Memoir Writing – Ways to Begin

Tutor: Katy Massey
Level: Suitable for all
Date: A two-day course: Thursday 4 July and Friday 5 July 2024, 11am-5pm
Price: £250

Course details
This course is designed to teach you how to start writing a memoir or how to enrich your existing memoir writing. Memoir means writing about your own lived experience. Perhaps you’ve always wanted to write down your life story, but don’t know how to start? Or you want to get your life experience out into the world, for activism, to share your expertise, or to provide a record for your family? Then this course is for you.

Over this course, we will look at how to choose the building blocks of your story, how to start it, how to use narrative arcs, and what to include and what to leave out. You will also discover how to use research, stay motivated and how to judge your reader’s expectations.

Throughout, we will consider how to use the writer’s creative tools to enhance the reader’s experience. We will learn how to put your experiences across in such a way that you can enhance the feeling, mood and artistic impression of your work. You will learn how to make your memoir writing stand out, so that your reader will not just know, but also understand and feel your lived experience.

Materials to bring
A laptop and/or notepad and pen

Materials included
N/A

Equipment provided
All necessary equipment will be provided for use on the course

About the tutor
Katy was a journalist for many years before studying for an MA and PhD in Creative Writing from Newcastle University. Her memoir, Are We Home Yet? was published in 2020 and praised by Bernardine Evaristo as ‘a gem’. It was shortlisted for the Jhalak Prize and the Portico Prize. In addition, her fiction and nonfiction has been widely anthologised, including Common People edited by Kit de Waal, The Place for Me from Scholastic, and speculative collection Glimpse. All Us Sinners is her first novel and will be published in March 2024 by Sphere, an imprint of Hachette. It is an unusual take on the crime genre, featuring Maureen, a tough but tender-hearted brothel-keeper in 1970s Leeds, who is unexpectedly drawn into the killing of a friend’s son. These events take place against the disturbing backdrop of the Yorkshire Ripper’s murder spree. A second book in this series will appear in 2025. 

General information
Short courses are open to anyone aged 18 and over.
The course fee covers tuition and materials where stated. You will need to bring all other items listed under the ‘Materials to bring’ section.

Refreshments
Coffee and tea are included in the course fee, but you will need to bring lunch with you to eat in the refreshments room. There are plenty of local venues to purchase food locally, if needed, though we recommend that you bring a packed lunch.

Refunds and cancellations
Cancellations are permitted up to 6 weeks before the start of a course and subject to a £35 cancellation fee. Refunds will not be given for cancellations less than 6 weeks before the start of a course.

Students who do not attend due to illness, personal or professional commitments do not have the right to a refund. For this reason, we recommend that students take out personal insurance against any unforeseeable circumstances before the start of their course. It is not possible to transfer to future courses.

We reserve the right to cancel a class in unusual circumstances. We try to avoid this where possible, but sometimes it is unavoidable. In this situation, a full refund will be given. We’re sorry that we cannot be financially responsible for extreme weather conditions, travel disruption or any other situations that are outside our control.

Access
If you have any specific access needs, we will need to know about your access requirements in advance. Please tell us about your needs in confidence by emailing: bookingsoffice@westdean.ac.uk

This venue has steps to the front reception, with limited access via a side gate to the ground floor. There is a small lift to higher floors or stairs.

Safety
Short course students are required to sign a safety compliance form as part of West Dean Health and Safety regulations.

Disclaimer
The information given is accurate at the time of publication. However, West Dean College reserves the right to cancel or amend courses if circumstances require.