Guides for Student Writers

Writing the Life: A Student’s Guide to Memoir

Memoir principles, ethics and privacy, scene and structure work, a revision ladder, guided exercises, and a 14-day practice plan.

“It does not ask you to tell your entire life story; it asks you to choose, shape, and reflect on a set of lived experiences that matter to you now.”

Memoir Types & Model Outlines

Ten memoir types — coming-of-age, grief, journey, identity, and more — each with published models and a tailored outline.

“The outline is a map of the territory, not a form to complete.”

Writing the Memoir: A Craft Handout

The same ten memoir types organized as a five-part reference — what memoir is, the types and their techniques, a cross-cutting technique table, three master outlines, and how to use a model without being trapped by it.

“Use them the way a sculptor uses an armature: as an internal support structure that will be entirely invisible in the finished work.”

The Art of Telling a Story

A six-lesson fiction bundle on character, scene, dialogue, voice, structure, and revision — each lesson paired with a public-domain model, exercises, and a rubric.

Silver Current Writing Workshop Handbook

A full twelve-week workshop curriculum — weekly readings, craft principles, exercises, workshop protocol, and a closing reflection.

Publishing Memoir & Personal Essay

Nonfiction journals and contests, tracking tools, and a personal note on persistence, plus an artistic creed and two sample introductions.

“The writers who make it are rarely the most gifted… they are the ones who keep sending, who let each no be a comma and never a period.”

Submitting Short Stories

Venue research, cover-letter and manuscript format, and craft-level advice for placing short fiction in literary journals.

Poetry Submission Suggestions

A guide to journals and contests, informed by experience reading and judging poetry submissions.

The Submitter’s Companion

A practical, genre-general guide to literary-journal submission — what to send, where to send it, and why submissions get rejected.

Student Workbook for Literary Analysis

Twenty-five guided exercises — each with a public-domain passage, close-reading questions, and space to write.

A Companion to Literary Analysis

A short companion text built entirely from public-domain examples — useful alongside the workbook above or on its own.

Altogether Beautiful

A close reading of “Assumptions” against the Catholic dogma of the Assumption — a model of close, doctrinally literate literary interpretation.

Teaching the Memoir Types

A lecture companion to the memoir unit — teaching scripts, common student pitfalls, discussion prompts, and timed in-class exercises for each of the ten memoir types.

“The types are diagnostic tools for the writer, not grades on the writer’s judgment.”