Episode 42: [WRITING CRAFT] The Course You Didn't Know You Needed

In this episode, you'll learn about Elizabeth's Memoir Cohort Course and the huge benefit of writing in community. You'll discover that when you take this upcoming course, you'll get the benefit of two writing coaches! As our fall schedules get underway and we settle in for the end of the year, I'm excited to begin thinking about the next cohort of the Memoir Master Plan Group Course. So much of the struggle in trying to write and work on a memoir is that we, as the writer, are so close to the material. It's difficult to look at one's life and see the core message screaming to be shared. That's where the group learning environment and support is key. One participant shared this testimonial: "Elizabeth is wonderful to work with. I felt right at home when I took her memoir writing class. When we were in group she helped me feel seen and heard because I have some learning disabilities. I enjoyed the group dynamic and the course material was very helpful and unique. I feel Elizabeth's class helped prepare me and propel me forward in my writing!"In the multi-week course, we hammer out the core message (or main theme) of your memoir before diving into a detailed outlining process. We start with a broad outline of key concepts before dissecting which specific moments will be best to emphasize the intention of each scene. You'll conclude the course with a detailed outline that takes the guesswork out of what to write next. You won't fall victim to distraction or lack of focus when you sit down to start writing. You'll have confidence that the story you are crafting is one that is valuable to the overall message."The guidance offered in the Memoir Course results in the formation of a thorough outline that empowers you to begin drafting your memoir with confidence. The Memoir Course facilitates development of the scene-by-scene outline needed to make drafting the book as easy as sitting down and allowing words to flow."All of the recent course participants had made prior attempts at starting their memoirs on their own. They struggled with lack of accountability, support, and clear direction. Self-doubt takes over and we freeze. This small group cohort provides that necessary accountability and guidance many found lacking on their own.Don't take my word for it...one of my course participants said it best. "This is the course I didn't know I needed! I am incredibly grateful for the resulting ease with which I am now able to draft my memoir, turning my dream into reality. "Are you missing support and accountability in your writing process? Are you in need of more structure so you know what to write when you finally carve out the time to sit down? The he group is kept to a small cohort, so space is limited! You can SAVE YOUR SEAT here. If you're still unsure whether or not this is the right course or time for you, schedule a coffee chat with Elizabeth to talk more about your specific project and writing goals here.
Affiliate links to books mentioned in this video:
* Old Friend From Far Away by Natalie Goldberg (*correction from Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg that's mentioned in the video) Save the Cat by Blake SnyderStory

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Transcript

Elizabeth: 0:00

Welcome back listener. I apologize in advance for my voice. I'm getting over sort of this stuff stuffy non COVID respiratory thing. Um, but this episode is coming to you hot off the press at this point, Stephanie and I are over 40 episodes deep in the podcast. Thank you listeners for being so loyal to this podcast. And normally we're at the point now where we're recording these episodes in advance But we wanted you to have the most up to date information about this upcoming memoir course launch And so that is why we are recording this literally the day before you're going to see it Um, I can't even remember the last time we recorded with that little time stephanie. We usually give ourselves a So at least a week or two in advance. We have some guest episodes coming down the pipeline that we recorded a couple weeks ago, but this one is really important And we just wanted the chance to get to share this information with you This is the second iteration of my memoir master plan cohort and what that is is a small group virtual coaching around Creating your core message for your memoir as well as creating a very detailed outline You I first did this course back in April, and one of my participants left me one of the sweetest reviews and saying, This is the course I didn't know I needed. Now this was a participant who had started already outlining her memoir, already having an idea of what she thought it was going to be about, that core message piece. And through the course of the information that I shared, the large number of references I brought to the table, she really got to hammer down. That core message that's going to be so impactful to a reader as well as figuring out the scene by scene points that she needs to make. So now when she's sitting down to write, she looks directly at her plot and her detailed outline that she created during the course, and she's ready to go. The words can flow out. So I'm going to be launching the second iteration of this new, improved, updated and expanded, and that is going to be launching within the next few weeks. Transcribed So please make sure you're on our email list if you're not already, please subscribe Because that is how you're going to save your seat again This is a small group offering because I really value That group dynamic and that intimacy when we're talking about our personal stories that for us And so this is going to be capped at a very small number. There's not a lot of seats available um, so that's why we wanted you our listeners to know about this and Subscribe if you haven't already to save your seat Stephanie, I wonder if you might be willing to share a little bit about how you've benefited from working with someone else on your writing, specifically since we think of writers as typically working most of the time in isolation.

