Petite
YOU NEED SUPPORT
Eight weeks of structured time, creative assignments & specific deadlines to shape, finish or polish your memoir. Craft lessons at your own pace; live-editing & personal guidance to apply the work; hosted Study Halls to get it done.
Applications close December 15
Confirmations sent December 20
Four classes Jan 23 - March 13, 2025
See YOUR PLAN below for class dates & times
Change your writing life.
Write faster, at a higher level of craft.
Live-editing instantly transforms your work & inspires your revisions.
Assignments tailored to your book give the creative direction you need.
Big-picture feedback, hard deadlines & dedicated work time keep you moving to the finish line. Your supportive cohort inspires & cheers you on.
Project Memoir PETITE is a unique combination of self-directed work and accountability–that fits your budget.
Need more feedback? Join Project Memoir for weekly meetings and more editorial guidance. Get full details here.
Personal feedback.
Group support.
Finish faster.
THE EXPERIENCE
CRAFT LESSONS
Lost in manuscript revisions?
Weekly Craft Lessons give tools & techniques to apply NOW.
Personal editorial feedback lets you know what's working.
Wrestling with too many ideas?
Immediate editorial guidance shapes your book into something you can FINISH.
Is Project Memoir PETITE Right For Me?
- You're an intermediate- or advanced-level writer and understand story fundamentals.
- Your memoir is somewhere between "early partial draft" & "ready for the world."
- You'll be able to devote 6-10 hours/week to learning & practicing your craft.
- You're excited about applying specific, direct feedback to your book.
- You'll enjoy being a part of a cohort of writers in a similar stage of their work.
But not if..
- You don't have time for "homework."
- You're still figuring out what you want to write.
Need More Editorial Feedback?
YOUR PLAN
Get Ready, Get Set!
January 23, 2025 12:00PM – 1:30PM Eastern Time
- Meet your supportive cohort & share your writing goals
- Meet your instructor and our Study Hall hosts
- Review the calendar of deadlines and dates
- Learn to navigate the Course Hub for Craft Lessons, Zoom links & downloadable readings and worksheets
- Learn where to upload your pages for live-editing and Craft Lessons exercises
**Study Hall dates and times will be chosen based on availability.
**This is the schedule for Project Memoir PETITE. For the Project Memoir schedule, check the website here.
Week One: Arc & Scene
Craft Lessons:
- What is a Dramatic Arc & what are the common arcs?
- Plotting your book on a Dramatic Arc to map your journey
- What is a scene? Unity, tactic & objective
- Tension & Pacing: get in late, get out early
- Turning Points: showing change through gesture/POV vs. telling change through narrative; how to “tell” well
Project Memoir Petite:
- Office Hours (Thursday February 6, 12-2PM Eastern time)
- Feedback: Comments on Dramatic Arcs for ALL WRITERS
- Hosted Study Hall for cowriting, questions & support
Week Two: Plot & Logic
Craft Lessons:
- Writing your synopsis with clarity of entry & ease of identifying characters
- Finding emotional shifts, stakes & tension in your synopsis—then reverse-engineering in your manuscript
- Showing time shifts & transitions
- Structure—expanding on the dramatic arc
Project Memoir Petite:
- Hosted Study Hall for cowriting, questions & support
Week Three: Meaning & Cultural Relevance
Craft Lessons
- What is it really about? Exploring theme & motif
- The research or cultural awareness your book needs & weaving it naturally into the story
- Showing meaning in scenes
- Dramatic question & dramatic answer
Project Memoir Petite:
- Feedback: Comments on synopsis for ALL WRITERS
- Hosted Study Hall for cowriting, questions & support
Week Four: Stronger Prose
Craft Lessons:
- Strong sentences & paragraphs
- Adverbs & adjectives
- Dialogue tags
- Finding your voice
Project Memoir Petite:
- Office Hours (Thursday February 27, 12-2PM Eastern time)
- Hosted Study Hall for cowriting, questions & support
Week Five: Small-Group Coaching
& Catch-up Time!
