ONLINE Finding Emotional Stakes in Memoir
8 Weeks | Wednesdays | Begins September 23, 2026
12pm-2:30pm PT | 1pm-3:30pm MT | 2pm-4:30pm CT |
3pm-5:30pm ET | 4pm-6:30pm AT
Instructor: Judah Leblang
MEMBER PRICE: $425.00
NON-MEMBER PRICE: $525.00
Using excerpts from the Art of Memoir by Mary Karr, The Situation and the Story by Vivian Gornick, and other writers, we'll examine the importance of developing overarching conflict in the memoir genre, its connection to theme, and explore ways to locate the forces that drive our protagonists/persona on the page and the internal and external conflicts that propel our stories.
This course will blend short readings and writing exercises, centered around the following questions:
- What is the inciting incident, or a key event that sets your story in motion?
- How can you identify a turning point, with emotional stakes for the protagonist?
- What does your protagonist learn by going on this journey of discovery, and how might you, as the writer, keep your reader engaged?
In addition to craft lessons and in class writing exercises, each student will have an opportunity to workshop an 8 page excerpt of their work and to obtain feedback from class members and the instructor.
By the end of the course, students will have identified the primary overarching conflicts in their memoir or essays and will have the tools necessary to apply these insights to their work.
This is an interactive online class using the Zoom web platform.
Judah Leblang is a Boston-based writer, teacher, and storyteller. He is the author of the essay collection, Finding My Place (Lake Effect Press, 2012) and the memoir Echoes of Jerry (Red Giant Books, 2019). He has performed his one-man show, "It's Now or Never" at Calgary Fringe--(Best of Festival 2019) and in Edmonton, Winnipeg, Chicago, and Boston. His radio pieces have been broadcast on 200 NPR and ABC-radio network stations in the US and on several Canadian stations. He teaches memoir-writing at GrubStreet in Boston, at Literary Cleveland, and at the Alexandra Writers' Centre in Calgary.
