Write your Story / Memoir Course
We run a series of structured, in-person writing workshops for writers of all levels who want to tell their own story or write a non-fiction.
Expect a combination of technical writing techniques, working through your personal and writing blocks, finding ways to access your memories and plan your story.
This is ideal if you are writing a memoir, biography or non-fiction.
You may just need quiet and connecting time to work on any writing project.
Write what should not be forgotten. ~ Isabel Allende
UPCOMING DATES 2027
MENTORSHIP
ONLINE COURSE
CAPE TOWN
What does it cover?
You will learn how to technically put your book together.
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What is your story - let's find it together.
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The basics of planning a compelling story
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Researching and remembering your life
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Giving your story a structure
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Finding your own writing voice
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Finding your life story
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Including characters and events
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Limiting your time
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Handling point of view
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Working with dialogue
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Finding your life theme
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Knowing what to include and exclude
What will I learn?
How does it work?
You will be in a group of between 4-12 participants and together we travel the journey of memory and writing. The class lasts for 4 hours a day.
In the class you will do exercises individually and a lot of writing and planning. After class there is homework that will involve research (your history), journalling, observing, interviewing other people who were around at the time of your story, planning, expanding on your exercises and delving into your own memories.
On a retreat or a week-long course this all happens over a week. If you do a month-long course you have longer to complete the research phases of the homework.
This course is a combination of technical writing techniques and finding a way to access your memories.
What will I learn?
WHY WRITE YOUR STORY?
Why do we write about ourselves? We write because we want to understand. We write to record and remember. Writing your own story is a powerful experience. Some stories simply have to be written. After years of teaching novel writing my love has turned to memoir. Both of my non-fiction books have been memoir-based and so many writers I work with are focusing on memoir.
Flannery O'Connor famously said that anyone who survives childhood has enough material to write anything.
WHAT ARE YOUR COURSES?
We have classroom-based courses in Cape Town and Johannesburg,
online mentorships or writing retreats in Greece, South Africa and Tuscany. Please check the dates and times on the page as we have a few options.
Whether you join for a week-long masterclass / retreat or a 4 week journey, the course content will be handled in a similar manner.
A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song. ~ Maya Angelou
Like Frank McCourt (Angela's Ashes) you can write about your childhood. You can write about places you’ve visited, as Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love). You can write about a particular person who influenced you, as Lorna Kelly did in The Camel Knows the Way, which chronicles her time with Mother Teresa and the Missionaries of Charity. You can write about a crime or injustice you encountered. You can write about your relationship with food, your relationship with your sister, your trip down the Amazon, your struggle with disease.... You can write a memoir about anything, any part of your life that you want to record. No matter how small or seemingly inconsequential.
"This memoir writing course is not about how to write well. It is about how to write honestly. I firmly believe there is not really such a thing as a good writer. But there are honest writers who dig deep into their own hearts and find the core of issues. So this course is a journey. It is fun, big and brave. It requires you to go and find elements of your life - documents, photos, images, letters, diaries - that fill in the pictures of your memory. But most of all it is a wonderful adventure back into your own life."
Sarah Bullen
Author, Literary Agent, Speaker & Writing Mentor
Sarah Bullen is a multi-published author and writing coach, leading international writing retreats and adventures in Europe and Africa. Sarah had a life-altering near-death experience herself where she was in a coma for three weeks. Her story has become a book Love & Above: A journey into shamanism, coma and joy. She is a former financial and magazine journalist writing for titles such as Marie Claire, The Guardian, Cosmopolitan and Psychologies UK. Her latest book The Other Side: Journeys into Mysticism, Magic and Near Death gathers riveting and radical stories of people from Africa, who have crossed to the ‘other side’ or those who can contact it.
Celebrating our Authors
Our team has mentored over 280 published authors in 15 years, supporting them to write and all the way through the publishing process. Some are bestsellers, others are for family. These are some of the authors and their books in the gallery below. Below are just some of the faces, events and wonderful lives, well examined in writing.
