Sliding Scale:
Writers are often advised to write creative nonfiction and autofiction as though no one will ever read the result. This is a crucial part of the process: we need time and space to carve out our own truths without worry. But as we move toward publication, how might our thinking about the people who appear in our writing shift?
Memoir in Community seeks to fill a critical gap in our literary conversations and help writers of creative nonfiction and autofiction to develop their own value systems in how they approach the people they are writing about. The toolkit of reflective questions offered in this course stems from instructor Lane Michael Stanley’s experience navigating complex relational needs, trauma, and accountability from his work in restorative justice and his life as a polyamorous person.
Rather than forwarding any particular ethos, this class will help writers to determine what is important to them and provide them with questions and frameworks to decide if and when they approach their real-life characters on a case by case basis. This three-session class will include lecture, examples, reading, reflective prompts, and breakout groups, with the objective of writers leaving the class feeling more empowered to make decisions around how to communicate about their creative nonfiction or autofiction practice.
Writers are often advised to write creative nonfiction and autofiction as though no one will ever read the result. This is a crucial part of the process: we need time and space to carve out our own truths without worry. But as we move toward publication, how might our thinking about the people who appear in our writing shift?
Memoir in Community seeks to fill a critical gap in our literary conversations and help writers of creative nonfiction and autofiction to develop their own value systems in how they approach the people they are writing about. The toolkit of reflective questions offered in this course stems from instructor Lane Michael Stanley’s experience navigating complex relational needs, trauma, and accountability from his work in restorative justice and his life as a polyamorous person.
Rather than forwarding any particular ethos, this class will help writers to determine what is important to them and provide them with questions and frameworks to decide if and when they approach their real-life characters on a case by case basis. This three-session class will include lecture, examples, reading, reflective prompts, and breakout groups, with the objective of writers leaving the class feeling more empowered to make decisions around how to communicate about their creative nonfiction or autofiction practice.
