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You are here: Home / Archives for memoir writing workshops

The Art of Writing Memoir – Desert Foothills Library welcomes Patricia L. Brooks

April 24, 2013 by patricia

WRITERS FAIRE 2012 014The Art of Writing Memoir

 

Desert Foothills Library – Writers Connection

 

Fri. May 3, 2013

1:00-3:00 p.m.

Cave Creek, AZ

 

 Patricia L. Brooks, speaker, author, consultant patricia@plbrooks.com

 www.blog.brooksgoldmannpublishing.com

for details 480- 250-5556

In this workshop you will immerse yourself in the art of powerful storytelling and take an unflinching look at your own stories.

You will learn to incorporate fictional techniques into your memoir writing to enhance your effort to share galvanizing events.

Objectives of this Workshop ü Learn to help your reader see and feel what you saw and felt. ü Understand the process and structure of memoir writing as a learned craft that will enhance your art. ü Appreciate the power of storytelling by being loyal to your truth. ü Further empower yourself to tell the truth. ü Take an unflinching look at your stories and share your galvanizing events. ü Bring your memoir writing to a new level with fictional techniques.

Filed Under: brooks goldmann publishing, gifts of sisterhood, libraries, Memoir, memoir writing workshop, WRITING TIPS FOR YOU Tagged With: authors, books, desert foothills library, gifts of sisterhood, Gifts of Sisterhood - journey from grief to gratitude, memoir, memoir writing workshops, Patricia L. Brooks, Patricia L. Brooks Seminars, writers

Some of What I Learned at the Desert Nights Rising Stars Conference – Seven Secrets to Writing Memoir – and more

April 10, 2013 by patricia

Seven Secrets to a Successful Memoir – and more

My thoughts – Desert Nights Rising Stars Writers Conference

Arizona State University – Spring 2013

 

Timing is everything, as they say and the timing at Desert Nights Rising Stars could not have been better for me.  By sheer coincidence the DNRS move this year to more memoir and creative non-fiction arrived in the wake of my second memoir.  Here are Seven Secrets to this genre I discovered at the conference, and a few more tips – including some of my own.

Have you ever wondered what happens at DNRS conference weekend behind the vastness of Old Main?  The answer is simple:  invaluable guidelines on writing prose, demonstrations on how to write memorable dialog, lists of quality books to read, demonstrations on editing, thoughts on seeing images clearly to enhance descriptions, encouragement about being critiqued, and so much more.  I learned too that I must show immersion in my memoir and fine tune my writing with some fictional techniques.

The positive and upbeat attitude of the faculty reinforced for me that there is a place for all writers in this writing life.  Here is an elaboration of my notes on memoir from that weekend.

 

Be Open to New Ideas

The most important thing you can capture in your research is how to process your memoir.  Start with little chunks.  Write from memory, from interviews, from reflections on old photos and revisited conversations.  I write with fierce abandon initially and use these prompting methods.  This plan allows me to enjoy building my story.  Start with rhetorical questions you can come back to periodically.  With a journal I find “morning pages” helpful.  Try these:

  • What am I willing to share?
  • What if?
  • Who will I tell?
  • How will I tell it?
  • How will I get to the truth?
  • Who tells me not to share my story?
  • Do I own it?
  • Is my story too dangerous to tell now?
  • Am I willing to journal first and then share?

 

Live the Whole Truth

Remember this is your version of the truth.  Write for a sense of discovery too.  You do not need a timeline and are not limited to just what happened.  Your philosophy about these experiences, and your lessons learned, are valuable parts of your memoir.  You are the expert and have wisdom and knowledge in many areas.

Do not be afraid of your truth and lose your power.  Do not change your story.  Remember your truth is stronger than fiction.  There is power in your honesty.  Take an unflinching look at your life and your experiences to catapult your work to a new level.  Do not be afraid to step out of memoir to fiction if you want to experiment with your stories, but be sure you do not lose what you want to say.

I feel freer in my second memoir than with the first.  It is an unbelievable experience for me to tell my truth about the violence and trauma in my story and have the encouragement I have received from my critique group.

