Life Writing for Beginners: Telling Your Own Story
A course by Tom Bromley , Author, Editor, and Ghost Writer
Discover the writing techniques to research, draft, and edit a narrative piece based on your memories and experiences that engages readers until the final sentence
Discover the writing techniques to research, draft, and edit a narrative piece based on your memories and experiences that engages readers until the final sentence
Life writing is an exploratory process, which involves unlocking memories, both the cherished and the difficult, and translating them into a coherent, narrative structure. For author and editor Tom Bromley, it is like portraiture: trying to depict someone as they truly are—a complete picture, but with words rather than colors.
In this course, Tom takes you through the fundamentals of life writing, from the research, first draft, to the final edit. Discover the techniques to retell experiences in vivid detail and build a seamless narrative piece that captivates readers.
What will you learn in this online course?
14 lessons & 19 downloads
- 96% positive reviews (85)
- 3,434 students
- 14 lessons (1h 51m)
- 19 additional resources (8 files)
- Online and at your own pace
- Available on the app
- Audio: English
- English · Spanish · Portuguese · German · French · Italian · Polish · Dutch
- Level: Beginner
- Unlimited access forever
What is this course's project?
Compose a narrative piece based on your life by exploring different writing exercises.
Projects by course students
Who is this online course for?
Anyone interested in exploring the art of life writing to tell their own story and capture their memories and experiences on the page.
Requirements and materials
No previous experience necessary.
All you need is something to write with and an open mind.
Reviews
A course by Tom Bromley
Tom Bromley is a published author, editor, creative writing tutor, and ghostwriter. He has written twelve works of both fiction and non-fiction, including We Could Have Been the Wombles and Crazy Little Thing Called Love, and other novels, novellas, short stories, and memoirs. He has also ghostwritten fifteen titles, including UK and international bestsellers, and prizewinners.
For the past decade, he has written and taught numerous online writing courses for organizations including the Faber Academy and the Professional Writing Academy, and a number of his students have gone on to become published authors. He has also spoken and taught at a number of literary festivals in the UK and Ireland, and runs an annual writing retreat in the Spanish mountains. He also currently works as an editorial consultant and mentor for a number of publishers, literary agencies, and organizations.
Content
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U1
Introduction
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About Me
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Influences
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U2
Triggers: Senses and Specifics
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What Is Life Writing?
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Using Senses to Bring Emotions to Life
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Employing Music as a Trigger
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Objects and Small Details
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U3
Making History Personal
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Rewriting Historical Events from Your Own Perspective
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Bringing in and Bringing Out the Emotions Even When It Hurts
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U4
Fleshing Out and Focusing In
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Creating a First Draft
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Research
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Structuring and Shaping Your Narrative
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Line Editing
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U5
Doing More with Your Work
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How to Give and Receive Feedback
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Taking Further: Thoughts on Building Towards a Memoir
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FP
Final project
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Life Writing for Beginners: Telling Your Own Story
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What to expect from a Domestika course
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Learn at your own pace
Enjoy learning from home without a set schedule and with an easy-to-follow method. You set your own pace.
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Learn from the best professionals
Learn valuable methods and techniques explained by top experts in the creative sector.
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Meet expert teachers
Each expert teaches what they do best, with clear guidelines, true passion, and professional insight in every lesson.
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Certificates
PlusIf you're a Plus member, get a custom certificate signed by your teacher for every course. Share it on your portfolio, social media, or wherever you like.
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Get front-row seats
Videos of the highest quality, so you don't miss a single detail. With unlimited access, you can watch them as many times as you need to perfect your technique.
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Share knowledge and ideas
Ask questions, request feedback, or offer solutions. Share your learning experience with other students in the community who are as passionate about creativity as you are.
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Connect with a global creative community
The community is home to millions of people from around the world who are curious and passionate about exploring and expressing their creativity.
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Watch professionally produced courses
Domestika curates its teacher roster and produces every course in-house to ensure a high-quality online learning experience.
FAQs
Domestika's courses are online classes that provide you with the tools and skills you need to complete a specific project. Every step of the project combines video lessons with complementary instructional material, so you can learn by doing. Domestika's courses also allow you to share your own projects with the teacher and with other students, creating a dynamic course community.
All courses are 100% online, so once they're published, courses start and finish whenever you want. You set the pace of the class. You can go back to review what interests you most and skip what you already know, ask questions, answer questions, share your projects, and more.
The courses are divided into different units. Each one includes lessons, informational text, tasks, and practice exercises to help you carry out your project step by step, with additional complementary resources and downloads. You'll also have access to an exclusive forum where you can interact with the teacher and with other students, as well as share your work and your course project, creating a community around the course.
You can redeem the course you received by accessing the redeeming page and entering your gift code.
ainfernanda
O curso é bem curto, sucinto, mas encontrei dicas valiosas, além de referências literárias contundentes. Inclusive já comprei 3 livros sugeridos pelo autor. Estou animada com meu projeto autobiográfico!
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guillermo_tobon
Memorables.
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eleonora
Buon corso!
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helenkvw
I'm really enjoying this course. It has bite-sized pieces of information that are easily 'digestible'. The exercises and resources are very good.
ypoisson62
J'ai apprécié ce cours, c'est le deuxième écrivain que j'écoute sur Domestika j'ai appris beaucoup de trucs pour m'aider à concrétiser mon projet de roman autofiction. Merci
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