Memoir Writing with Susan Colleen Browne- 6 More Great Ideas in the PM

No lack of energy after lunch for this writing workshop. 

• Avoid long expository passages; instead, link scenes with expository writing
• Have your characters talking and doing something
• Life is like a collage-your big task is to make it all coherent
• When you're writing fiction, use all your senses, including your sixth sense
• Writing a memoir is about figuring out who you used to be and how you became who you are now
• Anytime you make a decision, you are becoming a different person

Thanks so much to Susan Colleen Browne for being such a kind, knowledgeable and inspiring instructor.  She kindly agreed to let me interview her in the coming weeks and I'm looking forward to more of her insights.

Memoir Writing-Four Terrific Takeaways from Susan Colleen Browne

Susan Colleen Browne has written for years.  She wrote her own memoir,  Little Farm In The Foothills, is a professional editor, non-fiction writer and a popular creative writing instructor.  I'm taking a class with her this morning, and appreciate her wisdom, such as,

• Think about writing that you love to read and write THAT
• Brainstorm writing with your normal hand, then try brainstorming with the hand you normally DON'T use to write.  As soon as I did that, I switched to images and metaphor--it was amazing!
• Fiction is always a quest, and the main character has to want something
• The best memoirs have killer settings

These insights are from the morning session;  I'm writing this at a little Pho restaurant before I go back to class.  I'm inspired!