What is the story only you can tell?
You’ve begun writing your life story—now you’re ready to deepen it. Join a supportive, constructive community with this online memoir course for writers with some experience. You will explore a wide range of memoir forms including first‑person and e second‑person narratives, snapshot‑driven structures, experimental montage and the growing world of graphic memoir.
Through a combination of insightful lessons, experimental exercises and practical assignments, you’ll gain an understanding of memoir and of yourself as a writer. As the course progresses, you’ll complete several written assignments. Your tutor will review your work personally and provide constructive feedback on both your writing and your potential next steps.
This memoir course will cover…
- Understanding different forms of memoir
- Exploring difficult subjects such as grief and illness
- Harnessing identifiable moments and memories that have impacted you
- Tackling vulnerability and using it in your writing
- Examining and experimenting with different points of view
- Discovering the differences between memory, truth and perspective.
This 18‑week course is designed for writers already on their memoir path. You’re someone who writes regularly and may be developing a longer project.
Your tutor will read up to 6,000 words of your work. At the end, you’ll also have a one-to-one tutorial to discuss your work in depth and explore your next steps as a writer.
Book your place by 10am BST, Thursday 14 May to take advantage of our early bird discount!
Start date
Monday 21 September
Location
Online
Length
18 weeks (please see course schedule below)
Price
£995* £895 early bird discount
*Payment plans available. Contact us at [email protected] to find out more.
Course format
This course is delivered across six modules, each lasting three weeks (see course programme below). The majority of the content is presented in text form via Teachable, allowing you to progress through the material chapter by chapter at your own pace. You will have two weeks to complete each module, after which you will submit an assignment directly to your tutor for personalised feedback and guidance.
The course also includes up to two live Zoom sessions: a welcome session in the first module, followed by a one-to-one tutorial with your tutor later in the course.
Click to find out more about the course structure and the equipment you may need.
Course programme
Please note, the module order and/or content of the course may be subject to change.
Module one – Beginnings
Memoir is often a literary form that is about the past – remembering childhood, or some earlier time or event in our lives. This can make knowing where and how to start difficult. In this module, you’ll explore using the ‘here and now’ as a trigger for self-exploration and remembering.
Module two – The self and the world
In this module, you’ll explore settings and locations, from the houses you grew up in to the landscapes that shaped you as starting places for telling your story.
Module three – The stories that shape us
In this module, you’ll explore the ways other stories – from fiction, film and television have shaped who you are and how you understand the world and how to acknowledge this in your writing. Dodie Bellamy’s essay explores her feelings about the death of her mother: the work is considered and gentle but it is also precise and you may wish to concentrate on The Boy That Books Built as an alternative.
Module four – Hard times
In this module, you’ll explore the different ways writers have worked with grief, illness and other kinds of difficulty and how to look after yourself if you choose to narrate difficult moments in your life. The texts this week deal with grief and the experience of loss of a parent, and the experience of pregnancy and pregnancy loss. If these texts aren’t suitable for you, Jenn can recommend alternatives.
The preparation to write prompts this week are optional – as is the giving feedback to these prompts. By all means engage fully, but if you prefer to do this weeks preparation in your private journal, that works too.
Module five – Risk and responsibility
In this module, you will explore the risks and responsibilities you must engage with as you write about others, and memoir’s relationship with remembering, authenticity and truth-telling.
Module six – Finding a structure and editing for voice and shape
By now, if you’ve done all the mid-week writing prompts and submission exercises, as well as keeping your writing journal, you will have a substantial amount of draft text. You’ll also have received five lots of personal feedback that have included suggestions in ways you might want to shape and develop your work and lots of comments from others about what is working best.
In this module, you’ll consider options for structure and processes for editing those drafts and using all that feedback.
Live sessions
There will be two live sessions for this course, which will take place over Zoom.
Timings for these sessions will be confirmed shortly.
Hear from former students
What’s it like to take part in a National Centre for Writing memoir course online?
Got a question?
If you still have questions, get in touch with the learning team by email [email protected] or phone (+44) 01603 877177 between our working hours of 9am – 5pm GMT, Monday to Friday. We’re here to help!