Hearing the words helps you identify unnatural sentence structure. Your secondary characters should be realistic and not all good or all bad. Don’t make conclusions yourself, set it up so that the reader can.Ĭreate round characters. Use descriptive language to build the world within your memoir. Your memoir doesn’t need to be a linear re-telling. Here’s where you share necessary information with your reader. Don’t waste time detailing boring demographics like your age or gender-that will come as you continue the story.Įmploy the use of flashbacks. Start in the middle of the action, not from the beginning. Plus, they probably know you’re lying anyway-and that’s when you’ll lose them. By avoiding or decorating the truth, you’re cheating the reader. In fact, it’s required when writing a memoir. The beauty of your story is in its brutal and vulnerable honesty. You know, stuff like writing witty retorts that you wish you said at the time (but didn’t). In a vain attempt to make yourself look better, you may be tempted to share things that never even happened. Write for that target audience as if you’re speaking directly to them.
You’re not trying to reach every person in the world, just those who need to learn or be encouraged by your story. Not everyone will enjoy or be drawn to your memoir, and that’s okay. What lesson jumps out at you when you think about a key event in your life? While you may lament something you didn’t do, the story is in what you did do and what you now know thanks to the passing of time. It’s never too late to live the life you’ve always wanted.What is the moral of the story you’ve chosen as your memoir? What was the lesson you learned from living this part of your life’s story? Perhaps you learned: How did you get there? Or, you’ve finally adopted your child (the end), what started this journey? Choose a Focus For example, you’re now working in your dream job (that’s the end). Some memoirists find it helpful to start from the end first. Itching to write, but not sure where to begin?
Whichever one you find hardest to stop writing about is the winner. I recommend writing two to three paragraphs about each of these events. You may not know the answer to that until you start writing. Which one has the great opportunity to tell a compelling story?
Isolate the top five or six events that have occurred in your life so far. I know it can be overwhelming to choose just one event in your life. Choose a Specific EventĪs we discussed earlier, memoirs aren’t a collection of stories that compose your entire life. Instead of a bullhorn, your takeaway should be a subtle whisper in the wind. Now, look at what you’ve written and see if the lessons you’ve learned are clearly presented in your memoir.īut don’t ram your lessons down the reader’s throat. Then put it away and don’t look at it until you’ve completed the first draft of your memoir. Just a few bullet points will do the job. In fact, before you set out to write your memoir, jot down what you’ve learned from this event. Spend a lot of time thinking about the key takeaways from your story. Instead, folks read your story to see human truths that they can use to make sense of their own lives. It’s the book equivalent to being on a date with someone who drones on and on about himself. Instead, your memoir is about the lesson you’ve learned and can share with others.
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