Writing the Personal Narrative Essay

Mondays, 7-9 pm
Sept. 24 – Nov. 5 (no class Oct. 15)
The Ink Spot/San Diego Writers, Ink
More information & Registration

“Life may be almost pure chaos,” said Katherine Anne Porter, but the work of the artist is “to take these handfuls of confusion and disparate things and put them together in a frame to give them some kind of shape and meaning.”

In the personal narrative essay, you become the editor of your own life, selecting those people, places, events, and moments that are meaningful to you and writing about them in a way that takes them beyond the personal to a place of larger truth—a two-way mirror, where writer and reader each recognize some aspect of themselves in the other.

This workshop will discuss the components of the personal narrative essay and explore the use of fictive techniques that create vivid experiences for the reader. In-class writing exercises and take-home assignments will provide opportunities to practice both the art and the craft of this “most human art.” Later sessions will include read and critique of participants’ work.

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