When working out the storyline of a fictionalized memoirs, a writer can take license with details, conform characters to the needs of the story, and even blur the lines between the real and the imagined. But are there practices that help unpack the complexities inherent in weaving actual events in the author’s life with the inventions common to writing fiction? In fact, there are.

Jeffrey Dale Lofton will lead a discussion of the pitfalls and perils of fictionalizing a memoir—where to tread carefully, where to let loose, and how writing fiction from personal experience can add emotional depth to a story. 

The workshop will include an exercise crafting descriptions that capture the essence of three characters you are considering for your fictionalized memoir.

Jeffrey Dale Lofton hails from Warm Springs, Georgia, best known as the home of Roosevelt’s Little White House. He calls the nation’s capital home now and has for over three decades. He is a senior advisor at the Library of Congress where he is surrounded by books and people who love books—in short, paradise. Red Clay Suzie is his first novel, a fictionalized memoir written through his personal lens as an outsider—gay and living with a disability in a conservative family and community in the Deep South. It was longlisted for The Center for Fiction 2023 First Novel Prize and was awarded the Seven Hills Literary Prize for Fiction.