Many Facets To Memoir Writing

I saw this poster on facebook today and my first thought was This is one reason why we write memoir. I've heard it said that memoir writing came about because we want to taste certain things in life more than once. It also helps us look back with a different perspective and gain better understanding of something that occurred in our earlier life. 

Full memoir books have been a popular trend for quite some time now. Readers like to look into the life happenings of someone. It's a legal way of being a Peeping Tom, perhaps. We read them and compare the author's life to our own. If the author happens to be a celebrated name, his/her book is going to garner more interest than if Susie Jones who was a teacher for 60 years writes her memoir book. Other teachers might pick up Susie Jones' book because it's a topic they can relate to but how many others would do so?

It's also the memoir books that tell of trials and tribulations that soar to the top of the bestseller list. Who can forget Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt? This heart-tugging memoir is still considered one of the top memoir books. Part of the reason is the abject poverty portrayed and part of it is the skill of the author in presenting his life story. 

That is an important point. No matter how good the material for the book is, it also takes a skillful writer to present it so that readers want to keep turning the pages. Emotion, sensory details, description, visual images--all these create a better story.

You need not write a full memoir book. Take one incident and write a shorter piece. These shorter memoir snapshots can be contest entries or magazine stories or featured on a blog or website. It's tough to tackle an entire book but do it one episode of your life at a time and it's easier. 

How do you begin? Do you just dive in without any instruction? Some do but I'd suggest doing some reading about how we write memoirs. One of the better sites I've found is one that addresses womens' memoirs. Matilda Butler and Kendra Bonnett give valuable tips, run contests and video seminars through their website. Gentlemen--you can gain something from this website and the newsletter that you can sign up for, too. 

I often urge you to write your family stories--just another kind of memoir. Write about something that you want to feel again, as today's poster says. Write about something you might not have understood long ago to gain a different perspective on it. We write memoir as much for our personal satisfaction as we do for other readers. 

Yes, there are things you would like to feel twice, so write about them. There are also some you might like to keep hidden in the recesses of your mind. Even so, try writing about those events, too, so that you can gain insight, start some healing and ease the pain of whatever happened. 

Memoir writing is worth a try. Many people think their life was pretty boring; they wonder who would want to read about it. Maybe it's not as boring as you think and maybe the way you present it makes a difference, too. Something to ponder and read about before you tackle memoir writing. 

Less Thinking, More Doing

  Have you ever wanted to write a memoir? They're quite popular now. People are curious about other people and the way they've lived. Sometimes they can relate to another person's life or just admire what the author had done over a lifetime. Whatever the reason, memoirs continue to hit the bestseller list.

Like the woman above, many of us think about writing a memoir filled with family stories that will serve to be a history for our family now and in years to come. If we can write one that a publishing house is interested in, so much the better. Let's assume that you want to write the story of your life for your family first. Even that can be completely overwhelming.

You think about it a lot. You know you have some amusing stories, some that are heartrending and others that are simply quite amazing. You think about it a lot. You look at memoir websites which serve to inspire you. You decide that you will definitely write the book. You think about it a lot.

Here's an inside tip. If you think about it a lot but never start writing, you'll never finish the project. Your family won't have the benefit of reading your history (and theirs). You won't have anything to submit to a publishing house either. Whether you're heading for the bigtime publisher or a book for family and friends, you have to begin somewhere, somehow.

How do you avoid allowing a life story project inundate you? You begin with one small segment at a time. You can write one small story more easily than a 300 page manuscript. You don't need to write in chronological order. A memoir that begins with I was born on....at...during... isn't going to grab anyone's attention. Some people think a memoir must start at the beginning and move through the years one by one. Not so! I like memoir books that tell a story that grabs my attention when I start reading chapter one. T. L. Needham wrote a memoir of the life of one of his uncles. His book, When I Was A Child, begins during WWII when his Uncle Louis is taken prisoner by German forces. He hooks his reader immediately, then moves back to the man's early life.

Take an incident from the past that is important to you and write that story. Then do another. And again. Keep the stories in a file. When you have lots of them, consider the order in which you could put them in a book. Write and add more stories and place them in a good spot with the others. You'll know when it's time to stop. It's then that you'll have a book manuscript. Its up to you to arrange them in whatever order appeals to you.

Read lots of memoirs written by other people. Notice the order they have selected for their stories.It doesn't mean you have to do exactly as they have, but note whether the stories jump around in time or follow in careful steps from year one to the finish. Keep a record of the ones that especially appeal to you and determine what about that book made you single it out as one you liked a lot. Doing this will help you decide what style you want to use with your own memoir.

Don't let a memoir book project make you tear at your hair. Take it a little at a time. It's not something to be done in a week. It might take months or even years, depending on how much time you have to devote to it. The inchworm doesn't move too fast but he eventually gets where he's aiming to go. You can, too.