So, You Want to Write a Memoir
What to do and not to do when beginning to write your personal story
During a recent writing workshop I conducted, one participate said to the group, “I can’t write a memoir, I haven’t had anything interesting happen in my life.”
“I don’t know you from a hole in the ground,” I responded, “but I can guarantee you are wrong about that.”
Everyone has interesting things happen in their lives. Every single one of us. And if we want to write about them, we have to find a way to make them universal to the reader. We have to find what connects us all, and since all of us are humans, there is plenty. When you do that, you have the beginnings of a viable personal story.
Most people who have considered writing a memoir don’t understand the genre, don’t truly know what it is, and maybe more importantly, what it is not. They end up beginning the journey of writing their story by heading down the wrong road. Not a good start.
Here are three considerations for those who are thinking about writing a personal story, a memoir, a book length narrative about an aspect of your life, but who are stuck and don’t know how to get things going.
What memoir is not.
Memoir is not autobiography. It is not your entire life story. Autobiographies are for…
