A Top Memoir Editor Gets the Job Done
Have you wondered why even writers of the highest caliber need a top memoir editor?
Is memoir editing really important?
Following are reasons even the Hemingways, the Kerouacs, and the Woolfs need editors. As you (and they) write day after day, over the months and years it takes to complete a manuscript, some of the pitfalls we all become prey to include any three of the following:
- becoming attached to your prose. Often, we are enamored of particular scenes and go from tolerating their extraneous quality to feeling comfortable with the fact that they do not contribute to your memoir. Aren’t they so well-written and such good memories! In our self-editing, we become indulgent and leave the “little darlings” in. Many writing workshops justly talk about “killing your little darlings”—that is, editing them out. When you work with The Memoir Network, rest assured your editor will kindly put your “little darlings” to their deserved rest! You deserve no less from a top memoir editor.
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Word Redundancies
As writers, words are our most-used tools. (Other important tools include punctuation, grammar, the visual aspect of a text layout.) Each of our tools, too, ought to be respected for their best use. Avoid word redundancies.
Four Tips for Writing a Better Memoir
To write a better memoir, make use of the core memory list. The extended memory list does not make value judgments about the quality of your memories. The core memory list, however, distinguishes between two sorts of memories— the important from the unimportant.
Shaping your memoir: The mythic journey of your life
We read memoirs for many reasons. These reasons can perhaps be summarized into two: we want to be entertained and we need to be informed.
In this post on the mythic journey of your life, I want to write about the second of those reasons: our need to be informed.
Whether they articulate it or not, many people read memoirs because they want to understand something about the lived experience of life. Life is not easy. It is full of challenges, defeats and conundrums.
“What to do?”
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Why Use Precise Speech?
Many memoir writers are under the impression that you need to have an extensive vocabulary to write. An extensive vocabulary can only help you—if by “extensive” you mean many precise language, not just big words.
Precise words are specific and not vague and ineffective like nice, awful, big, OK. “She was nice” is vague. “She understood different points of view” is specific and precise language.
“He was awfully big” is vague. You might write instead: “My father measured six foot five and weighed 275 pounds.”
Don’t write: “The job was OK.” Write: “The job was in my field of competence, but its salary was inadequate and its requirements did not challenge me.”
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Why Go to a Writer’s Retreat?
Why would I go away to a writer’s retreat to write when I can write at home, at my very own desk, with my cat and my favorite coffee mug? Writers at all stages of their writing life and in their projects can benefit from attending a retreat. Even in the beginning, when you may […]
How to Read the Memoir Writer’s Blog
How to Read the Memoir Writer’s Blog To Your Benefit Every day or so, I create a new memoir writer’s blog post. I write about a variety of topics to motivate and educate the writer.