The past
actually happened, but history is what someone wrote down
A. Whitney
Brown
Writing Personal Histories
Multnomah Art Center
Wednesday
10 am - 12:30 pm
Course
Description
Our
class is a creative collaboration of writers with memoirs in progress. In our
class, we provide supportive feedback and encourage our fellow writers to move
their memoir and personal history projects forward. We write and research stories
that are waiting to be told, stories that will be lost to future generations unless
they are put to paper. We embrace an open-genre approach, with nonfiction
prose, poetry and as well as multi-media possibilities so you find the approach
that works best for your writing.
We explore research, archives, conduct interviews and creatively gather
information to strengthen our narratives by developing the “back stories.” Techniques
such as dialogue, sensory descriptions and humor are explored to enhance our
writing.
Objective
Each
participant will select a project to research and write about, aiming to
produce a stand-alone piece of writing or a chapter/vignette that also can be
used for a larger project. You might choose a personal memoir, the stories of
family members or friends that you wish to interview, or a person or place that
you are interested in researching. Your final piece of writing might be
non-fiction prose or combine poetry, mix-media and prose.
Course
Materials
Please bring a notebook and pen to each class meeting for in-class writing. Other
materials will depend on your writing and research. You might gather photographs,
documents, maps, and mementoes….
About the
instructor
Meg Eberle Ainsworth is a journalist who specializes in biographical writing.
She recently collaborated with her mother on Good Timber, a memoir of her mother’s childhood. As a former newspaper reporter, she
interviewed hundreds of people, and was especially drawn to human-interest
stories.
Class
meetings
Class meetings will include a
combination of sharing writing; more in-class writing; introductions to various
approaches to the project such as research, interviewing, and publication
ideas; and new assignments to pursue.
We will meet alternate Wednesday mornings
until Dec. 4. Classes will be
held from 10 am - 12:30 pm on Oct. 9, 23; Nov. 6, 20; and Dec. 4.
Wednesday,
Oct. 9 Introduction
and exploration of future class topics, in class writing, readings, discuss preliminary
project commitment
Wednesday,
Oct. 23 Final project
commitment, in class and outside writing/reading.
Wednesday,
Nov. 6 In class and out-of-class
writing/reading
Wednesday
Nov. 20 Overview
of printing options, in class and out-of-class writing/reading
Wednesday
Dec. 4. Final
project, (optional in class binding) potluck, and share our writing