 

The Seven Secrets

  1. When you tell
    1. Take time to contemplate that decision and be sure you are ready.
    2. Allow the distance you need from a traumatic event or the insight required for a galvanizing experience.  Do not portray yourself as the victim.   I waited five years with my first memoir due to grief and loss and 10 years with the second one due to post-traumatic stress recovery from violence.
    3. Step back and give the story and experience time to blossom into something that is worth sharing.
  2. How you tell
    1. Be sure the voice you choose is the best voice for the story.
    2. Consider your voice as a child or that of another family member or as the narrator.  I prefer first person as I feel that is my strongest voice and critical to my success.
  3. What sequence you use
    1. Look at the big picture and analyze your stories thoroughly.  A chronological format is not the best way to go with your memoir.  You need a hook in the beginning and an arc where the change takes place.
    2. Get the reader in quickly to the intensity of the prose.  My assault story leads in detail to my second memoir to advocate for women who have experienced violence.
  4. Where you end the breadth and span of time
    1. Remember a memoir is about a particular event or time in your life.  We can write many memoirs.  I am writing a second one now.  When asked what genre I write I respond with memoir and non-fiction.
    2. Memoir is not a life history or biography in chronological order.
  5. What amount of backstory you need to use
    1. Avoid the pitfall of being too close to the material and not seeing the flaws in your thinking or the unimportant items in your stories.
    2. Consider the areas of your past that are lessons learned.  Use events that have shaped who you are and what you are about to complement the points you are making with your memoir.
    3. Intersperse them in your main theme as threads.  I have used my past trauma and violence survival to show patterns, and my walk through recovery to show hope.  I view my life from many angles.
  6. Who is involved in your storyline
    1.  Acknowledge you understand others can help bind the work.
    2. Be able to forgive and look at the lessons learned.  With my second book on assault and survival with violent crime, I had a lot to forgive.  I address forgiveness in my spiritual journey chapter.
  7. Why you select a particular structure
    1. Write your memoir/ non-fiction in your unique way.  Invite your readers inside the story with a gripping theme to help move it along.
    2. Consider using quotes and other materials.  We have the experience in these incidents and we are the expert on the topic.  We have a right to tell our stories and see ourselves in our own light.
    3. Take your theme throughout the book and thread your ideas to keep it a page turner.  In my second book it is the PTS issue from violence and my spiritual transformation in recovery from PTS that sets it apart.

 

When Family is Involved

It is important to note that everyone reacts differently to physical descriptions of themselves.  So many of us fear the secrets that we know exist in our families and in our lives.  I know I did, but I also knew that the truth would set me free. I had to describe the enemy the way he was and not fear retaliation.  I had to tell my truth about love addiction and abuse.

Often, on so many levels, we are in denial of what happened in our lives.  Sibling rivalry does exist.  It is usually not seen because we are in the middle of the competition and it is all that we know.  This can be good fodder for a memoir.  Most family members want to be portrayed as a hero.  This writing at times is going to be difficult, so just do your best.

Your imagination can fail you, so tell your story true to you.  Do not be concerned about bitterness and anger, just confess what you know and forgive yourself and others along the way.  There will be a moral imperative – somebody was deeply wronged somewhere in your family history.  That may be the story to tell.  Give yourself permission to tell it from your perspective.

Inciting events need to be in your story.  Consider fictional techniques such as scene and dialogue, plot and setting descriptions to enhance your work.  Go deep to bring them to us in memoir form.  Have empathy for all the characters and add some humor in there too.  Remember, you are not the victim of your story.

Now that you have moved away to write and given yourself some space and permission, tell the story and share the experiences the way you want to give us your work.  Be the heroine or hero in your pain or joy and triumph in the end.  Write with your mind and your heart.  Ask yourself what voice leads your truth.  Good luck and happy writing.

It is with much gratitude I say thank you to both Marylee MacDonald (http://members.authorsguild.net/mlmacdonald/index.htm ) and Bhira Blackhaus (www.underthelemontrees.com) for their generosity as speakers at this conference.  I have shared some of their ideas in this piece.  I appreciate the insights they gave and the opportunities they offered us.  We learned from them.

