Telling Stories
Teaching and Writing
Growing up, we weren’t allowed to say someone was lying. Instead, we were encouraged to say that someone who was being dishonest was “telling stories.” My mama tried to get “telling untruths” to catch on, but it didn’t have the same ring as “Nuh-uh, you tellin’ stories!”
I think of that often, how lying and telling stories were one in the same in my house, and I wonder how, if at all, it shaped my approach to fiction, and more recently, creative nonfiction.
In the past two years, I’ve taught more memoir than I expected. It’s been an incredible way to deepen my relationship to telling stories, drawing upon my first love—fiction—then using those same devices, that same sense of adventure and exploration, to investigate the intersections of what happened and why, what happened and how, and what happened and what now?
My writing journey and teaching journey are becoming more and more intertwined, the opportunity to work with eager, invested writers feels different—better—than any of the teaching I’ve done in the last decade plus at the day job, so I continue to embrace the opportunities with open arms.
Telling stories isn’t always making stuff up; sometimes it’s exploring what has been said, what has been done, and what is expected. I delight in the blur of it all and savor the sneakily delicious treasures found in the crevices between truth and imagination…
Come Tell Stories with Me…
From Beginning to End:
Hosted only once a season, this mulit-week class leads participants through the entire 2nd Story process, from story conception to final performance. This class focuses on building the skills necessary for crafting a first person story, and culminates in a simply produced 2nd Story style performance. Great for writers at all levels! This class is limited to a maximum of 10 participants. <Click Image to Register>
Mondays from 6:30pm - 8:30pm, CT
February 7 - March 21, 2022
Going There: Memoir and Scene
When writing memoir, writers must strike a delicate balance between exposition and scene. This balance is made all the more difficult when we consider the fallibility of memory, which brings to the fore multiple challenges related to the elements of a scene—setting, dialogue, and showing rather than telling. What if we don’t remember it exactly? How can we write a scene when details aren’t clear? In this eight-week class, we’ll explore those questions and use them as starting points for (re)imagining scene within our memoir-writing. A follow-up to "You Are the Protagonist," this class encourages us to take creative risks in our work through readings and exercises that help us further develop our narrative voice and lean more fully into the craft of storytelling that drives compelling memoir. Interactive, reflective, and generative, this weekly class features writing prompts, revision activities, and small group workshop opportunities.
Tuesdays, April 5 - May 24th
6:00 - 8:00 PM CST
Let’s Talk Where and When
When readers aren’t sure of where or when they are in a scene, they can become disoriented or frustrated, resulting in loss of interest and ultimately abandonment of the story. In this webinar, we’ll explore what it means to invite our readers into the world of our work, the where and when of our story. Using setting, we can build an authentic, immersive world where readers feel included and invested in what happens next. From understanding setting basics to crafting scene immediacy and manipulating time, we will discuss and practice techniques for bringing our settings into the conversation of what makes scenes and narratives work.
Join me for Come with Me: Setting as Journey for Writer and Reader
February 24th, 7:15 - 9:45 p.m. EST
REGISTER HERE
Mineral Point Shenanigans 2022…
Join us for the sixth annual Writing Retreat at Shake Rag Alley, open to writers of all levels. Enrich your talent and prospects in one of three genres:
Memoir and Personal Narrative with Patricia Ann McNair, Retreat Artistic Director
Writing Fiction with Christine Maul Rice
Digging In: Research and Writing with Sheree L. Greer
6th Annual Writing Retreat
May 20-22, 2022
