On Writing Memoir: Sample Syllabus

May 27, 2025 Writing

Here’s a sample of what you can expect week to week in a memoir writing class. 

WEEK 1: The Art of Truth & Memory

Focus: First drafts, emotional truths, raw memory

  • Writing Practice: 3 micro-memoirs (150–300 words each)
  • Craft Focus: Sensory detail, writing from the body
  • Reading: Lydia Davis
  • Prompt: “Write the scene you return to in memory again and again.”
  • Journal Inquiry: What do I return to in my writing again and again—and why?

WEEK 2: The Art of Generating Big vs Editing to the Bone

Focus: Learning to revise for clarity, precision, and depth

  • Skill Practice: Let yourself write with no editing at all.
  • Craft: Cut 50% of a piece without losing emotional impact
  • Editing Lab: Compare “before” and “after” versions of your work
  • Prompt: Revise a favorite piece to under 200 words
  • Craft Reading: Excerpt from On Writing by Stephen King (re: ruthless editing)

WEEK 3: Repetition vs. Resonance

Focus: Identify repeated themes/images

  • Creative Exercise: Highlight repeated themes or elements across multiple pieces

  • Practice: Ask, “Do I love this because it’s true, or because it’s familiar?”

  • Prompt: Take a repeated theme or image and use it in a new emotional context

  • Reflection: Which repetitions deepen meaning? Which dilute?

Week 4: Finding the Beats & Arc

Focus: Begin exploring story structure

  • Workshop: Lay out your micro-memoirs physically or digitally (index cards work well)
  • Exercise: Group pieces by theme, tone, or emotional climax
  • Inquiry: What is the invisible thread connecting them?
  • Prompt: Write a piece that might serve as an opening or “keystone” to the arc

WEEK 5: Reimagining Placement 

Focus: Experimenting with structure and order

  • Editing Lab: Move pieces around, re-title, explore new pairings

  • Prompt: What story are you telling between the pieces?

  • Craft Practice: Titling, testing transitions, and tension

WEEK 6: Completion & Continuation 

Focus: Polish one piece to final draft quality; sketch next steps

  • Workshop: Read 1-3 pages of your story

  • Practice: Final edit checklist (voice, clarity, rhythm, truth, imagery, tension)

  • Prompt: Write a piece that fe

  • Reflection: What are your next creative steps? Where is the arc leading?

 

Questions or thoughts? email jennifer@jenniferschelter.com