 

Patricia L. Brooks, author, speaker, consultant, educator

patricia@plbrooks.com 480-250-5556

www.blog.brooksgoldmannpublishing.com

 

Filed Under: Blogroll, conferences, Memoir, memoir writing workshop, WRITING TIPS FOR YOU Tagged With: ASU writing workshops, books, Desert Nights Rising Stars, Marylee MacDonald, memoir writing, memoir writing workshops, women writers, writing memoirs

MEMORABLE MEMOIRS and you

October 31, 2008 by patricia

Good Morning!

Memoir writing is personal and intimate.  It is for you first.  It can be for family, for friends, to heal, to leave a legacy or to tell a story, to educate, to inform, but many times to serve a unique purpose.  Here are ideas I use in my workshop – Memorable Memoirs.  They should be helpful to you.  These bits work for me and were accumulated from various sources that I deem reliable. 

My first memoir – Gifts of Sisterhood – was to honor my sister and celebrate her life that impacted me with gifts for a lifetime.  Little did we know the book would take on a life of its own and the workshop Journey from Grief to Gratitude.  It was first to take us through the grieving process after she passed away from lung cancer, and later to carry our mission:  Share her courage and wit through her many gifts. 

The ultimate goal was to bring attention to lung cancer and the 70,000 women who die from the disease each year, thus the Stop Smoking Sister campaign was born.  Your journey will be different.  Mine took me home to Ireland and a chance to write about it in my last chapter, about taking my sister’s spirit with me to County Tipperary.  Yours will be the same in many ways, and unique to you. 

Best of luck to you as you prepare to launch your Memorable Memoir.  Take what works for you and let me know your questions or comments – we will work together.  I am at the third revision stage of my second memoir – this one on my two-times experiencing violent crime and now thriving after the journey through PTSD.  SEE handout below – HAPPY WRITING! 

n What is a Memoir Story?

n Telling us about your MYSTERY in a new way – who are you?

 

n What Memoir Writing is all about

n Being courageous, compassionate  – enduring personal frustrations

n Sharing wisdom, private truths, INTIMACY – making sense of life

 

n What is the Memoir’s significance?

n Express experience with FEELINGS – Show us who you are and what you believe

 

n Who do we Write for and Why?

n Family, friends, ourselves, those lost – To heal ourselves or others

n Because we must – our VOICE must ring – truth and clarity

 

n  How do we Write and about What?

n  Inner truths, REJOICING – Adventures, spiritual quest – Injustices or overcoming adversity

 

n The Journey of Writing for Yourself

n Personal fulfillment – Spiritual experience – Anticipate the journey

n See yourself as the “HERO” of the story – not the victim or angelic

 

n You as the Protagonist/Hero

n Know something must die, to be REBORN -End with a burst of energy, transform

 

n The Journey of Writing for Healing

n Guide your own life with empowerment – be profoundly human – explore you

n Know yourself, your uniqueness – REVELATIONS of important moments

 

n The Passion of Writing for Others

n Share yourself – reap REWARDS and spirit of community – not for revenge or self-service

 

n Consider the Story to be Told

n Don’t just write down everything – Invent and create your story from natural sound

n Input EMOTIONS and meaning – Do your research – Know characters intimately

 

n Ending with Happy or Sad Impact

n Always an opportunity for book #2 – Beginning and ending are YOURS inconveniently

 

n OPTION #1 – The Yellow Brick Road

n Sections of maturing – Life is in cycles – linking KEY events – Interrelated stepping stones

 

n OPTION #2 – The Critical Piece of the Pie

n PIVOTAL events – Any place in time – Learned – Realized – Desired – What changed?

 

n OPTION #3 – Weaving the Web

n Use of a THEME – passion and/or purpose – Play with time – Conflicts and/or struggles

Filed Under: Blogroll, Memoir Tagged With: Add new tag, autobiography, biography, family history, geneology, gifts of sisterhood, journey from grief to gratitude, legacy, lung cancer, memoir, memoir writing, memoir writing workshops, memoirs, stop smoking sister, write, writers, writing

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