Secrets & Confessions: Writing Deeply Personal Nonfiction

Note: Participation in this course is anonymous, and as such, you are free to share work that you might otherwise hesitate to bare. Please read the fine print to make sure your material falls within the boundaries of the class.*

Writing the secrets you keep inside your chest can give you a safe space to let them out into the world and explore their meaning within literary narrative. Confessional writing has a rich history in literature, and for good reason: the page is a liminal space between self and other, which can hold experiences and ideas that are too closely held to engage with in everyday life.

In this course, you will learn tools that will empower you to bring your confessional writing to the page and elevate its craft into literary work. You will develop your narrative persona, makes choices about where to be direct and where to rely on metaphor and mood, and you will gain a sense of authorial agency over your story.

Together, we will talk about the merits and deficiencies of content warnings, and how to safeguard your reader’s experience with difficult material. You will craft your own author’s note to go with your work. You will have the opportunity to share your work within the class, and you will also learn tools and strategies for reading and responding to challenging or unfamiliar material from a craft-based perspective. You will receive feedback on your work via the Critical Response Method from the class and from Margo.

*The Fine Print:

This class will hold space for a wide variety of difficult, challenging, or otherwise troublesome material, with the following exceptions:

• expressions of (to be distinguished from experiences of) race-based violence, sexual violence, or gender-based violence
• expressions of any variety of threat or hate speech
• graphic erotica

If you have questions about whether your material will be a fit, please feel free to reach out.

Learning and Writing Goals

Learning Goals

In this workshop, you will study the form of confessional nonfiction writing through creative and craft work while generating drafts of new material toward your own confessional essay (or a section of a longer work of confessional narrative). The class will delve into the craft of nonfiction and confessional writing, consider the craft and ethics of writing troubling content, and explore how to use the safe space of the page to narrate experiences that are too difficult to talk about.

You will learn practical tools and techniques for first-person narrative, learn how to write an effective author’s note to pair with your work, and learn trauma-informed practices for how to care for yourself while crafting difficult material.

By the end of the class, you’ll have brought to the page material that may once have felt too dark, hard, or just plain secret to expose. You are in charge of how much you do and don’t share with your reader (and with the group), and you will learn the craft of subtlety and restraint as we go. You’ll also practice reading with empathy and compassion, and learn to read as an editor, homing your eye toward connections of ideas and language.

Writing Goals

You will leave the class with a first draft of a confessional essay or a section of a longer work of confessional narrative, and a revision plan to guide you toward its completion.

Zoom Schedule

90-minute Zoom meetings will take place each Monday beginning January 15, at 7pm Eastern.

Weekly Syllabus

Week One: Introductions and Overview

This week, we’ll introduce ourselves (anonymously) and our work to each other, establish parameters and safe space agreements, and do two generative exercises. We’ll discuss our weekly reading and the week’s independent work.

Week Two: The Roots of Confessional Writing

This week, we’ll look at the origins of confessional literature and consider how our own work can participate in that discourse. We’ll discuss how to frame your experiences in a literary context, do an idea generation exercise, and discuss our weekly reading and the week’s independent work.

Week Three: Developing Your Narrative

This week, we’ll have a process talk on self-care for writers, a craft talk on restraint and details on the page, and a craft discussion on fact, truth, memory and subjectivity. We’ll discuss our weekly reading and the week’s independent work.

Week Four: Developing Your Narrative

This week, we’ll have a process talk, and a craft talk on writing trauma without retraumatizing yourself. We’ll learn and practice some somatic tools for trauma writing, and we will discuss our weekly reading and the week’s independent work.

Week Five: Shaping Your Narrative

This week, we’ll have a process talk, a craft talk on understanding your narrative motivation, and a craft discussion on defining and shaping your arc. We’ll discuss our weekly reading and the week’s independent work.

Week Six: Writing with Care

This week, we’ll have a craft lesson and exercise on crafting a content note for your work, and a craft discussion on reading and editing from a trauma-informed perspective. We’ll discuss our weekly reading and the week’s independent work, including our process for reading and preparing to give feedback on workshop submissions.

Week Seven: Live Workshop on Zoom

This week, we’ll have our first workshop session.

Week Eight: Live Workshop on Zoom

This week, we’ll have our second workshop session, followed by a group processing session and sharing of resources for continuing this work.