Memoir in a Year: Character and Dialogue
Date:
With:
Luke Ryan
Rating:
EARLY, EMERGING
Summary:
A story is nothing without its characters. Burrow down into the core of any great memoir writing – the characters and the words they speak.
Details
From comic interlopers to close family members to you, the narrator themselves, we’ll get to grips with the how, the what and the why of characterisation – the first step towards filling your story with talk.
You will learn
- how strike a balance between veracity and vitality in your conversation
- how to refine characters to serve the purpose of the story
- to identify master gestures and quirks that can define and enrich your characters and conversation
- to contend with the limits of memory and fictionalisation
- about ethical considerations that emerge when you put a real person on the page.
About Luke Ryan
Luke Ryan is a Melbourne-based freelance writer and comedian. He is the editor of the Best Australian Comedy Writing series and author of ‘A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Chemo’, a comedy memoir about having had cancer a couple of times. His work has appeared in numerous publications including ‘Best Australian Essays’, the ‘Guardian’, ‘Quartz’, ‘Smith Journal’, ‘The Lifted Brow’, ‘Junkee’, ‘Crikey’, ‘Kill Your Darlings’ and many more.
Memoir in a Year
Read more about our remaining Memoir in a Year workshops:
Memoir in a Year: Showing, not Telling, 24 February
Memoir in a Year: Legal Issues and Ethics, 31 March
Memoir in a Year: Protecting Yourself, 28 April
Memoir in a Year: Synopsis and Pitch, 26 May