How About Only A Wee Bit of Memoir?

Did your memoir start in a place like this?

(This was a Guest Post I did for Michelle Monet's Memoir site in January)

You've been through a traumatic period in your life or an event that just won't stop invading your heart and mind. You decide to write a memoir. Big decision. Big story. Big job.

You begin the first chapter with the enthusiasm of an athlete who knows she’s at the top of her game. Confident with a goal of reaching the trophy at the end. And then, the idea of writing an entire book about what occurred somewhere in your life becomes a bit frightening, even overwhelming. I’ve noted memoir writers who confess that they have never written before but felt the story needed to be told. How to do it can be a big stumbling block.

If you’re a newbie writer, it stands to reason that this great undertaking might be too much to handle. Even if you have some writing background, a whole book can be daunting. What to do?

 Try writing short memoir pieces. A lot of personal essays and stories in anthologies like Chicken Soup for the Soul can be classified as memoir. I’ve written dozens of them, and let me tell you, a 1200 word memoir story for an anthology is a lot easier to write than a 300-page book.

 If you’re thinking that you couldn’t possibly get all that happened into 1,000 to 2,000 words, you’re right. The short memoir is merely a snippet of what you’d include in a full book.

Think about the meaning of the word memoir—a memory or reminiscence. The first short memoir I had published was about my dad making a valentine box for me to take to school when I was in the second grade. Making the valentine box wasn’t the important part. That came when I, only 7 years old, realized that my daddy, who had little spare time to devote to me, loved me. We take things like this for granted but this particular day, the fact settled over me like a warm comforter and left a definite impression. You can read the story here. The tale is a mere sliver of memoir. I couldn’t write an entire book about that valentine box, but I could include the story within a lengthy memoir about the love/hate relationship that developed between my dad and me as the years slid by.

 Many a personal essay begins with a memory and finishes with a universal truth or a lesson learned. Basically, it is a short form memoir, but for some reason, we tend to think of memoir only as a full book. If you want to write short memoir pieces, you’ll need to change your mindset. Once you do, there’ll be no problem in continuing to write these wee little bits of your life.

 Consider this. Once you have a file filled with these short stories, you can piece them together like a quilt top and create a full-length memoir. In addition, if you can publish some of these short memoirs, you might still use them in your full book, as long as you retain the rights to the stories.

 There are writing contests that use Memoir as a category. My state authors group has found this contest category to be one that receives the most submissions. The word count varies from year to year—sometimes 1500 words or less, but never over 2,000.

 When writing the short memoir, remember to give the facts but also your feelings and what you may have learned. Use all the writing tools in your kit, such as sensory details, similes and metaphors, active verbs and more exactly as you would with any other type of writing.

 Give short memoir a try. That wee bit could lead to something much bigger.