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Week 1: Thinking on the Page
Dissolve your blocks and discover the treasure at the heart of your memoir, non-fiction and life-writing.
Week 2: From Experience to Story
Turn your memories into compelling, well-constructed stories your readers will remember as deeply as you do.
Week 3: Writing (and Rewriting) Life
Explore and experiment with fictionalising your experience, so the emotional truth reaches your reader clearer than ever.
Week 4: Truth and Meaning, Structure and Style
How does the shape of a story affect its meaning? How do we know when to fictionalise and when to stick with the facts? Techniques for technical and emotional storytelling success.
Week 5: Editing for Treasure
What are the questions to ask of our stories when we're taking them from early ideas to final drafts? How to develop your story while staying true to the idea at its heart.
Week 6: Moving Forward in Memoir
How do we know when a story is ready to send into the world? How do we give it the best chance of publication? And what happens next?
Dr Rachel Knightley is a fiction and non-fiction author. Her most recent title, Twisted Branches, was published in October 2023. Her stories have also appeared in anthologies and magazines including the British Fantasy Award nominated Dreamland, Uncertainties vol. 3, Great British Horror 5, Writers' Forum (First Prize for Fiction) and Starburst. She writes and presents audio and visual essays for film companies including Severin, Indicator and Second Sight Films. Her non-fiction includes Your Creative Writing Toolkit and Hodder Education's Drama GCSE Study and Revision Guide. She lectures in creative writing at Roehampton University.