Three Pillars of a Powerful Memoir
There is power in writing your story. Your memoir can transform you as it leads to understanding the energy in your life and ultimately making that energy work for you.
The three pillars of a powerful memoir I want to talk about are the old stand-bys of character, action, and setting. A story is not a journal entry. Unlike a journal, a memoir needs development. Ranting and raving fit into a journal but not into a story—unless ranting and raving are in the dialog. Story has its own dynamics which in turn lead to their own conclusions. In writing your memoir, connect to your story as a literary form—literary here refers to in writing. There are requirements that go into the creation of an effective story—whether written or spoken. As mentioned before these are character, action, and setting.
Be Guided by These 3 Pillars of a Powerful Memoir When Writing Your Story
1. Your characters are the people in your story
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Every Story Needs a Believable Memoir Setting
Writers seem to grasp that every memoir needs well-developed characters and actions, but the same is often not true when they consider memoir setting.
Too many writers omit to tell us enough of the setting of their story to make their memoir feel solid and real. It is as if we are reading about spirits who do not inhabit a tangible world.
1. Setting places your characters in a context and makes them “real.”
The memoir setting is both where and when your story occurs. [Free Membership required to read more. See below. ]
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Don’t De-value Your Characters by Using Cliches and Stereotypes
Cliches and Stereotypes
Don’t devalue your characters by using cliches and stereotypes. This will undermine the unique and personal feel of your memoir. Cliches and stereotypes place people in categories. As short-hand ways of writing and speaking, they reflect ready-made thoughts and adversely affect the ways we relate to our families and friends as unique individuals.
- “She was a mother-hen; You know how mothers are!”
- “My father had a heart of gold.”
- “Those were beautiful days when we were happy.”
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Three Points Not to Forget When You Write Your Money Story
This post originally appeared in That Money Girl blog on November 26, 2013 as Your Money Story…Pack It With Power
There is power in writing your money story. Your money story can transform you as it leads to understanding the money energy in your life and ultimately making that energy work for you.
In this post, I write about three features you must utilize in the writing of a money story. These are character, action, and setting. [Free Membership required to read more. See below. ]