This course will focus on the use of personal narrative to tell a bigger story—whether that’s the story of a community, a profession, a tribe, an extended family, a team sport, a shared hobby, or a particular issue dear to your heart that will also speak to others. In class, we’ll focus on optimum narrative structure, key aspects of strong writing, and how to transition back and forth from the personal to the bigger picture. We’ll study examples in which authors have accomplished both a personal throughline and the outward looking stance, including excerpts from The White Album, Between the World and Me, Cold New World, Enrique’s Journey, Braiding Sweetgrass, Teacher Man, The Undocumented Americans, Fun Home, and other books that are similar in scope. For the first six weeks, we’ll use short lecture, close readings, and class discussion to connect and deepen our understanding of the subject. In the final two weeks, writers will share ten pages from a work in progress, so they can hear from other participants what readers found most engaging about the work, and so they can receive guided (gentle) critique. Writers will also receive a written critique from the instructor, unless they prefer otherwise.
This class is open both to those who’ve previously taken Outward-Facing Memoir (Version 1.0) in 2024—a course that had the same format, but with different readings—as well as those who are entirely new to this topic.
