WEBINAR | Looking Back, Moving Forward: Writing About Grief, Loss & Trauma
WEBINAR | Looking Back, Moving Forward: Writing About Grief, Loss & Trauma
June 25 @ 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm EDT
Unsure how to start writing about grief, loss, or trauma? Stuck midstream? Wondering how honest to be?
Creative Nonfiction
Writing about grief, loss, or trauma can feel overwhelming. Where do you begin? How much should you reveal? And how do you shape painful experience into something meaningful—for both you and your reader?
Robert Frost famously said, “No tears for the writer, no tears for the reader.” But turning raw emotion into compelling narrative requires more than catharsis. It demands reflection, structure, and the willingness to uncover what’s at the heart of the story.
In this 90-minute live webinar, we’ll explore how acclaimed memoirists and essayists approach emotionally charged material—and how you can apply their techniques to your own work. We’ll look closely at the roles of conflict, joy, and meaning-making in shaping personal narrative and discuss strategies for writing that is honest without becoming unmoored.
You’ll leave with practical tools to deepen your creative nonfiction and move your work forward—with insight, clarity, and connection. We’ll also revisit Frost’s lesser-known companion quote: “No surprise for the writer, no surprise for the reader.”
There will be writing in this webinar!
Can’t make it live? No worries—a replay will be available to all registrants.
In this webinar, you will:
- EXAMINE the nuts and bolts of craft in notable examples of memoir and essay about loss, grief, and trauma
- EXPLORE narrative balance of research, memory, and imagination
- DEVELOP confidence in your right to write your version of events
This webinar is a great fit for creative nonfiction writers of all levels who are…
- Seeking to create a compelling story from the experience of grief, loss, or trauma
- Interested in crafting scenic writing
- Creating narrative from researched fact and individual memory
Closed captioning is available. ✔
All registrants receive the recording. ✔
ABOUT YOUR PRESENTER
JESSICA HANDLER is the author of the novel The Magnetic Girl, winner of the 2020 Southern Book Prize, a 2019 “Books All Georgians Should Read,” an Indie Next pick, Wall Street Journal Spring 2019 pick, Bitter Southerner Summer 2019 pick, and a SIBA Okra Pick. Her other books include Invisible Sisters: A Memoir and Braving the Fire: A Guide to Writing About Grief and Loss. Her nonfiction has appeared on NPR, in Tin House, Drunken Boat, The Bitter Southerner, Brevity, Creative Nonfiction, Newsweek, The Washington Post, and More Magazine. She lives in Atlanta.
Questions? Please email Info@writingcraft.com
