We'll meet on Saturday, October 18th & Saturday, October 25th, 2025

Class will meet 1:00PM ET – 3:30PM ET on Consecutive Saturdays

Any questions about this class? Use the Chat Button (lower left) to talk with us.

Instructor Arya Samuelson is a writer, editor, and educator based in Northampton, MA. She won New Ohio Review's Nonfiction Award, CutBank's Montana Prize in Nonfiction, and the Lascaux Review Nonfiction Prize. Her work has also been published in Fourth Genre, Bellevue Literary Review, Columbia Journal, and elsewhere. Her essay "I Am No Beekeeper" was chosen as Notable in Best American Essays 2024. Her work has been supported by Virginia Creative Center for the Arts, Vermont Studio Center, and Juniper Institute for Summer Writing. She proudly holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Mills College in Oakland, CA.

The most compelling memoirs rarely begin with "I was born" or end with "and that's my story." Instead, they drop readers into pivotal moments or surprising revelations that illuminate an entire life. But how do you know which opening moment to choose from decades of living? And when your life continues beyond the page, how do you craft an ending that feels both complete and alive with possibility?

In memoir, beginnings and endings aren't just structural choices—they're acts of meaning-making. They reveal what you've learned about yourself, what patterns you've discovered in your own story, and what truths you want to share with the world. As much as we may want to know—or think we know—where our life story begins and ends, experimenting past our initial instincts can reveal far more powerful ways to frame our experience than any chronological outline ever could.

In this process-based workshop, we'll examine how brilliant memoirists like Lidia Yuknavitch, Terese Mailhot, and T Kira Madden craft openings that immediately establish stakes and intimacy, and endings that resonate long after the final page.

Through guided exercises and generative prompts, you'll create multiple openings and closings for your memoir project, discovering unexpected entry points into your own story and surprising ways to leave readers transformed by the end.

Whether you're just beginning to consider your life story or deep into a memoir manuscript, this workshop will help you find the most powerful ways to invite readers into your world and leave them spellbound.

COURES OUTLINE:

Day One: Beginnings

• Read one-sentence stories and write our own.
  
• We will discuss our favorite beginnings and study openings from craft excerpts.
  
• We will consider the core themes / images in our work and generate an array of options for opening your book, essay, or story. 
  

Day Two: Endings

• We will discuss the endings from books / stories that continue to haunt us.
  
• We will experiment with creating endings out of beginnings, write out a range of potential conclusions to your story, and discover surprising ways to strengthen the narrative arc through connecting the first page to the last.
  

COURSE TAKEAWAYS:

Master Strategic Story Entry Points: You'll learn to identify the most powerful moments from your life to serve as openings, moving beyond chronological storytelling to scenes that immediately establish emotional stakes and draw readers in.

Craft Resonant Endings: You'll explore techniques for creating memoir conclusions that feel both satisfying and alive with possibility, learning to write endings that illuminate deeper meaning while transforming readers.

Generate Multiple Creative Options: You'll create an array of potential beginnings and endings for your memoir project, discovering unexpected entry points and surprising ways to frame your experience that reveal deeper truths.

Connect Structure to Meaning: You'll understand how beginnings and endings function as acts of meaning-making, learning to create stronger narrative arcs that reveal the patterns and insights you've discovered in your life story.

TESTIMONIALS:

“Of all of my teachers in my adult life, Arya’s classes have been the most life changing. I am endlessly thank-ful for her kind, grounded presence in my life as a mentor and an inspiration for my writing and professional life. Her workshops created such a precious space for true creativity, vulnerability, and deeper realizations about the truth behind the art we create.” — Julia P.

“Thank you for creating this opportunity where frequent writers and never-before writers and everyone in be-tween can feel at home.” — Jenn B.

"Arya's class doesn't just help you probe the edges of your writing. It explores the core of you as a person. Her feedback is kind, insightful, and includes actual action items. The community she cultivated was warm and encouraging. I left feeling connected to a group of total strangers as well as myself in ways that floored me. I genuinely shed a tear when the class ended because it was such a fantastic experience." — Charlotte L.

“Arya is a humorous, articulate, experienced writer and excellent creative guide. She listens deeply, acts com-passionately, and brings her considerable knowledge to the table with every workshop participant, writers both experienced and fresh” —Emily S.

“Taking Arya’s course was a brilliant exercise in building trust, community, and bravery when exploring the stories our bodies want to tell. As someone who has never taken a writing course before, I felt comfortable sharing with others because of the receptive community Arya facilitated” —Bethanie M.

“Arya is a magician; she pulled out themes that I’d consciously been writing about for years, others I was blind to. Quite frankly, I was awed by her insights. Through working with Arya as a developmental editor, my book has taken on new, profound meaning.” – Heidi L.

“Arya’s courses are like none I've ever taken. I always leave encouraged, inspired, and having learned some-thing lifechanging.” – Vanessa C.

ONLINE COURSE STRUCTURE:

We'll meet on Saturday, October 18th and Saturday, October 25th, 2025

Class will meet 1:00PM ET – 3:30PM ET on Consecutive Saturdays

• Arya Samuelson | Live via Zoom

• We'll meet on Saturday, October 18th and Saturday, October 25th, 2025

• Class will meet 1:00PM ET – 3:30PM ET on Consecutive Saturdays

• Seminar is fully ONLINE and meets via Zoom