Writing Patient Stories

How to Engage Readers Through Personal Stories

"Human beings are storytelling creatures. We are hard-wired, both hormonally and neurologically, to respond to engaging stories with imagination and empathy. This trait, which likely arose early in human history, persists within each of us today.  

Readers love compelling medical narratives, whether in a novel or nonfiction book, a personal essay, an op-ed, or a letter to the editor. In this workshop you will learn how to weave patient stories and personal experience into your writing, how to use those stories to get your message across to readers, and—importantly—how not to run afoul of privacy laws in the process.

 So, whether you’re an established writer or brand new to the craft,  please join me for an informal, interactive, low-stress writing event!"

-Dr. Mark Sloan MD

About the Artist

Mark Sloan is a Santa Rosa pediatrician and writer. He is the author of Birth Day: A Pediatrician Explores the Science, the History, and the Wonder of Childbirth, a 2010 Northern California Book Awards finalist. His essays have been published in the Chicago Tribune, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Denver Post, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, Sonoma Medicine, Notre Dame Magazine, and elsewhere, and his letters have appeared in the New York Times and the New Yorker, among many other publications.