Writing Workshop: Mapping Your Memoir Along the Story Arc

ABOUT THIS WORKSHOP:
Believe it or not, writing a memoir takes both art and “science.” The “science” of writing a memoir lies in its structure–the organization or arrangement of a book’s content, which includes the story itself.

While there are a variety of structures to choose from to tell your story in a compelling way, in this one-hour workshop, we’ll begin with a basic understanding of the traditional story arc, also called a narrative arc. This is the shape of the story, the sequence of events from beginning to end. The journey your main character (which in a memoir’s case is you) goes on while taking the reader along for the ride.

You may have heard words such as inciting incident, rising action, climax, or resolution. These are parts of the story/narrative arc and being able to command these is important to telling your story well and/or exploring the various types of structures to choose from.

In our time together, you’ll better understand:

• The traditional story arc and its key plot components
• How to apply the story arc to other stories you love
• Mapping your own story to the story arc
• Various structures to telling your story while still employing this arc

This will be a fun and interactive workshop that will get participants mapping their stories in written form, serving as a blueprint for drafting.

This is a perfect workshop for:

• the first-time memoirist or aspiring memoirist dedicated to writing their book well
• those who are exploring telling their story but don’t know where to begin
• people interested in developing their creative writing skills

If you're looking to ensure your story holds together in a compelling way and doesn’t include unnecessary fluff or irrelevant plot points, you’ll want to come to this workshop.

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR:
Alyssa Berthiaume (known by most as Ally and published under A.Y.) is a mompreneur, author, ghostwriter, and writing guide with a superpower for hearing between the lines. She guides badass and brilliant, loving, and soulful people in writing their incredible personal stories of grit, hope, and triumph meant to inspire their audience, transform the masses, and change the 'effin' world.

She is the founder of The Write Place, Right Time, her virtual boutique professional writing services where she serves entrepreneurs, leaders, and visionaries internationally to bring their books to the world via her book coaching, developmental editing, and ghostwriting services. Her genre of choice is nonfiction with a specialty in memoirs.

Berthiaume is also the award-winning author of Dear Universe, I Get it Now: Letters on the Art and Journey of Being Brave and Being Me and the award-winning co-author of Do Not Write a Book…Until You Read This One. She has an M.F.A. and B.A. in creative writing and graduate certificates in English Composition and Women’s Studies.

She is a native Vermonter, practicing Ally and advocate, recovering middle child, wannabe superhero, and a mom who’s pretty sure she’s “winging it”. If you can catch her away from the keyboard, she's probably drinking Maple Lattes in a coffee shop, watching The Princess Bride for the thousandth time, spending too many hours in a bookstore adding more books to her must-read list, or having a movie and game night with her husband and son.

ZOOM INFO:
Once you register, the Zoom link will be made available to you.
The password to the Zoom meeting is: bebrave.

WORKSHOP MATERIALS:
A digital workbook will be provided, but please also show up prepared to work inside a Word or Google document or within a notebook in case you have trouble accessing the workbook.