Workshop | We Write in Order to Find Our Plots

‘We write in order to find our plots’: Revealing our queer stories through memoir and creative non-fiction

An interactive two-and-a-half-hour workshop, you will be introduced to the possibilities of exploring your queer self through memoir and creative non-fiction. It will explore how the personal and the political can be combined in memoir and highlight the growing opportunities of this playful genre.

In the workshop you will

• Consider what creative non-fiction is and its queer possibilities
• Get into groups to discuss what we like and value in memoir and non-fiction
• Consider set texts from Melissa Febos, Bruce Owens Grimm and others to consider where creative non-fiction converges and diverges from poetry & fiction, and how LGBT+ writers can 'queer' the form
• Showcase examples of persuasive memoir from queer writers and how we can combine the political and personal
• Explore the 'factual truth' and the 'emotional truth' of past events: navigating our stories through a timeline exercise
• Space for writers to consider their emerging ideas for non-fiction and memoir in smaller groups: a mind mapping exercise
• Q&A about getting creative non-fiction and memoir published and upcoming writing opportunities in the genre

Coming away from the workshop, you will: be clearer on the freedom and flexibility that comes with writing memoir and creative non-fiction; how their experiences in life can inform and shape their writing; and two exercises to better identity pivotal points or episodes in their life they would like to use as a platform for writing memoir or non-fiction.

Andrew Kauffmann is a writer and coach whose non-fiction has been published by Untitled: Writing, Clavmag, Queerlings, Streetcake, Babel Tower Notice Board, The Huffington Post, and in Polari Press’s Creating in Crisis’ anthology. One of six winners of The Literary Consultancy’s 2020 LGBT+ Free Reads competition for an extract from his memoir-in-progress, he is also a winner of the 2021 Spread the Word and Scribe UK competition for works of narrative non-fiction. A coach who helps clients to find the meaning in life events, Andrew Kauffmann blogs about the proven benefits of storytelling for wellbeing and mental health at www.andrewkaufman.co.uk