Stephanie: 2:55

Yeah. Well, first of all, listener, I just want to say that you definitely do not want to miss out on this opportunity, uh, to work with Elizabeth because she's done all of the footwork that you don't need to do. You can jump right in and have the benefit of all of the resources and insights and experience that she has. And so you definitely don't want to miss out on that. And say that there's just so much benefit from working with someone and especially in a group setting because you have the accountability piece, you have the community piece, which is huge. And if you've been listening to our podcast for a while now, you know that. That Elizabeth and I are so big on about the benefits of community. And we know for ourselves, just with each other, that it's so nice to be able to say, Hey, do you have time to write today? Like, let's write together. And just knowing that, Someone else's writing in the same space and time as you is just really powerful for keeping the momentum going with your writing. And especially with memoir where it's so personal and sometimes the challenges of remembering your personal stories can maybe stop you in your tracks because you're not sure if you should share it. I think it's even more important to seek out, a small group cohort like Elizabeth offers, To give you the support and the encouragement because of course we all think like, Oh, you know, our story is not that special. Nobody's going to care, but truly listener, you have a story that is going to touch somebody's life. And that's what I've heard from multiple people in my life, who I've talked to about my writing. They say, you know, your story is going to touch somebody and that's the power of showing up to the page. So Um, I'm going to turn it back over to Elizabeth here a little bit to talk about, you know, what are the benefits of coming to this course and saving your seat now?

