Writing the Emotional Truth

True stories become powerful when they move beyond what happened to explore why it mattered. This class invites nonfiction and memoir writers to uncover the emotional core of their experiences and transform insight into art. We’ll study techniques for balancing scene and reflection, emotion and restraint, truth and craft. Each week includes generative writing, shortreadings, and discussion to help you write with greater vulnerability and intention. You’ll learn how to convey emotion without sentimentality and how to shape personal truth into narrative meaning. By the end, you’ll leave with tools for deepening emotional resonance across your work.

Class Goals:
Learn to balance reflection and narrative action
Write with vulnerability and emotional precision
Explore how to turn lived experience into universal meaning
Practice crafting emotionally resonant scenes

Weekly Outline:
Week 1: Emotional truth vs. factual truth
Week 2: Writing emotion through action and imagery
Week 3: Reflection and insight—making meaning from experience
Week 4: Revising for resonance and reader connection

Access Program
We want our writing classes and seminars to be accessible to everyone, regardless of income and background. We understand that our tuition structure can present obstacles for some people. Our Access Program offers writing class and seminar tuitions at a reduced rate. Most writing classes have at least one access spot available.

Please apply here for access rate tuition. Contact Susan Moore at susan@literary-arts.org if you have questions.

Liaison position
Every in-person class and seminar at Literary Arts has one liaison position. Liaisons perform specific duties for each class meeting. If you are a liaison for a class or seminar, the full amount of your tuition is covered by Literary Arts.

Apply here for the liaison position.