An exciting new course coming soon at Printers Playhouse in Eastbourne every Monday.
We’ll be looking at how we can turn our memories, diaries and photos - the raw material of our lives - into powerful stories that resonate with readers.
Why spend your time and energy making things up when you already have all the ingredients you need for a compelling and emotionally authentic story in the material of your own life?
With the demand for true life stories booming right now, there’s never been a better time to make the most of what you’ve already got inside you.
Come and learn how to write the story that only you can tell.
The Course Outline
Using Your Own Life as Raw Material
Change – The heart of all good stories is change. If nothing changes, you don’t have a story, you just have a summary. Which moments in your life changed you?
The Quest – Have you been on a journey to discover yourself? Whether consciously or not, our quest to find meaning, love, healing, identity, belonging or your roots can be a very powerful way of telling your life story. What have you discovered about yourself or your family or society along your way?
The Obstacles – Every good story needs its challenges and setbacks and antagonists. Who or what were yours? How did you overcome them?
The Mentors, Allies and Foes – Here we look at the people in your lives who made a difference – parents, friends, mentors, lovers, foes – examining the roles they played in your story and what impact they had on you.
A Dance or a Journey? Alan Watts once said that life should be seen as more of a dance - a musical and playful experience which is meant to be lived in the present moment - rather than as a journey with a goal-driven final destination. How might this understanding of life impact on the shaping of your experiences in order to tell a good story?
How to Be You – The memoir as reflective essay or a call to arms is a lucrative business at the moment. The world seems to be crying out for advice and leadership. What beliefs, insights or wisdom do you have to share with people? How and where did you learn them?
You and Your Voice - We’re very often a different person with different people. Deciding on the reasons for why you want to tell your story and whom you want your audience to be will have a massive impact on your voice and the way you tell your story. Here we experiment with different voices and find the one that most truthfully reflects you and the story you want to tell.
Storytelling Techniques – We look at using ‘Show not Tell’ exposition, dialogue, foreshadowing and other storytelling techniques in order to turn your memories into sensory rich and emotionally charged stories.
Emotional Truth – The emotional truth at the heart of your story is what will resonate with your reader. But sometimes the facts can get in the way of a good story. What do we do when this problem comes up? How do we decide whether we want to write a ‘true story memoir’ or a narrative ‘inspired by a true story.’ What’s the difference and why does it matter?
Audience - Understanding who your audience is early on will not only help you write and research your story more efficiently, but will also be essential for launching it out to the world. We’ll look at different age, gender, social and cultural demographics and consider the impact this will have on the shape and positioning of your story.
Pricing
A 10 Week Course (90 minutes per session) £150
There are also two places available at free/reduced rate. Contact me to enquire further.
Require writing support?
I can be your writing coach, editor and proof-reader, depending on what support you need.
Editing Services
As a professional writer who has worked with industry development executives and editors, I know the value of a trained pair of eyes on something and I know what constructive helpful feedback looks like too, having been on the receiving end of it for years.
Whatever stage you’re at - whether you’re stuck in the middle of a first draft or you need some feedback pointers on where to focus when you begin the next draft or you’re feeling you’ve done all the self-editing you can but you want a polish and a ressuring double-check before you send it out to agents - I can help.
I can detect where problems may be occurring and I can suggest practical solutions to fix them. I can provide practical advice on how to improve structure, strengthen storylines and flesh out characters. I can see where your strengths are and give you feedback on how to maximise them.
I can give you a ‘big picture’ overview, a spring-cleaning polish or an detailed analysis of a specific chapter.
I specialise in various genres including television and theatres scripts, young adult fiction, fantasy, women’s fiction, paranormal, romance, memoirs and true life fiction, contemporary fcition, LBGTQ+, romantic comedy, self-help and self-improvement, inspirational, sex and relationships, action and adventure, new age, graphic novels and literary fiction.
Get in touch to chat about the help and services I can offer for the next stage of your project.