Class Description
We’ve all struggled to bring our memoir alive on the page, pitch it to agents and editors, or simply explain it to our friends. This happened and that happened; someone was antagonistic and someone was helpful; I struggled but eventually succeeded; oh, and this other thing was going on, and someone else did something, and I forgot to tell you about this guy who… We add events to events and he said to she said, hoping our audience will be able to keep track of all that we cannot.
A root problem is at work here: we are plying the dull middle scale of our story. It is a necessary step in the writing process, but at some point we need to step back and find a Big Idea that will organize the details into a compelling whole. This workshop will help get you there. Through lecture, discussion, and guided exercises, we will explore how to bring to your story a core concept—a singular, clarifying Big Idea that will simplify, enrich, and organize it, tell you what does and doesn't belong, and ultimately make it "pitchable."
Bring to the workshop any working material, a laptop or tablet of paper, and if possible, a one- or two-sentence "tagline" and 200-word synopsis.
Thanks to the excellent literary citizenship of our donors, scholarships are available for all GrubStreet classes. To apply, click the gray "APPLY FOR SCHOLARSHIP" button. In order to be considered for a scholarship, you must complete your application at least one week before the start date of a class. Please await our scholarship committee's decision before registering for the class. We cannot hold spots in classes, so the sooner you apply, the better. Scholarships cannot be applied retroactively.
For more detailed information about GrubStreet scholarships, including how to contribute to scholarship funds for other students, click here.
This class will take place using Zoom videoconferencing. About 15 minutes before your class is scheduled to begin, you'll receive an email from your instructor with a link to join the class meeting!
Zoom Participation:
Students are not required to turn their camera on, but are encouraged to participate any way they feel comfortable through functions such as the live chat, emoji reactions, and unmuting the microphone. Learn more about using Zoom here.
Zoom Accessibility:
We ask that instructors enable closed captioning and send a transcript of the session after class. You can also enable closed captioning at any time during the meeting. If your instructor forgets to send the transcript, just send ’em an email!