Elizabeth: 4:58

So the key takeaways from this course, the things that I sort of promised to you as you are purchasing this course and deciding to enroll and taking this step with your writing, Is that you're going to figure out a core message and you're going to know how to do that Like we are going to go through journaling processes and talk about what that looks like in the general story arc To determine whether that's something worth writing whether that's something that readers are going to be interested in And you get to know Get that feedback in that group setting. It's not just Oh, yeah, I think that's a great idea. The whole group is going to be able to give you some pointers or as we experienced in the first group, one person gave an example of like, Oh, I'm thinking about this. I came up with this core message. I'm not sure between these and there was just one. The rest of us had a strong reaction to as being like, Oh, please write that one, right? So you get a little sneak peek at your potential readers and what their impressions may be of your core message. And then we also break it down and go in a It's a three arc story plot, generally around the framework of the hero's journey, but we break it out even more in future weeks with character development. We explore the goals, motivations, and conflicts of your various characters, including yourself, since it's your memoir, but also other key players within your story. We talk about subplots and also storytelling, how tos, things that will surprise and capture the audience, keep them engaged on the page. Continuing to flip and read your story. And so the way that I've done this, the way that I've constructed it, it was originally four weeks. I'm expanding it to six, and there's going to be so much bonus content I'm excited about along the way. Cause we've had a number of conversations with memoirists since then. I have so many more resources available and the main focus that we're going to revolve around the actual. structure of the lessons comes from four different books. So these are four books that I have read and researched and dissected, creating, you know, lesson outlines, as well as accompanying worksheets and journal prompts, um, that you can use to craft your story. And so we will start with writing down the bones by Natalie Goldberg. That will help us explore our core message, tap into memories, and help us weep through what our overall message could be to our reader. And then we are going to look at the hero's journey through the use of Save the Cat by Blake Snyder. And that is very specific beats within a story. It's not just the like nine stations or whatever of the hero's journey, but that goes even deeper into very specific moments. that you can use to make sure that you're controlling the proper pacing of the story. This is, it comes from screenwriting, so it's the kind of storytelling that the audience is going to expect, right? We know the hero is going to make an attempt and fail early on, right? And so it's making sure that you're crafting your, your story, your memoir, in a way that gives the reader what they are expecting and allows you to really capture those moments of highs and lows within that journey and make sure that you're really hitting those things. and not brushing over the failures. That can be great learning examples for your reader. Um, then we dig into Story Genius by Lisa Cron. Now that goes way more into character development. That's that goals, motivations, conflicts, and she has a scene by scene scene card that she uses in her book that we also use within our course. This includes the act, the scene number, The point of the scene, anything happening with any subplots, as well as cause and effect of the plot, and also development of the story or the character development of why does this scene matter, what's happening here, what kind of realizations are the characters having within this scene. And because of those things, what is happening then next? So, you know, something happens in this scene, therefore, We move the plot along and that is going to help us really create an engaging character profile for ourselves because it can be so difficult to write about ourselves. And it's also going to make sure that all of our scenes have a purpose. This, this step will quickly help you identify what stories are maybe better used in just a short story form or a different work that don't belong within the plot. this particular memoir. And then the last book that we explore is Storyworthy and that's by Matthew Dix. And this is all the like how to's and the do's and don'ts of non fiction, the ways that you can condense time or expand time and still be within the creative non fiction genre. It's the like white lies you can tell or just the omissions you can leave out that don't change the integrity of the story, but give more delight. To the reader and so this is where we're going to wrap up our time And like I said, there's going to be a lot of bonus content along the way as well I'll be pulling from different memoirs that I have found to be very effective examples And we get to do it all together So not only do you have weekly meetings where you get to discuss everything within the lesson plans within And you don't have to read these books yourself. You already get the benefit of the fact that I have read these books. I've condensed them down into, you know, 30 minute, hour long lessons that you read ahead of time. And then I have worksheets so you can easily apply them to your own story. So that's really, um, the key of the course as far as those who Don't really have time to waste to get started and also want to know that at the end that they're going to have an outline that they can use to guide their writing and they're not going to waste time writing stories that aren't relevant to this particular work. And I do want to quickly emphasize that this can be for any age group, a writer at any stage in the process, whether you don't have any ideas yet, but you want to tell your parts of your story. If you aren't even sure if you want to share your story, but you just want to explore the writing for personal development and kind of self nurturing inner child work, um, This is also great for someone like I mentioned, a participant that already had a pretty decent idea of where she was going and a general outline. And even for me, I ran my own book through this course back in April to kind of do a kind of double check of my work, essentially. And making sure I was building a course that was going to do what I said it was going to do and through that process, even though I was already in the editing phase, I recognize some serious flaws in my plot line. And I remember telling you, Stephanie, like when I had totally finally landed. On the right timing and pacing. Cause that was my issue. So those save the cat beats saved this cat. And, um, I remember telling you when that happened and I was like, Oh, now I feel like my reader is going to get my story. I wasn't so bogged down in the background and the nitty gritty. And so this is a big part of why I created this course. It's for anyone in the process and you don't even have to have a a published memoir as your final objective. You can certainly use these same outlines to create poems, a book of poems, or to structure a fictional story if you're too close to your own and want to fictionalize all or most of of the work. This will still set you up to do that. This will still follow those same Sort of arcs and, um, help you figure out which parts of your story you want to share.

Stephanie: 12:50

Yeah, there is just so much listener that you're going to get from this course. And as I'm listening, I'm thinking, well, I'm not writing memoir. I might jump in and, and join in on this process, this go around even for my own work, because while it's not memoir, it's definitely. There's a lot of influence from my own life and there's no doubt that Using a resource like a book like save the cat if you haven't read it and just benefiting from the fact that elizabeth's read it and knows the beats and knows what you need and You know, it's so powerful because of course as we know we all love going to the movies. And so having that influence from you know blake snyder who wrote for? and has the beats that we all know, we're all familiar with. It will just move your memoir along and just really a good way to your book to keep the reader engaged. And I just want to back up just for a minute, just for our listeners to a little bit deeper into the idea of a core message, because I think we understand it and we've talked about it a lot. And we've talked about it in previous, podcasts, but What for somebody who's sort of thinking like, Oh, my goodness, I don't even know if I have a core message. Like, what does that mean? Like, I have to have a, like, something that is going to ground my memoir. Like, I don't even know what that means. Like, I don't even have a message. I just have me. So what exactly does that mean? What is a core message?

