Writing Your Family Memoir (CD)

These courses are self-guided, "offline" versions of our online courses. You receive the same curriculum and supplemental materials, but you do the work completely on your own, making them an ideal choice for students who truly want to work at their own pace.

In contrast to our online courses, where class is "in session" for a specified four-week period, there's no set time line for an independent study class, you could approach it as an intensive crash course, pick it up on weekends over several months, or whatever works best for you.

Choose a course on CD if you prefer to have course materials gathered in a physical package. Files are still digital -- in Word and PDF format for you to open on your computer.

Writing Your Family Memoir: Create a Capitvating Record of Your Family's Story

The story of your own or your family's history is likely to be the most personal, emotionally satisfying and overwhelming writing project you'll ever undertake. You've collected oral histories, personal memories, journal entries, photographs, letters and countless other documentsÑnow find out how to weave them together into a compelling story. In this course, you'll work with a published writer to craft an outline for your book and start putting your family's legacy down on paper.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

• How to create a plot with momentum
• Where to look for source information and background for your project
• How to create believable characters and dialogue
• How to organize your research into a timeline

WHO SHOULD TAKE THIS COURSE

• Family historians seeking writing advice
• Writers who want to focus on a family history project
• Writers who want to write and revise chapters of their memoir and develop a working outline for the entire book

WHAT YOU'LL NEED: REQUIREMENTS & SUPPLIES

• A general idea of what you might like to write your book about.