The Stories of Motherhood: A Creative Writing Course

What you'll learn

Explore motherhood through memoir, personal essay and fiction with our writing short courses in Sydney!

Motherhood is full of stories, from the expectations we inherit to the ordinary moments, memories and contradictions of everyday life. Writing about mothering, being mothered and caregiving can help us make sense of change and identity, and turn lived experience into writing that resonates with readers. Our stories don’t need to be sentimental, neatly resolved or even autobiographical to be powerful.

In this online creative writing course, we will explore motherhood through memoir, personal essay and fiction. Over eight weekly sessions on Zoom, we will read short literary works, experiment with scene, voice, memory and structure, and develop our own writing at a manageable pace.

Please note: You may write from memory or imagination, and sharing your writing in class is always optional. The focus is on writing craft, not personal disclosure.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this Writing Motherhood course, you should be able to:

• Find compelling material in everyday moments, memories and contradictions
• Practise scene, sensory detail, voice, metaphor, dialogue and subtext in your writing
• Experiment with structure and revise a developing piece of memoir, personal essay or fiction
• Consider the ethics of writing about shared lives and build confidence in an ongoing writing practice

Course content

What will be covered in this memoir and personal essay writing course?

• The stories we’re told. Explore inherited expectations and lived experience, and how to capture them in a specific scene.
• Before and after. Write about identity and change through contrasting moments.
• The maternal body. Explore embodiment through metaphor and imaginative transformation.
• Memory and the everyday. Use ordinary detail, interruption and literary fragments to capture daily life.
• Ambivalence and contradiction. Learn how to personify competing desires and write interior conflict.
• Beneath the surface. Explore fictional dialogue, conflict and subtext.
• Shaping the story. Find a thread, select scenes and structure a personal essay.
• The story is mine. Consider ethical life writing, revise with purpose and plan a sustainable writing practice.

Intended audience

Who is this writing about motherhood course for?

This course is for mothers and anyone interested in writing about mothering, being mothered, caregiving and identity. No previous creative writing experience is required.

Course venue

Where is my class?

This course is delivered live online via Zoom, so you can join from anywhere. A link to join each session will be emailed to you before the course begins.

Course materials

What to bring to class

• A computer, laptop or tablet with a stable internet connection, webcam and microphone
• Zoom installed and tested before your first session
• A notebook and pen, or a device for writing on
• Short readings will be made available during the course