Using Monologues to Power Your Memoir Writing
This class has already taken place, but we will offer a new session as soon as there are enough students on the advance wait list.
Email academy@narrartively.com to join an advance waiting list for the next session and we’ll make sure you’re the first to know next time it’s offered.
Monologues are widely used in advertising, theater, film, poetry and song lyrics. Think of the breakup scene in Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash; the moment in Killing Eve when Villanelle pretends to be Billie attending an AA meeting; even Taylor Swift’s infamous “Monologue Song (La La La).” Writing only one side of a narrative offers an evocative opening, a place for the audience to engage by filling in what is left unsaid. Tension soars, and the stakes increase. Yet this powerful form of expression is often forgotten when writing personal essays and memoirs. This intensive workshop explores innovative methods to heighten your memoir writing through the use of monologue. Instructor Rebecca Evans, who has taught empowerment and writing workshops to a wide variety of students in a range of settings, shares from her own extensive experience using monologue in various mediums. Through fun and interactive exploration, students will learn to refine and redefine their craft, distilling scenes into their succinct essence. We will study examples of great usages of monologue in memoir and use them as templates and models for our own narratives. Generative writing exercises will guide students on how to approach memoir in a fresh way by setting the “stage” and entering narratives that laser in on singular moments, focusing on what is left unsaid.
This class is right for you if…
You want guidance on creative methods for penning a difficult personal story — whether an essay or a full-length manuscript.
You’ve tried to write something in a new and compelling way but have been stuck or stalled.
You want to learn how to take your writing craft to the next level.
By the end of this class you’ll have…
Learned the importance of trusting your reader to fill in the blanks, and started several narrative seeds that you can develop into essays and/or work into a larger project.
This class takes place on Saturday, November 9, from 12pm to 3pm ET. All Narratively Academy classes are conducted online and are accessible to students anywhere in the world. A recording of the full class session will also be shared with all students.
Instructor Bio: Memoirist, essayist and poet Rebecca Evans’s Safe Handling, a collection-length poem, weaves family and heartbreak while navigating our challenging medical industry. Her memoir in verse, Tangled by Blood, bridges motherhood and betrayal, untangling wounds and restoring what it means to be a mother. Evans writes the difficult, the guidebooks for survivors. Her poems and essays have appeared in Narratively, The Rumpus, Brevity, Hypertext Magazine, War, Literature & the Arts, The Limberlost Review and more. She’s earned two MFAs, one in creative nonfiction, the other in poetry, from the University of Nevada, Reno at Lake Tahoe. She’s co-edited an anthology of poems, When There Are Nine, a tribute to the life and achievements of Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Moon Tide Press, 2022). She teaches high school teens in the juvenile justice system through journaling and art projects and co-hosts Radio Boise’s Writer to Writer show. Rebecca is disabled, a military veteran, and shares space with four Newfoundlands and her sons. She does her best writing in a hidden alcove beneath her stairway.
“I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again, Rebecca Evans is magic. Her workshops are a refreshing mix of writing, self-discovery and self-care. They have strengthened my writing and reminded me of or introduced me to techniques I haven’t used before. I would recommend her workshops to anyone looking to experience a wonderful creative writing class with a touch of the therapeutic.” —Irene Benvenuti, librarian and writer
Registration Details: Seats in this class are limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis. All purchases are final and nonrefundable. After signing up, you’ll receive an email receipt confirming your purchase. Prior to the start of your class, you’ll receive an invitation to access the virtual classroom and view all class materials.
Questions? Email us at academy@narratively.com.
MORE: Check out all of our upcoming Narratively Academy classes here.