Share a session with two other writers to tackle your publication questions & discuss your manuscript progress.
Project Memoir Petite:
- Hosted Study Hall for cowriting, questions & support
Week Six: World-Building & Lessons Learned
Craft Lessons:
- World-building for time, place & social mores
- Showing change in narrator with change in POV
- Character through gesture & action
- Showing lessons learned without moralizing or tying a bow
Project Memoir Petite:
- Hosted Study Hall for cowriting, questions & support
Week Seven: Ending with Power
Craft Lessons:
- Chekhov’s Gun; set-up & pay-off
- How motifs & themes help wrap up the book
- Ending chapters with baby hooks
- Sending the reader back into the world
Project Memoir Petite:
- Office Hours (Thursday March 13, 12-2PM Eastern time)
- Hosted Study Hall for cowriting, questions & support
Project Memoir PETITE includes Query Bootcamp, a three-day intensive to sharpen your first pages, write your query, learn about the publishing process, and start your submissions list.
Friday, Saturday & Sunday April 11-13
Included in your Project Memoir & Project Memoir Petite experience (regular enrollment $425)
Querying your book is the first step toward publication. You’ll need to assess which literary agents are right for you, whether to pursue Big Five, small press, hybrid or self-publication, and make your first pages compelling.
- Learn query style and format
- Discover how & where to research agents and publishers
- Find your best comps (& write them up efficiently!)
- Write your query, get feedback, and revise it
- Learn how to distinguish a bad deal from an out-and-out scam, and how to assess your opportunities with a knowledgeable eye.
- We’ll also discuss platform-building with essays, articles, speaking & social media; where to focus your time & whether you actually need “platform.”
Requires some advance preparation; you’ll get worksheets & guidance the week before.
Allison K Williams
Writer - Editor - Speaker - Coach
I'm excited about Project Memoir Petite
I've been watching Project Runway reruns, and every week, fashion designers who don't quiiiiiiite have enough time or materials "make it work"—with the help of a skilled mentor's personal, tough-love feedback.
Nothing makes us creative like a deadline. Specific, time-limited creative assignments have tremendous power to ignite our creative selves. YOU can use that power to finish your book. And I'm going to help you every word of the way.
Next Project Memoir PETITE begins January 23, 2025.
Project Memoir Petite
Need a smaller commitment? We gotcha!-
Weekly Craft Lessons
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Watch at your own pace
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Live Orientation to meet your cohort
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3 group Office Hours with Allison
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Live-editing hot seat feedback on 10 pages
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Editorial feedback on Synopsis
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Editorial feedback on Dramatic Arc
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Small-Group Coaching Session
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Twice weekly hosted Study Hall sessions
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Community support of writers at your level
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BONUS Query Bootcamp!
Project Memoir
Your MFA year in 8 weeks.-
Weekly Craft Lessons
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Watch at your own pace
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Weekly Group Coaching & Live-Editing session
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Live-Editing hot seat feedback on 30 pages
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Weekly feedback on Craft Lessons Exercises
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Private editorial feedback on 60 pages
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Editorial feedback on 2 Additional Scenes
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Editorial feedback on Synopsis
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Editorial feedback on Dramatic Arc
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Twice weekly hosted Study Hall sessions
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Community support of writers at your level
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BONUS Query Bootcamp!
Query Bootcamp
Start your submission process-
Three days of live classes (4 sessions)
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See examples of successful queries
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Personal feedback on your query & first pages
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Learn how to find the right literary agents for your work
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Discover publishers seeking your genre
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Five amazing ways to find the perfect comps
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Do YOU need platform? Maybe not!
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Access to recorded classes for review
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Not just WHAT to do but WHY!
Discover What Makes Your Book WORK!
Your Answers
Although you’ll generate new pages, Project Memoir PETITE is focused on revision. At least 40 pages should be drafted before we begin. This can be an early draft or polished work that still isn’t “there” yet. Got more pages? Even better!
