Writing True Stories

Patti Miller is the author of ten books, including the award-winning The Mind of a Thief and critically acclaimed Ransacking Paris, The Joy of High Places, and True Friends. She is published in numerous literary magazines and national newspapers. She is a leading Australian writer and teacher of memoir and nonfiction and has offered workshops for over 30 years in Australia, Paris, Bali, Fiji, and London. She currently teaches at the Faber Academy, Sydney and London.

Part I: Starting out 1. Exploring the territory 2. How to use this book 3. Workshop one: Getting started 4. Workshop two: Memory and other sources 5. Workshop three Bringing it to life – Detail 6. Workshop four: Bringing it to life – Scenes 7. Workshop five Finding your voice 8. Workshop six: Structure 9. Workshop seven: Inventing the Story – Narrative 10. Workshop eight: Style matters and editing Part II: Masterclasses 11. Workshop nine: Midway blues – Continuing on 12. Workshop ten: Madeleines and unicorns – Sensory detail 13. Workshop eleven: Research 14. Workshop twelve: The storyteller’s seat – Narrating position 15. Workshop thirteen: Beauty of form – More structure 16. Workshop fourteen: Magic spells – More narrative 17. Workshop fifteen: Private! Diaries, journals, notebooks, letters, emails 18. Workshop sixteen: Creative nonfiction – Crime, journalism, nature, history, biography 19. Workshop seventeen: Creative nonfiction – The personal essay 20. Workshop eighteen: Creative nonfiction – Travel memoir 21. Workshop nineteen: Creative nonfiction – Borderlands: is it true? 22. Workshop twenty: Difficulties and ethics of truth-telling 23. Workshop twenty-one: Avoiding self-indulgence 24. Where to now? Publishing