Begins Tuesday, March 2, 2027

Class will meet weekly via Zoom on Tuesdays, 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM ET

Now Enrolling! Any questions about this class? Use the Chat Button to talk with us.

Instructor Bio

Instructor Aimee Seiff Christian writes memoir and creative nonfiction. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Poets & Writers, The Rumpus, Hippocampus, and elsewhere. She teaches memoir and personal essay, where she leads workshops on voice, structure, revision, and the architecture of book-length nonfiction projects. In addition to teaching, she works as a developmental editor and writing coach, helping writers strengthen individual essays and assemble them into larger, cohesive manuscripts. She has also served as a reader for Hippocampus. She lives in Massachusetts.

Who is this class for?

This online writing workshop is for memoir and personal essay writers who have notes, memories, scenes, or fragments but not yet a complete essay — or who have stalled because they believe they must fully understand their material before they can begin. It welcomes writers at all levels who are ready to work from what they already have. Students will leave with a substantial personal essay draft, a working structural map, and a concrete revision plan.

What to expect:

A personal essay rarely begins as a complete idea. More often it begins with an image, a question, a scene we cannot stop replaying, or several fragments that seem to belong together even when we cannot yet explain why. Over four weeks, this live Zoom writing workshop moves you from scattered material toward a substantial personal essay draft.

We will use lists, objects, sensory memory, scenes, and questions to generate new pages; identify the central question and emotional pressure inside the material; experiment with chronology, juxtaposition, pattern, and repetition; and develop the connective tissue of scene, summary, and reflection. We will also practice a three-pass approach to revision that separates structural decisions from scene work and line editing, so that you are not polishing sentences before you know what the essay is doing.

Rather than beginning with a thesis or imposing a predetermined shape, Aimee teaches writers to treat their existing fragments as evidence. Each meeting combines close reading, guided exercises, quiet writing, and focused conversation in pairs or small groups. Writers do not need a complete draft — or certainty about what their material means — before the course begins. This creative writing workshop treats uncertainty as part of the essay's engine, and Aimee's feedback is craft-based and agency-preserving: she offers possibilities and describes the reader's experience rather than prescribing what a writer's life or story should mean.

What are the writing goals?

In this course, students will produce five to seven newly generated fragments or scenes; a material map identifying the essay's central question, emotional engine, recurring patterns, and possible structure; one substantial personal essay draft of approximately 1,500–3,000 words; and a written revision plan naming three priority revisions and the next drafting steps. Depending on your starting point, the essay may be newly drafted or substantially restructured from existing pages.

Each student may submit up to six double-spaced pages of the draft by the end of Week 3 and will receive targeted written instructor feedback within one week of the final class. That feedback focuses on the essay's central question, structure, narrative pressure, balance of scene and reflection, cohesion, and next-step revision priorities rather than line editing. Students will also receive brief, focused responses in pairs or small groups during each meeting, and Week 4 includes structured peer response on a selected passage.

Readings

Readings may include excerpts from "In Praise of Navel-Gazing" from Body Work: The Radical Power of Personal Narrative by Melissa Febos; "After Peter" from How to Write an Autobiographical Novel by Alexander Chee; selected work by Jo Ann Beard; selected craft excerpts from Brenda Miller and Suzanne Paola; Crafting the Personal Essay: A Guide to Writing and Publishing Creative Nonfiction by Dinty W. Moore (selected craft excerpts); and A Stranger's Journey: Race, Identity, and Narrative Craft in Writing by David Mura (selected excerpt and exercise). Readings will be provided as selected essays or excerpts; students will not be expected to purchase every book.

COURSE OUTLINE

Week 1: Finding the Material — We will distinguish subject from story and explore five points of entry into a personal essay: lists, objects, sensory memory, scenes, and questions. After discussing Melissa Febos's "In Praise of Navel-Gazing," students will complete a rapid series of low-stakes generative exercises and create an inventory of images, memories, tensions, and obsessions. They will leave with five to seven fragments and select two to expand before Week 2.

Week 2: Discovering the Question and the Pressure — We will examine how an essay moves before the writer has reached a clean conclusion. Using Jo Ann Beard and Alexander Chee as models, students will identify the central question, emotional engine, stakes, and movement inside their fragments. The main activity is a material map that clusters fragments by pressure and pattern rather than chronology alone. Students will choose a provisional center and draft 750–1,000 words toward it.

Week 3: Structure, Sequence, and Connective Tissue — We will test possible shapes for the emerging essay, including chronology, association, juxtaposition, and repetition with change. Drawing on Brenda Miller and Suzanne Paola and a selected exercise from David Mura, students will create sequence cards, experiment with at least two arrangements, and mark a passage by mode: scene, summary, reflection, and exposition. They will draft transitions or missing material and expand the essay toward 1,500–3,000 words.

Week 4: Revision Without Premature Polishing — We will study the essay as a reader experiences it: its opening promise, rising pressure, turn, and ending. Students will use a three-pass revision method — structure, scene, then line — and receive focused peer response on a selected passage. The final activity is a revision roadmap identifying what to keep, cut, expand, reorder, and draft next. Students will leave with a substantial essay draft and a realistic plan for continuing after the course.

COURSE TAKEAWAYS:

• Five to seven newly generated fragments or scenes drawn from your own material
• A material map identifying your essay's central question, emotional engine, recurring patterns, and possible structure
• One substantial personal essay draft of approximately 1,500–3,000 words
• Concrete revision strategies for sequence, juxtaposition, repetition, and the balance of scene, summary, and reflection
• Targeted written instructor feedback on up to six double-spaced pages of your draft
• A written revision plan naming three priority revisions and your next drafting steps

TESTIMONIALS:

"Aimee is a beautiful teacher and mentor. Her style is nourishing for the soul. My writing improves through her teaching and the way she organizes a literary community. We are all her chicks in the nest learning to fly with patient, focused assistance. Expect to be pushed and seen throughout the experience."
— Lara Stone, Memoirist, Advanced Personal Writing Workshop

"I've gotten so much out of working with Aimee. She's a smart, caring creative who brings out great things in her students and helps us create new writing and polish our existing work."
— Elaine Hays, Memoirist, Advanced Personal Writing Workshop

"If you are ready to advance your craft and workshopping skills, take this course! Aimee has opened the world of memoir writing for me. The classes are well-organized with craft lessons and workshopping throughout."
— Former Student

PAYMENT OPTIONS:

Tuition is $330 USD. You can pay for the course in full or use Shop Pay or Affirm to pay over time with equal Monthly Payments. Both options are available at checkout.

ONLINE COURSE STRUCTURE:

• Instructor: Aimee Seiff Christian
• Begins Tuesday, March 2, 2027
• Class will meet weekly via Zoom on Tuesdays, 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM ET
• Tuition is $330 USD.