Project Memoir PETITE:
- Submit your synopsis for editorial feedback
- Submit your Dramatic Arcs exercise for editorial feedback and guidance on your story’s arc
- And apply the Craft Lessons to as much of your manuscript as you can.
Each week includes 8-12 hours of progress:
- Four 15-minute-ish video Craft Lessons to watch at your own pace.
- Each Craft Lesson includes a short exercise or focused manuscript work—allow 30-60 minutes per lesson.
- Project Memoir PETITE: Optional hosted Study Hall sessions, where you’ll be able to work side-by-side with classmates and ask questions about your own work as needed.
- Project Memoir PETITE: Three, two-hour Office Hours sessions. Office Hours are recorded for you to rewatch.
- Project Memoir PETITE: Small-Group Coaching Session with two other writers to discuss your manuscript and progress.
If you’re a daily worker, allow 1-2 hours/day. Binge workers, allow yourself two chunks of 3-4 hours. (Take breaks!)
At the end of our eight weeks, you will have a solid draft of your memoir, or a solid partial draft plus a framework to finish. You’ll know what will help sell your memoir and why, and how to bring your book into the world.
Craft Lessons are the “lecture” part of class. Each lesson teaches an element of structure, plot, story, scene or voice that you will immediately apply to your book.
Watch these short (10-20min) videos at your own pace. You can post questions on individual lesson videos for Allison to answer.
Craft Lessons are NOT prompts, warm-ups or freewriting.
You’ll be able to access all Craft Lessons at a private webpage, as well as recorded live classes and recorded Office Hours for three months following the end of the course.
- Editorial feedback on your synopsis, with questions and comments to refine your story
- Editorial feedback on your dramatic arc, with guidance on which arc best suits your story
- Live-Editing during our three Office Hours sessions; up to 10 pages total per writer.
- Set your own calendar deadlines; you’ll discuss your progress during Office Hours.
- Pages for Live-Editing during Office Hours are due one hour before Office Hours begin.
While most of Allison’s events are open to all who sign up, Project Memoir & Project Memoir Petite will be selected groups. The writers in each cohort will be at a similar stage in their writing journeys & a good fit for mutual support.
Absolutely! I can’t promise Project Memoir will run again, but if so, the group makeup will be different—& possibly a better fit for you! And if you’re working on a novel, sign up to hear about the next offering of Project Novel. Find out more.
Some of the lessons will repeat things you’ve learned from me before (at Memoir Bootcamp, Rebirth Your Book, a live event or a webinar) but now you’ll apply them to your whole manuscript.
Payments can be made by PayPal/credit card, Venmo, Zelle, direct deposit, Canadian Interac/eTransfer, or wire transfer.
Payments for Project Memoir PETITE January 2025 can be made as follows:
- Payment 1 – A deposit of $665, due within one week of acceptance
- Payment 2 – $665 due January 15th 2025
- Payment 3 – $665 due February 12th 2025
OR
One payment of $1795 (single payment includes a $200 discount)
Allison is fully committed to this program & you should be, too! It’s too much time, focus & emotional investment for either one of us to bail out.
- If you withdraw by Jan 15th and we can fill your place from the waitlist, we’ll refund your payments after a $450 administrative fee.
- If we can’t fill your place from the waitlist, we are unable to offer a refund. However, you may be able to apply part of your payment to another event .
- Craft Lessons will be online videos accessed through any web browser.
- Weekly classes, Office Hours & hosted Study Hall sessions happen on Zoom.
- Submit pages in Microsoft Word to see feedback in Track Changes.
- Project Memoir Petite is for the writers who have less time for class or a lower budget for writing courses.
- Petite writers go through the same application process and do the same Craft Lessons.
- They have three group sessions instead of six and more latitude to work at their own pace.
Ready to dive in full speed? Pick Project Memoir.
Worried about overwhelm? Go Petite!
Unsure? Tell me in the application and, if accepted, I’ll pick for you.
