C R E AT I V E W R I T I N G Creative Nonfiction: Finding the Universal in the Particular M emoir, essay, or first-person reportage—all creative nonfiction is rooted in a daily habit of noticing the “beloved particulars,” then digging inward to discover how those particulars can evoke what we might risk calling “the universal”—an archetypal experience that almost any reader can relate to. In this highly exploratory course, we will play with nonfiction forms ranging from the lyric to the narrative. Voice, point of view, structure, form—all of the essential, recurring terms of the writing life will be introduced as we discuss works by such writers as Richard Rodriguez, Grace Paley, Joan Didion, and Amy Tan. We will complete and post short weekly assignments for feedback, and each student will also draft and workshop a longer piece of writing. We will practice really seeing, being open and receptive (“sneaking under the fence of interpretation,” as Deborah Eisenberg called it), and dropping defenses, especially those we hide from ourselves, to find truths that can show us the transcendent in the particular. After all, as Flannery O’Connor wrote, “Wouldn’t it be better for you to discover a meaning in what you write than to impose one? Nothing you write will lack meaning because the meaning is in you.” r aC h e l hoWa r d Author Rachel Howard is the author of a memoir about her father’s unsolved murder, The Lost Night, and a novel, The Risk of Us. Her personal essays and stories have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The New York Times “Draft” series, The Los Angeles Review of Books, StoryQuarterly, and O, The Oprah Magazine. She received an MFA in fiction from Warren Wilson College. CNF 122 W 10 weeks, June 26 – September 1 3 units, $955 Limit: 17 Refund Deadline: June 29 Course Format: Flex Online How to Start Your Story: A Memoir Workshop W hether you have attempted to write memoir before or not, this course is designed to give you a fresh start. Brain researchers tell us that memories aren’t stored intact but get “rewritten” each time we remember them. What does this mean for your story? Is it possible to include something you can’t quite remember? Can you write your own version of someone else’s story? We will start this workshop exploring how memory works and what that means for us as writers. We will work to dispel any critical voices that may prevent you from writing fully about your own life. From there, we will get practical, discussing the components necessary to draw a reader into a memoir, such as setting, character, and theme. Moving on to the issue of voice, we will read a variety of excerpts from such writers as Jo Ann Beard, Kiese Laymon, Maxine Hong Kingston, and Paul Auster. You will have an opportunity to share your own story and experiment with starting it from a fresh perspective. There are innumerable ways to tell a story, and by the end of the workshop, you should have a fresh start for your own story and the inspiration to keep it going. mon iC a W e SoloWSk a Author; Editor Monica Wesolowska is the author of the memoir Holding Silvan: A Brief Life (named a Best Book of 2013 by The Boston Globe) as well as two children’s books, Leo + Lea and Elbert in the Air. Her essays and short stories have been published in a wide variety of venues, including The New York Times. For almost two decades, she has taught creative writing and worked with clients as an independent editor. CNF 91 Saturday, July 8 9:00 am – 3:00 pm (PT) $255 Limit: 21 Refund Deadline: July 1 Grade Restriction: NGR only; no credit/letter grade Course Format: Live Online 53 R EGIS T R AT IO N F O R AL L C O UR S ES B EGINS ON MONDAY, MAY 22, AT 8:30 A M (P T ) R EGIS T ER O NL INE AT C O NT INUINGSTU DIES.STA NFORD.EDU