of acclaimed authors and find your unique storytelling style in this immersive eight-week course.

  • All levels
  • 18 and older
  • $435
  • Instructor-led Online Learning, New York, NY
  • 116 hours over 8 sessions
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Start Dates (1)

  • $435
  • Remote Learning @ Instructor-led Online Learning, New York, NY 00000
  • 116 hours over 8 sessions
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Show all 8 sessions
  • Wed, Apr 24 at 6:30am - 9:00pm
  • Wed, May 01 at 6:30am - 9:00pm
  • Wed, May 08 at 6:30am - 9:00pm
  • Wed, May 15 at 6:30am - 9:00pm
  • Wed, May 22 at 6:30am - 9:00pm
  • Wed, May 29 at 6:30am - 9:00pm
  • Wed, Jun 05 at 6:30am - 9:00pm
  • Wed, Jun 12 at 6:30am - 9:00pm
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Class Description

Description

What you'll learn in this memoir writing class:

Students will attend NYC Memoir writing classes at their scheduled times via video chat (with or without cameras enabled) or by calling in to the live chat with your phone. Your exercises will be shared electronically, and the format of the live class will be the same as when you attend class in person, with students and teachers responding to your work and discussing the next week’s exercise.

The technology for attending class remotely is provided by Google Meet and is extremely easy to use. Your teacher will send you links and will provide support as needed. We hope you will continue to write and stay connected to our community during this time.

What is so challenging about writing a memoir is that you are asking yourself to take the charged events of your life and shape them aesthetically, so they appeal to a reader, a reader who doesn’t know you and doesn’t necessarily care what happened to you – unless you can make them.

Using the tried and true Writers Studio method, we will closely examine the work of writers who have been able to turn their very personal subjective stories into memoirs that are transcendentally universal. How did writers like Ed Hirsch, Annie Dillard or Joan Didion create a persona narrator who could tell their story? The answer, of course, is that successful memoir writers are able to think of themselves as characters in a story. In this eight-week course we will dive deeply into the techniques that served as a handrail for writers dealing with personal trauma. Each week we will read and emulate a different voice that has used first person to unlock the emotional power of a story or poem.

You know your story. It’s your story, but you want to familiarize yourself with the tools that will help you to tell that story in a way that is compelling, seductive or suspenseful. Often that means learning how to hold the subject matter out away from one’s self so that you can control the material, rather than be controlled by it. We will work with fiction, poetry, and creative non-fiction to find the voice that works for you. During the workshop, a student will be asked to submit two pages each week to be critiqued by the teacher and other students with an opportunity in the final week to submit a longer piece.

Refund Policy

  • All tuition except $50 is refundable if cancellation is made at least 6 business days before the first class meets.
  • All tuition except $100 is refundable if cancellation is made less than 6 business days before the first class meets.
  • All tuition except $100 is refundable if cancellation is made by 5:00 pm on the fifth business day after the first class meets. If the class meets Mondays, cancellation must be made by 5:00 pm on the Friday following the first class.
  • No refunds will be granted afterwards.

All classes and dates are subject to change and cancellation. We cannot be responsible for providing refunds or offering makeup sessions for classes missed as a result of students’ illnesses, emergencies or events beyond the students’ control. Please be advised that classes may go a little later or end a little earlier than the hours designated on the website. We make every effort to honor these designated times, but there is some variability.

Occasionally, a class may be canceled due to extreme weather conditions or other acts of God. We will make every effort to offer makeup sessions when it is possible, but no refunds will be granted in any case.

In any event where a customer wants to cancel their enrollment and is eligible for a full refund, a 5% processing fee will be deducted from the refund amount.

Reviews of Classes at The Writers Studio (7)

(4.4-star rating across 7 reviews)
  • Memoir Workshop

    Reviewed by Stacy M. on 3/24/2021
  • Memoir Workshop

    Reviewed by Deana S. on 11/23/2018
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Questions & Answers (3)

Get quick answers from CourseHorse and past students.

Question from anonymous
Who teaches this class?
Answer from Brenda L. CourseHorse StaffCourseHorse Staff
Hi there! The instructor for this class is Joel Hinman. Thanks!
Answer Show answer
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Question from S A.
Hello, Monica B. from S (no period), I think I would benefit from an intensive with Hinman prior to joining the Memoir group. I realize this depends on whether Hinman & my schedule can fit in the time. I forget if the intensive is 1 or 2 hours. I know it costs $195. I appreciate your positive assurance of the class. I'm skittish. YT
Answer from Anonymous
Hi S. Yes, go ahead and register for a consultation and then the teacher will reach out to you and request work to review for your 1-hour session. Then you will know whether the class is right for you.
Answer from S A.
Hello, Monica, At last. To whom do I make out my check for $195.? To what address do I mail my payment? Will the $195. for an intense hour w/Hinman be applied to the course if we decide the class is right for me. YT SA
Answer Show all 2 answers
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Question from S A.
Hello, What I call memoir is a fiction of my paternal family's history 1901-1964. Is there a class that deals with historical fiction? What is the one day intensive in Memoir writing? Is the mentor then able to suggest the suitable class, or not? YT SA
Answer from Monica B. Verified Educator
This is the right class for you to take. Successful writing, whether it's fiction, poetry, or memoir, depends on creating the right narrator to tell the story, and that is what we teach at The Writers Studio. It sounds as though you want to write in the first person, from someone else's point of view, so this is really the perfect class for you. Enjoy!
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The Writers Studio

Founded in 1987 by Philip Schultz, The Writers Studio welcomes beginning and experienced fiction writers and poets to ongoing writing workshops designed to help them discover and nurture their own voices. Hailed by The New York Times as "the most personal of the programs," The Writers Studio is founded...

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The Writers Studio

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