- Online
- $695
Breathe life into your memoir by cultivating specificity of character, voice and context. Whether you arrive to this course with a work in progress or a loose idea for your memoir, explore creating an embodied story that engages through intention, emotion and complexity.
This course is for any level of writer, at any stage of their memoir, or with the intention of starting one, who is interested in thinking and feeling deeply and who is looking for the tools to help them uncover and express their story in a way that draws in readers.
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
- Understand and apply the benefits of exploratory free writing, character development and first drafts
- Identify key information about your narrator that serves your reader and story
- Differentiate the narrator from the protagonist and understand how this distance drives your story
- Examine the interpersonal dynamics between the narrator and other characters in your memoir
- Evaluate contrasting character viewpoints, expectations and motivations, and appraise key moments of shift in these relationships
- Analyze and research the societal structures and context underneath your story, as well as the impact on your characters and narrator
- Design and develop your protagonist’s movement over the course of the story and create symbols and scenes that reflect this movement
- Examine choices in language and address that lead to a story’s sense of “voice”
- Identify the role of reflection and personal question in memoir and create a voice and personal question that fit your story
- Proceed with energy and keep writing
Course outline
Each week combines readings, a short, recorded lecture from your instructor, writing exercises and discussion forums where you share work and respond to your classmates.
Week 1: Class introductions, syllabus review and first ideas
Week 2: Get to know your narrator and protagonist
Week 3: Your narrator in Community—Interpersonal dynamics
Week 4: Your narrator in the World—Structures and research
Week 5: Pulling together the journey
Week 6: Voice and language
Instructor
Laurence Lewis Neal is a trans/nonbinary writer, historian and artist holding dual master’s degrees in Creative Writing and History. They are an alumnus of UBC and currently live on Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh lands. Neal’s nonfiction essays have been published in Dissent and Guernica, their short fiction was a Summer Literary Prize finalist, and an excerpt of their forthcoming novel was longlisted for the 2026 Disquiet Literary Prize. Their poetry will appear in Eavesdrop’s 2026 anthology. Neal incorporates autobiographical elements in their fiction, fiction techniques in their nonfiction, and poetic language and historical research in all their work. Over the past decade, they have taught writing to students of diverse ages, learning styles and neurotypes, and they are passionate about passing along craft wisdom and community support.
How am I assessed?
This course is marked complete/incomplete, and the assessment is based on your attendance and participation. Your instructor provides you personalized feedback on the assignments you submit.
Record of completion
Students who have successfully completed a course can access completion documents two weeks after the course ends. Course completion means 80% attendance and/or 80% completion of mandatory assignments.
Expected effort
Expect to spend approximately three to four hours a week, including attending live sessions online. Each week will include a craft-based reading, an independent writing exercise, and an hour-long synchronous (live video) lecture with short prompts and Q&A. Weeks one through four will include written asynchronous online group discussions, and week five will include a short scene assignment. The final assignment will be a memoir chapter or a stand-alone personal essay of 3,000 to 6,000 words.
Technology requirements
To take this course, and for the best experience, we recommend you have access to:
- an email account
- a computer or laptop using Windows or macOS or a tablet
- the latest version of a web browser (or previous major version release)
- a reliable internet connection.
- a video camera and microphone.
One day before the start of your course, we’ll email you step-by-step instructions for accessing your course.
Course format
This course is 100% online and instructor supported with weekly instructor office hours. Course work is done independently and at your own pace within deadlines set by your instructor. Log in anytime to your course to access the lessons as they become available.
Optional weekly Zoom meeting
Mondays, 5:30–6:30 pm Pacific Time
Join your instructor by video conferencing to discuss course materials and your manuscript in progress, receive feedback and ask questions. Sessions are recorded so you can view them later if you cannot attend.
