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Posts tagged ‘memoir’

Feb 28

Answer these four big picture questions to find your memoir’s focus

Pulling a cohesive thread out of the chaos of a life can be challenging. The sooner you can figure out what slice of your life you want to write about, the sooner you will be able to focus on the most relevant events for your memoir and their meaning.

Start with these four areas of reflection:

Turning points  – What were key moments that brought major and minor changes? Some of these can be parents divorcing, the death of a loved one, or struggles by another family member that changed how you look at or experience life. Read more

Feb 22

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Ask these 11 questions to find your memoir’s meaning

One of the first steps in writing a memoir is to understand what you’re writing about and why. It’s easy to start writing and end up with a collection of events and situations. And at first that’s fine because writing a memoir, or anything for that matter, is an act of discovery. So it can make sense to write about events to get a sense of what resonates with you and discover your most significant experiences.

That said, sketching out some notes and asking yourself a few questions might just help you refine your focus and give you the passion and energy to move forward.

Ask yourself these questions to discover your themes and meaning:

1. What am I passionate about?

2. What do I want to take a stand on?

3. Fill in these blanks: I want to write about ______ because ________. Read more

Jan 18

Reading list for memoir writers

While writing and researching my memoir, I read over fifty memoirs in order to learn from other authors and to get a feel for where my book might fit in.

Agent Donald Maass suggests that authors read the top ten current books in their genre in order to get a feel for what’s already been done and what draws readers in.

If you’re writing a memoir, I recommend researching not only top-selling memoirs but also those with themes similar to the one you want to write.

Below are just a few of the books I read and recommend. I’m not including a summary of each book but a few sentences on why I liked the book or what I learned from it.

Memoirs:

“Paula,” by Isabel Allende.  Allende’s beautiful and passionate memoir about the death of her daughter showed me the importance of writing to a positive reconciliation. Read more

Jan 17

The end is near: How does yours measure up?

What do you want your readers to feel after turning the last page of your novel or memoir? I’ve been thinking about endings because I’m revising my memoir and want to make sure it measures up. Here’s what I’m using as my guide to create a satisfying conclusion.

A good ending:

Echoes or answers questions or ideas raised in the beginning. Every story is essentially a mystery that must be solved. Readers want to know that they will find the answer to the dramatic story questions by the time they reach the last page, even if the answers aren’t neat and tidy. City of Thieves: A Novel by David Benioff is one of my favorite books for the way the ending ties back to the beginning. Read more

Jan 6

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Tips for imagining memoir characters and events

Below are three previous blog posts with tips for writing your memoir:

Do you have a character in your memoir who needs to be fleshed out but you don’t have enough information to do so? Try these techniques:

How to Fully Imagine Your Memoir:

Deepen your memoir by imagining character thoughts and feelings

Need fresh ideas for describing your characters? Read this post:

Memoir “The Tender Bar” inspires unique character descriptions 

Jan 5

Personal theme reveals my three-word memoir

I was intrigued this week when I saw a twitter feed about three-word memoirs. People were reflecting on 2011 and summing it up in three words. It made me think about what I would write for my own miniature memoir.

That, in turn, reminded me of my personal theme for 2011 — one that I chose last year for myself to represent progress and to reinforce my pursuit of learning and creativity.

As it happens in life, I experienced some fairly negative and toxic events in 2010. I thought about my response and decided I could build a more creative legacy of what I aim to accomplish as a writer, friend, daughter, and spouse if I focused on the positive. Read more

Dec 28

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Create a personalized reading list for your writing projects

Something magical happens when I’m reading analytically. I’m jolted by bursts of insight and inspiration for my own writing. Because I’ve seen the power of reading for myself, I advise other writers to create their own reading list for whatever projects they’re working on.

If you’re looking for inspiration on an element of craft, such as dialogue or structure, read how another writer pulled it off. One of the mind-altering effects of studying for an MFA came from reading and analyzing so much literature. Even reading stories that had nothing to do with my memoir sparked ideas for my own writing.

Here are several tips for creating a reading list:

Read books from multiple genres. If you’re writing a memoir, read fiction, memoirs, and poetry. Reading poetry helped me raise my consciousness of words and meaning. This carried over into my prose and spurred me to write poetry of my own. Read more

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