Legacy: First Steps in Creating Your Memoir
Writing
You’ve lived a full life and now wish to create a memoir and share your experiences with others. If you are uncertain on how to write a memoir, this workshop can help you:
- Brainstorm your focus
- Structure your content
- Discover possible entry points/perspectives to approach your material
- Start your first draft.
Why wait any longer? Join Legacy and be inspired to begin your memoir writing process.
Pre-Workshop Preparation
For Participants
Please bring pen/pencil and paper or laptop/tablet for the writing exercises.
For Organisers
Please:
- a quiet, fair-sized room that allows all participants to sit (with writing surfaces), preferably in a large circle or U-shape formation
- provide pens/pencils and paper for participants (if they require)
- provide a large whiteboard/flipchart and pens
- make copies of handouts that will be emailed to prior to the workshop.
Feedback
Participants' Feedback
What aspects of this workshop benefitted you the most?
"The discussion of differences of memoir, autobiography. How to explore ideas, style and potential content. All excellent.
This was a fantastic workshop. Inspired to start writing!"Farana
"Little things which helped me greatly in writing!
Very helpful & encouraging!"Grace Yamin
"Explanations to the various questions posed by us. Reading of example memoir.
Interesting."Ong Siew Geok
"Getting together with other people with similar interests, mindsets, passion."
Sharmila Janyavula
"Hearing memoirs — hearing pitches, writing pitches & realizing memoirs are very open & free.
Great way to begin & inspire."Laura C. Schuster
"Sharing of personal experience, reading passages from the writer's memoir.
An eye-opening experience knowing that writing one's memoir is do-able!"Lim
"How to get started on writing my story."
Tan Soo Hock Gilbert
"1. The structure. 2. The feedback. 3. Tips on how to get into publishers' page/books."
Chai Yet Har
"Structure to help brainstorm & feedback after it."
Maria Pressentin
"I received new insights into memoir writing, how it is more subjective, the style more casual than autobiography/biography writing.
Thank you, Verena! I'm glad I came."Jennifer
About the Facilitator
A Singaporean writer, editor, storyteller and theatre practitioner, Verena Tay has published a short story collection, Spectre: Stories from Dark to Light (2012), and three play collections, and edited various fiction anthologies, including the bestselling Balik Kampung series of short stories published by Math Paper Press. She possesses three Masters: English Literature (National University of Singapore, 1993); Voice Studies (Central School of Speech and Drama, London, 2005); and Creative Writing (City University of Hong Kong, 2015). Since 2005, she has been helping people to improve their communication skills and has taught voice, speech and presentation skills, storytelling and creative writing.