Guest: NAIWE’s Memoir Expert Suzanne Sherman

Different from fiction, memoir can often lead a writer into some emotionally challenging territory. Writers often have to spend time exploring material that is essential for their book but is uncomfortable to dive into deeply to craft scenes and write an engaging narrative that includes what’s needed.

How do successful memoir authors do it? Jeannette Walls (The Glass Castle), Caroline Knapp (Drinking: A Love Story), and Vince Granata (Everything Is Fine) are just a few writers who have published critically acclaimed memoirs with emotionally challenging material in recent years. Cheryl Strayed (Wild) and Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love) wrote bestselling memoirs that showcased their vulnerabilities without shame.

Suzanne Sherman will give you helpful tips and tested methods for navigating the emotional territory that can come with writing memoir so you can successfully include what is essential if you want to write a memoir. She will address self-exposure and the exposure of others and show ways authors work with it. Suzanne will provide information about relevant legalities and discuss the pros and cons of pen names.

Take advantage of this unique opportunity to benefit your writing.

Here’s what you can expect to learn in this class:

• Methods to manage exposure

• The power of the personal story

• How the narrative ark is shaped and supported

• Ways to tell truth

• Exposure legalities and disclaimers

• 6 key points to consider when writing a memoir

• Why authors write under their name and also pen names

Duration: 59 minutes

Suzanne Sherman is an author, book and magazine editor, and writing and publishing coach and consultant. She specializes in memoir and nonfiction and offers a weekly memoir writing class on Zoom. Her latest book is Girlhood in America: Personal Stories 1910–2010.