Writing Your Life: Turning Memories Into Stories

Everyone has a story to tell; you’ve probably heard that saying before.  So, let’s say you’re one of the nameless, faceless everyone, and you’ve got a story to tell. But how or where do you begin? And once you pass the beginning, what’s the middle and the end?  Especially the end because, well, you’re still alive and living the story, right?  And how do you make the story interesting, so it doesn’t sound like a series of diary entries?

The truth of the matter is that you’ve probably been telling the story of your life for quite a while already, but only in fragments—as brief anecdotes at dinner parties or at book club meetings; as cautionary tales to younger family members; and, as the history and lore that accompanies the pages of photographs in family albums.

Here’s another truth: everyone actually has more than one story to tell.  In this workshop, you will learn how to take all of those fragments you’ve been sharing and use them, along with other memories and experiences, to help you identify the story that you would like to share. You will then learn, using basic storytelling principles to craft a fluid story, one with a powerful narrative voice and steady pacing, one with chronology and context, place, setting, characters, and dialogue. This workshop is a fun and insightful exploration into the facts, fictions and feelings of the lives we’ve lead thus far. The stories that are written in this workshop may be used for memoir, narrative poetry and/or solo performance scripts.  At the end of this workshop, depending on your genre, you will have a scene for your solo script, at least one narrative poem, or a chapter for your memoir—in addition to a full outline of the story and understanding of what other chapters, scenes or poems are needed in order to complete an overall project.

Faculty: Nana-Ama Danquah