Memoirs are crafted with a balance of remembering and research. Research can kickstart a writing project, fill in the gaps in your own knowledge and expand the themes and topics of your memoir. You might find yourself poring over old photographs, exploring archival records, conducting interviews or searching online. It will be fascinating (and addictive), so it’s important to have a plan and recognise when it’s time to stop researching and start writing.
You will learn
- What kind of research might be necessary at different stages of your memoir and how to create a plan of attack
- Different types of research (interviews, photographs, archives, historical backgrounding, fact finding)
- Choosing interview subjects, drawing out the information you need from them and remaining open to surprises
- How to avoid falling into the “black hole of research” that can distract you from your writing
- Organising and selecting your information – what to use and what to let go
About Lorna Hendry
Lorna Hendry’s travel memoir, ‘Wrong Way Round’, is the story of her three-year camping trip around Australia with her family. She is the author and designer of many non-fiction children’s picture books on topics as varied as penguins, the five senses and life on the equator. Lorna teaches in RMIT’s Professional Writing and Editing program and has just started researching her next writing project.
Writing workout from Lorna Hendry: Significant Objects
Check out all our Memoir in a Year workshops
- Legal Issues and Ethics with Rebecca Starford on 11 October
- Memory vs Imagination with Sian Prior on 8 November
- Voice and Narration with Josiane Behmoiras on 6 December
- Characters and Dialogue with Luke Ryan on 7 February 2016
- Showing not telling with Rochelle Siemienowicz on 6 March 2016
- Protecting Yourself with Maria Katsonis on 3 April 2016
- Theme with Liam Pieper on 1 May 2016
- Synopsis and Pitch with Marie Alafaci on 5 June 2016