Try Writing a Wee Bit of Memoir

 

Ready to begin

(This was a Guest Post I did for Michelle Monet's Memoir site in January of 2019)

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.

More On Memoir Writing

I had the pleasure and privilege of being a Guest Blogger on Kathy Pooler's memoir blog/website. The post went up yesterday and will be there all week. Kathy told me to pick the topic so I went with why we write and why we read memoir. You can read it here. Kathy did a  splendid job with the layout and my photo and a nice intro about me. She's a new friend and a lovely person. I recently read her memoir Ever Faithful To His Lead and enjoyed reading about how she triumphed, with the help of God, over more than one bad marriage.

Some of the comments I received on my post at Kathy's blog and facebook pages where I posted a link were quite interesting to me. It seems that a majority of people consider memoir writing to involve writing an entire book. I write short memoir pieces, focusing on one part of life in the past. It' might only be 1200 words but it's still a memoir piece.

I always encourage writers to start small and work up to writing a full length book, whether it be a novel, a memoir, a book of poems or a nonfiction how-to book. If you begin with a major project like a book, you could easily become discouraged. It's a whole lot easier to pick a snippet of a lifetime and write about it.

Consider writing the bits and pieces that would make up a full book one at a time. When you have a reasonable number, arrange them in the best order and you're well on your way to a full book. I've thought about doing it many times but have not gotten there yet.

Granted, a full memoir book is based on a particular theme--abusive behavior of a loved one, loss, poverty, triumph over travesty. So, you would want all the snippets you've written to be geared to that theme. Or it could just be a full book about growing up in Tanzania or New York City or on a Montana ranch. Nothing is set in concrete. It's your writing journey (as talked about here yesterday)

Ever been around a table at a family gathering or when old friends get together and heard the phrase Remember when....? We all have. Those conversations are the stuff memoir stories are made of.  You cannot, however, just talk about them, laughter or tears included, someone has to write them. Why not you?

Some people are still confused by the difference between a memoir and a biography. A good article that explains the difference can be read here. Note that the explanation can apply to full books or those short pieces I've talked about.