Nonfiction is generally sold on proposal, which includes a synopsis of your idea, a market profile and the first three chapters of your memoir. Lily Dunn, who recently went through the submission process with her memoir and landed a new agent and a publishing deal with Weidenfeld and Nicolson (March 2022), is best placed to guide you on how to get those first three chapters ready, and draw your themes and ideas together.
This course has two elements. One is a mini-mentorship, with Lily offering two rounds of one-to-one critical feedback on your opening chapter and your initial pitch, up to 5,000 words long, to help you engage with what will hook the reader, what should be at the forefront of your story. Bring along that problematic first chapter, which you feel is not yet working, has been rejected, or refuses to do what it is told, and also an outline of the bigger story, so Lily can offer guidance on whether to stick with this chapter or try starting somewhere else. Lily will offer feedback on this chapter and on your overriding ideas for your memoir, and will look at the same material a second time once it has been reworked.
The other element is a series of assignments that explore how to write proposals that make readers’ eyes light up, how to stand back from your material and think about the overriding themes, those that are meaningful to you but also have some topical resonance and universal quality; and also what to do when the critical voices in your head are getting you down and stopping you from writing! These assignments will equip you with all you need to know about writing a cracking pitch and proposal so you can perfect and finesse it after the course has finished. Throughout the course, you will also be able to share work-in-progress or new material with your peers, and give and receive feedback. There will also be discussion on other memoirs recently published, as potential competition and to help you situate your own ideas within the market.
Lily will offer a live surgery for memoirists, addressing your questions on writing, editing, submitting work, inside information about the publication process, and anything else you want to know about the world of memoir.
None of us is guaranteed literary success, but there is a lot we can do to improve our odds!
This course is aimed at those who are serious about their memoir, whether you are yet to be published or already have some publication record.
Course Outline
- A live Zoom introductory session with Lily and everyone in the group; time will be arranged by Lily to suit everyone’s needs
- Two rounds of critical feedback from your tutor on a draft of your first chapter and outline of your memoir, up to 5,000 words
- Three assignments, including reading material, discussion prompts and writing exercises that will support you writing your proposal
- Guided peer feedback on work-in-progress or writing exercises throughout the course
- A live memoir surgery and submissions advice – creative and practical help from your tutor
- An online writing community, lasting beyond the end of the course
This course has eight weeks of teaching, but is 10 weeks long because it falls over the Christmas period, when we will take a two-week break. It is mainly asynchronous (so you can log in and add to the discussion whenever you want), but will have a live introductory session and a live memoir surgery, both with Lily. You will submit your first chapter and proposal of up to 5,000 words before the course starts, to receive detailed critical feedback from the course tutor. You’ll have time partway through to work on your first chapter and memoir outline, and submit it to Lily for a second read and feedback. During the two weeks over Christmas you can continue to log into the Slack workspace and take part in discussions, but there will be no writing set for this period. The remaining three weeks will start again on January 5th.
Course Timetable and Content
Before the course you will be prompted to submit your first chapter and outline for feedback from Lily
10th November: Week 1: Assignment 1: Where is the drama? – How do we find our story and hook our reader? This will include extracts on memoir openers that work, and the written assignment will encourage you to engage with the inciting incident in your work in progress
17th November: Week 2: Give and receive peer feedback on work-in-progress or your writing exercise
24th November: Week 3: Assignment 2: Themes – looking at existing memoirs we identify the overriding themes. How do we add suspense to a nonfiction narrative?
Receive feedback on your initial submission from Lily
1st December: Week 4: Give and receive peer feedback on work-in-progress or your writing exercise
8th December: Week 5: Redrafting and editing time.
15th December: Week 6: Assignment 3: Stop Suffering – discussion on ethics and those things that are holding you back. Are you writing about your family? Are you afraid that you’ll offend someone close? This assignment will help you deal with existential doubt, and will give you tips on how to make progress, in spite of the voices that trip you up. This assignment will give you the option of writing a longer piece in the holidays or a shorter piece if you are too overwhelmed with Christmas madness!
Resubmit your first chapter to Lily.
Break for Christmas
5th Jan: Week 7: Give feedback from writing exercises from assignment 3. Receive second feedback notes from Lily. Writing time.
12th Jan: Week 8: Memoir surgery & submissions advice with Lily online and in person on Zoom.
Learning Online
The course will take place online, in a closed group on a platform called Slack. You’ll need to have internet access, but not at any set times – you can pick and choose when you log in. Slack is easy to use, and we’ll provide you with full instructions and guidance before the course starts. On Slack, we won’t have scheduled live chats. but there will be plenty of opportunity to interact with Lily and the other course participants in discussion threads, throughout the eight weeks.
Time Commitment
You should allow up to 5 hours per week for this course, for reading, writing and giving feedback to others.
