Popular novelist Sophie Kings runs Sidmouth course for would-be autobiographers

POPULAR Sidmouth novelist Sophie King has helped students write different kinds of life stories at a course held at Kennaway House, Sidmouth.

Sophie, who said some of the stories produced were good enough to be published, showed the different kinds of methods to use to write a life story, including dividing their lives into things they did for the first time – first day at school, first car, first kiss, first job, or the Where Were You method, thinking of world events during their life and using these to describe moments in their life.

She said: “One student had just started his first job when President Kennedy was killed.

“I also helped students break down their material to write a chronological version. I suggested they thought of their lives in spans of 10 years. This helps to reduce the material and make it more manageable for people to write.

“Another method is to tell your life story through old photographs and lengthy captions, so I asked my students to bring in old pictures which caused a great deal of hilarity.”

Sophie baked a cake for the last day of the course for the class to celebrate completion of their life stories.

“I had some lovely feedback and plenty of requests for another course later in the year,” she added.