Thursday evenings 6-8pm from October 13 - December 8, 2016 (skipping 11/24.) Our class sessions will focus on developing the narrative arc of your memoir, essay or story by creating a timeline of dramatic scenes, identifying the recurring pattern of your text, making mind maps of interrelated events, writing an ?elevator pitch? describing your piece, unpacking universal truths inherent in your story, and embedding transformation in your main characters from the start to the end of the narrative. We will write short pieces in-class and longer ones between classes as well as read selections from master writers, which exemplify central themes. Fee: 200/SOMOS members; 225/nonmembers Limited class size Jan Smith has an MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College, has been the curator of the SOMOS Summer/Winter Writers Series since 2009, and is currently the Executive Director of SOMOS. She is a 2012 recipient of an award from Southwest Writers for her short story, "Breasts," and a 2014 first place award winner for an excerpt from her memoir, "Blink Like Crazy".