The memoirist’s job is not to simply record what happened, but to explain why an event was important and what it meant to the narrator. There has to be a reason for each scene to exist, and that reason should be obvious to the reader. Otherwise, the reader will be left wondering why they were told the information. And yet… it’s not always that easy to understand what a specific experience meant. If you’ve been struggling to identify the hidden meaning in some of the experiences captured in your memoir, this set of exercises might help. In preparation for the class, have a recent draft of some of your writing available.