Introduction to
Write your Life
Warning: This programme may change your life for the better
This programme will run again in January 2015
Would you like to:
Tell your own story
Document your family history
Create a blog for family and friends
Write an autobiography
Write about your ancestors
Write about other family members...
Or an incident in your past
A world event which has changed your life
Or a personal journey to fulfilment..... ?
You will learn how to shape your writing into something people will want to read and find compelling by covering the basics of good story telling.
Tell your own story
Document your family history
Create a blog for family and friends
Write an autobiography
Write about your ancestors
Write about other family members...
Or an incident in your past
A world event which has changed your life
Or a personal journey to fulfilment..... ?
You will learn how to shape your writing into something people will want to read and find compelling by covering the basics of good story telling.
Write Your Life
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What
One day: 10.00 – 4.00 The programme will include: Setting parameters for your story; shaping your story; develop your voice; tales of the unexpected –plots and subplots; editing. Lunch will be provided by Blossom who is famous for her great food. Cost £55.00 including lunch |
Introduction to Write Your Life |
Where
The Venue will be The Hotel Continental in Dovercourt, Essex. When Write Your Life: Weds 29th October 2014 |
What the programme covers
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All About You
Using a creative exercise called ‘Mapping the Kingdom of You’ we will explore as much as possible about each person in the group. We will Set your boundaries; this is totally up to you and there is no pressure to tell tales about the ghosts and skeletons in the family closet, the secrets and lies, the juicy bits... (although they may make a better story). How far do you want to go? How much do you want to tell? We will develop the habit of keeping a notebook., writing a diary. Write down all the funny little things your grandchildren say, the things you notice, overhear, imagine... At the end of this session, we will have some ideas about the content of your story and have begun to write a notebook / diary of anecdotes. Truth, Memory and Fiction Now we get to the interesting bit. Stories about people are interesting. We will look at WHO is in your story and who they really are: what they mean to you: how can you best tell other people about them and capture their essence in words. We will also look at truth, memory and fiction: emotional truth and literal truth. What happened, when and how is less important than HOW IT FELT: get the emotional truth right and your story will have a beating heart and soul. It will create its own integrity and the facts will follow. At the end of this session, your story will have a beating heart and a soul. |
Shaping your story
Is it a bird, is it a plane? No it is YOUR LIFE, flying out there like a kite with wind in its sails, breath in its lungs and blood coursing through its veins.... We need to let it fly free by building a shape and a structure; maybe chapters or scenes. Also, find the focus of your story, or its purpose. Is it about your professional life: The story of my life as a Miner / Teacher/ Loss Adjuster Or Hobby My life as a United supporter / Tales from the Golf Course / Dancing through the decades / The dangerous life of a stamp collector? Or simply: ‘My Life Story: For my Grandchildren’ . Is it a continuous narrative, a short story, or a series of anecdotes? Do you want to include poems you have written? Or interviews with other members of your family? PLOT your story At the end of this session, you will have an idea about the STRUCTURE of your story More tales of the unexpected What else happened? What more can you say? Who else did you know, meet (sub plots and secondary characters). How can we weave these into your tale in order to add depth and intrigue. What are the hooks? What questions do you want to leave dangling to intrigue the reader and keep them reading? It is your story in your voice; how do you sound on paper and how can we communicate that better? (style) At the end of this session you will have added depth and intrigue to your story and developed a unique voice |
Why you should do it
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Leave a record of yourself, your life; share your memoirs for posterity. This course will also encourage the habit of diary, blog, and journal writing for life. Once you get the writing bug it can be addictive. I am now a certified, compulsive writer and always have two or three notebooks on the go. You will develop your story with a group of people who will become your supporters and friends and leave another legacy of a shared experience.
‘Your Story’ is your best legacy to your family and they will want you to do it! None of us will be around forever and you may regret not capturing those stories and holding them in trust for future generations. |
Here’s why I decided to Write My Life......
Since I became a grandmother, I have become even more aware of a legacy, and a responsibility to record things for posterity. I wanted to offer my granddaughter something that only I can do. I am a writer. I can write a book; not a children’s book but a book which explores the thoughts and memories of the grandmother I have become. I decided to Write My Life: to share the experiences and provide some inspiration for her to explore her own life. It will be a book for when she is older and I am perhaps no longer here to talk to the woman she will become; and to dedicate it to the other infants who will be my grandchildren, God willing, in the years to come. |