Elizabeth: 14:26

So the core message is what really makes a memoir stand out from an autobiography. It is basically the lesson that you are showing that you have learned over the course of a segment of your life, right? And so it is typically, I, I walk people through this process of figuring out And brainstorming what sort of misbeliefs they had when they were younger and why did they have those? How did those get created? whether that's um Things like I'll only belong if I become exactly what everyone wants me to be. That's kind of where I started um Whether that's you know, this whole good girl framework and and being stuck in that That's a little bit more of what like the untamed by glenn and doyle focuses on um Things like I'm a failure as a mother if I get divorced, which is the kind of premise around you could make this place beautiful by Maggie Smith, which I also feature in this course as a great example. And. Essentially, we're going to be looking at our own lives and finding where those lessons are, and that's why you can create more than one memoir because I'm sure you're thinking, well, I've learned a handful of lessons like I can relate to that one. I can relate to that one. And we're going to look and dig into those. Those moments and figure out which one you really have a full arc for, like where you've struggled, where you've grown, where you've come to a new, more truer belief about yourself or your world. Now here at the end of this memoir, at the end of this, you know, a period of time of your life. Um, and literally memoirs can cover the span of, you know, a couple of days, a week, whatever, or it can be, you know, majority of your life. It, it, It really just depends on the scope of your core message, but you're so right Stephanie and highlighting that that's what's so important because that's what's going to give the reader the like, why do I care piece or why is this relevant to me because we're not celebrities out here writing our autobiographies that people are just curious about how we live. This is something that the reader can theoretically. Either resonate with and feel validated in their own struggles or apply similar principles to what you've done and what you described through your story into their own life to make a difference. This is tapping into generally, you know, internal strengths and internal qualities that everyone has access to, um, in order to present a solution to a more universal problem. For me, lonely girl, that's loneliness, right? And that's the universal problem I'm kind of putting out there and saying, Hey, I have something to say about this. I have found a solution that worked for me. And it's something that's applicable, reachable by anyone, regardless of socioeconomic status, here's how you can do it too, right? So that's, that's the core message and that's what is so fundamental because if you have too many of those in one book, which I started out that way, um, or you just don't have a clear one, either your reader is going to get confused or there's going to be a lot of jump in storyline, they're going to get lost, or they're just not going to care. And we want your story. It's your experience is so valuable that we want it to come across as effectively and clearly as possible. The more specific and authentic you can get, truly, the more people you're going to impact. People don't see themselves in just a general description of, Oh, I'm a coffee drinker. Are you a coffee drinker? Yeah. But if you say I love the minute pumpkin spice latte season hits at Starbucks, I am in line within the first week. There's going to be so many more people that are like, yeah, I'm that kind of person. Cause it's more specific. People see themselves in the specific. And so that's where we really want to nail down the core message. And that's why we do it first.

Stephanie: 18:22

That's just amazing. And I just think that again, like you said, that creating a relatable context and space for your reader is so important. And the core message is so important. Important and powerful. And, two, as you mentioned, you had multiple core messages at one point with your own memoir. And so just walking through this process for yourself helped you realize that, Oh, it's better if I focus here, as opposed to trying to put everything in at once. And then it of course allows for. You know, possibly more memoirs down, down the line of different, you know, different stories or short stories that you can publish and all kinds of opportunities. I think too, as we mentioned at the beginning, the benefit of having a community, a safe space to come to. And listener, I'll tell you, Elizabeth creates such a safe space for participants and you'll just feel, you know, your story is honored and it's a place where, you know, what's talked about there is going to stay in there. And so, you know, you can really trust that it's going to be a place where you can be truly authentically yourself because, of course, we talk about that all the time about how even as we're doing this podcast, and we're doing all the things we're doing, we're making sure that we're staying true to ourselves. We're not fake. You know, whatever the latest trends are all the time and, you know, we're sticking to what, what we believe in. And I think that that's so important. And of course, through this course, you'll find that and you'll find that you know, find yourself and your voice. And sometimes that can be really hard to do when you're sitting by yourself and thinking that you have to do it all in isolation. And I get so frustrated when I hear that people think that like, Oh, as a writer, I have to be by myself in the ivory tower and shut myself out from the world in order to accomplish this. And truly, I will tell you that even for myself, I have gained so much more from writing with others and being in community with others than I do with my own And just knowing that others are writing their books or I'm writing alongside them, it's so powerful. And so I think that such a key component to consider. And of course, a small group too, what's better than having a small group? I mean, we, when we went to a conference earlier this year, there was couple, there were a couple of authors sharing about how, you know, they had a group of three and they supported each other and set goals and, that's a huge part. And you'll find community within this and you'll just find such support and the possibility for continued support after as well.

