In all stories, the most interesting heroes are multi-dimensional. They are messy. They are flawed. But they also learn. They change. They grow.

You, dear memoirist, are the hero of your own story. If it’s memoir, it’s about you. No matter what the specific content may be—a divorce, a dysfunctional family, an illness or accident—writing memoir is about taking the messiness of your lived experience and finding larger, universal truths. And because you are the lens for this truth, you must deeply implicate yourself. You are the character in which readers must recognize their own humanity.

This class will deal with questions—both large and granular—about writing yourself into memoir.

If my entire life is fair game, what do I include and what do I leave out? How do I write dialogue when I don’t remember exactly what was said? How do I write about things I didn’t witness? Where does my story begin, and where does it end? What am I afraid to admit? Through conversation, writing exercises, and looking at published examples, let’s get clearer about the hero of your memoir.

About the Instructor

Molly Roden Winter is the author of the New York Times bestseller, MORE: A Memoir of Open Marriage. Her essays have appeared in Time, The Cut, Romper, and elsewhere. She lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn with her husband and two part-time roommates also known as her sons.

Writing Yourself: The (Flawed) Hero in Memoir, 1 session with Molly Roden Winter