Writing in the first-person ‘I’ voice is common in creative non-fiction, not only in memoir but when writers tackle wider subjects too. At first glance it seems relatively easy to tell a story from our own point of view. There’s no one we know better than ourselves. The facts are already established. Surely all we have to do is arrange them in a logical order and add a few thoughts.

But when we sit down to write, we discover it’s not that simple. Every story requires a unique ‘I’ and finding that ‘I’ is the key to unIocking the story. If we know who is speaking, we will be clear about why we are speaking and what we have come to say.

In this session you will learn about:

• why every first-person story requires a unique ‘I’ to tell it
• how the ‘I’ transforms the raw material of a situation into the emotional essence of the story
• essential characteristics of the ‘I’ voice
• ethical considerations that will strengthen our voice