Elizabeth: 21:19

Yes. Thank you for saying that, Stephanie. I'll share a, another, Participants review of the course. She said Elizabeth is wonderful to work with. I felt right at home when I took her memoir writing class. When we were in group, she helped me feel seen and heard. I enjoyed the group dynamic and the course material was very helpful and unique. Elizabeth's class helped prepare me and propel me forward in my writing. And then, um, another participant shared that Elizabeth has a gift for helping writers share their story. Willing to go beyond surface level discussions, she guides writers through the process of getting clear on their message, while holding space for the heartfelt emotions that arise. And the, those participants did such a great job of encapsulating what I felt like was the essence of the course going into it. And I, I just have to say, like, even having read the books and going in, Going into the course, knowing what I already knew my own book changed so much through just being in conversation with other writers and hearing even their thoughts and their ideas and how they were doing things differently. It made everything kind of click. The gears were turning again. The times that I'm writing with people or working with people are the times that I see the most dynamic shifts and growth in my own writing or outline or book. Um, and the other thing that I think you are so astute and noticing Stephanie is that even as a fiction writer, even with just minor influences from your personal life, yes, most of the books that I am referencing, or at least half of them, um, are built for fiction. I've adapted them to memoir for this course, and so I take them from a memoir stand, but they are fiction writing books. Um, we are just simply turning the character development on ourselves, the lens on ourselves, the microscope on ourselves, whereas you can take those same things that we are talking about and just simply put it on your main character. Fictional or otherwise and so I have taken the time to adapt them, but these are absolutely fiction writing methods and Would benefit a fiction writer as well.

Stephanie: 23:30

Yeah. No, as you, as I'm, as I'm sitting here, I'm thinking to myself, I'm going to, I'm going to jump, I'm going to jump in this, this go around because I, I feel like I need it. I've, I've shifted again in my own focus. And so, um, I just, and I love, like I said, I just love the idea of being in community with other writers and we can all benefit from learning from different genres. to enhance our own writing. In fact, I've heard multiple authors talk about how they can't read in their own genre when they're writing their books, that they actually read in all different other genres continue having that influence of just reading and what readers are expecting and what they remember about being a reader. Um, but that sometimes they can't, you know, read in their own genre because there's too much distraction. And like we mentioned in our podcast from last week with Go as a River, the influence of poetry and how that is, you know, poetry just as depthful and heartfelt and tell stories in and of itself and how much that can influence writing. So again, listener, I, you know, I hope that you will. Consider this course and get yourself on the wait list. There's a link in the description and, you know, jump into this opportunity. You don't want to miss it.

Elizabeth: 24:58

Well listener you heard it here first You're not gonna get just one coach now. You're gonna get two because Stephanie is gonna be in there as well. So This is gonna be Such a fun group, such a great time. I already am just getting chills at like all the things we're going to learn, all the insights that you're going to bring to the table, Stephanie, if anyone else from the fiction writing perspective, um, wants to join us or even just providing that outer, outside of genre, you know, insight to, to storytelling. So, Oh, I'm so pumped. Yes listener get on this again. This is a limited capacity class. We keep it small on purpose Um, and so click on that link Let me know you're interested and i'll be sending some follow up emails with more specific details for those that are Specifically interested in this course. It'll be starting within the next few weeks Uh, it'll meet weekly on fridays through a zoom call Um, and then you'll get be getting tons of bonus content to watch to read to explore throughout the week as well Um, so yeah, I would love to have you it would be so great and stephanie. I'm so excited that you're going to join