Writing True Stories

Patti Miller is an award-winning memoirist and nonfiction writer, whose 2012 book, The Mind of a Thief, was longlisted for the Stella Prize and the Nita Kibble Prize, shortlisted for the WA Premier's Prize for Non-Fiction, winner of the NSW Premier's Prize for History and on the syllabus for English for the VCE in Victoria. Her most recent memoir, Ransacking Paris, was released in April 2015 to critical acclaim. Her two previous writing books, Writing Your Life and The Memoir Book, have been continually in print since publication. Patti is a highly successful life-writing teacher and mentor who offers courses at the Faber Academy, as well as many other writing centres around Australia and in Paris.

• Prologue, Part One: Starting Out, 1. Exploring the territory, 2. How to use this book, 3. Workshop One: Getting started, 4. Workshop Two: Memory and other sources, 5. Workshop Three: Bringing it to life — Detail, 6. Workshop Four: Bringing it to life — Scenes, 7. Workshop Five: Finding your voice, 8. Workshop Six: Structure, 9. Workshop Seven: Inventing the story — Narrative, 10. Workshop Eight: Style matters and editing, Part Two: Masterclasses, 11. Workshop Nine: Midway blues — Continuing on, 12. Workshop Ten: Madeleines and unicorns — Sensory detail, 13. Workshop Eleven: Research, 14. Workshop Twelve: The storyteller’s seat — Narrating position, 15. Workshop Thirteen: Beauty of form — More structure, 16. Workshop Fourteen: The magic spell — More narrative, 17. Workshop Fifteen: Difficulties of truth-telling, 18. Workshop Sixteen: Avoiding self-indulgence, 19. Workshop Seventeen: Borderlands — Memoir and fiction, 20. Workshop Eighteen: Creative nonfiction, 21. Workshop Nineteen: Wish you were here—Travel memoir, 22. Workshop Twenty: Random provocations—The personal essay, 23. Where to now?—Publishing, Reading list, Useful contacts, Acknowledgements, Index

Patti Miller believes we all have a story to tell and she has a unique ability to coax it out of us. Whether writing for others or for personal record, Patti causes us to ask the right questions and prompts us with cues to jog our memory, helping us to 'show' (not tell) stories from our lives. The life writing process, with Patti as gentle guide, is as much about own self-discovery as sharing our story. Without Patti, I would never have discovered my creative voice beyond writing the news.Jacinta Tynan, Journalist, Columnist, Author. 'A rich, practical and accessible source of wisdom ... the complete tool kit.' Caroline Baum'Patti is the writing whisperer! She taught me how to stop daydreaming and to get writing. I couldn't have written my memoir without her!' Jessica Rowe