A 2-Weekend, 4-Day Intensive via Zoom  

Saturday, Sept 14th & Sunday 15th, 10AM - 1PM PST

Saturday, Sept 21st & Sunday 22nd, 10AM - 1PM PST 

Any questions about this class? Use the Chat Button (lower left) to talk with us.

Instructor Frances Badalamenti is the author of the novels, I Don't Blame You (2019), Salad Days (2021) and Many Seasons (forthcoming in November). Some of her shorter work can be found at The New Yorker, The Believer Magazine, BOMB Magazine, Longreads and elsewhere. She teaches writing workshops and also works individually as a mentor for writers. Frances lives in Portland, Oregon, with her husband and son.

During this two-part, two weekend intensive, we will explore the art of the personal narrative, or “writing through self”.

How can we extract experiences from our own lives and make narratives out of them?

We will explore different ways that one can write through self, such as memoir, autofiction, fiction and hybrid forms. We will discuss each genre in detail and review excerpted works from those particular genres. There will be discussions on the writing craft, such as understanding point of view and the balance of scene versus exposition in this type of interior writing.  

Frances will provide readings ahead of time: memoir and novel excerpts, personal essays and short stories, plus craft articles.

We will look at the work of writers such as:  Edouard Louis, Sigrid Nunez, Sarah Manguso, Teju Cole, Annie Erneaux, Natalia Ginzberg, Olga Ravn, Leslie Jamison and others.

This course is not a writing workshop and Frances will not provide you with individual feedback on your work. In addition to open discourse on the personal narrative, each of the four days will include time to work on your own writing and Frances will provide direction. There will be an opportunity to share your work with the group (optional), not for critique, but more in the literary salon style.

There are no requirements for this course other than a desire to learn about the art of the personal narrative.

This class is for all levels of writers and readers.

You will gain:

• a concrete understanding of the unique art of autofiction
• inspiring community dialogue and critique of contemporary autofiction authors
• how elements of craft are used in autofiction
• coming away with an understanding of how to write autofiction

Craft talk (and how these narrative elements relate to autofiction):

• Story structure and plot development (book map/story grid)
• Scene vs. exposition (The Yellow Test)
• Dialogue
• Tense: 1^st person, 2^nd person, 3^rd person, omniscient 
• Character development/POV
• Voice, tone, mood, style
• Pacing
• Throughlines and themes

TAKE THIS CLASS IF:

• You’re curious to learn more about autofiction as a genre
• You’re looking for inspiration and/or to possibly begin writing in this genre
• You’d like to engage in a lively discussion about contemporary autofiction writers such as Sheila Heti, Karl Ove Knausgaard, Chris Kraus, Ben Lerner, Brandon Taylor, Edouard Louis and more

YOU'LL TAKE HOME:

• A broad understanding of what autofiction really means
• Inspiration and knowledge that you can apply to your writing and/or reading practices
• An expanded list of autofiction titles for further reading and study

ONLINE COURSE STRUCTURE:

A 2-Weekend, 4-Day Intensive Live via Zoom

Saturday, Sept. 14th & Sunday Sept. 15th: 10AM - 1PM PST 

Saturday, Sept. 21st & Sunday Sept. 22nd: 10AM - 1PM PST

• Instructor: Frances Badalamenti

• A 2-Weekend, 4-Day Intensive Live via Zoom
  

• Saturday, Sept. 14th & Sunday Sept. 15th: 10AM - 1PM PST

• Saturday, Sept. 21st & Sunday Sept. 22nd: 10AM - 1PM PST

• Tuition is $325.