Top Menu

Tag Archives | theme

manuscript review

Need a Manuscript Review?

Friends and family love your memoir. They say you are an outstanding writer, but you’re not sure. Perhaps you need a manuscript review. See inside.

cut extra text

How to Cut Memoir Text

To ensure that your memoir is a tight one, it will probably be necessary to cut some of your text.

Having finished my childhood memoir, French Boy / A 1950s Franco-American Childhood, of course, I have been thinking of all the things that I did not put into the memoir. Some of these omissions, I would say, were interesting and might have contributed to my story’s theme and plot line. However, the memoir had reached 350 pages, and I knew it was imperative to limit any further lengthening of the story.

Many writers have said—and I paraphrase—”a work of art is never finished. It is merely abandoned.”

Keeping this observation in mind, I understood, as every writer must, that I needed to choose the point of abandonment carefully. Cut back too early, and you don’t make your point—establish the importance of your theme—in your memoir. Abandon too late, and you risk having too much in your memoir and turning your reader off.

Cut memoir text

[Free Membership required to read more. See below. ]

We'd love to have you access this content. It's in our members-only area, but you're in luck: becoming a member is easy and it's free.

Already a Member?

Not a Member Yet?

Fear of Insignificance

Is Your Memoir Silenced by the Fear of Insignificance?

From my own memoir-writing experience and from witnessing memoir writers I have coached, taught and edited, I have found it useful to work with a subcategory of fear as a writing block. This subcategory is, of course, fear of insignificance. Many of us have been silenced by the FEAR OF INSIGNIFICANCE. I have myself and I am fairly sure you have also been on occasion.

If you are writing only for family and friends, you need not fret about your story being insignificant. Your audience will appreciate your memoir. However, if you are writing for a larger audience, fear of insignificance can paralyze you.

[Free Membership required to read more. See below. ]

We'd love to have you access this content. It's in our members-only area, but you're in luck: becoming a member is easy and it's free.

Already a Member?

Not a Member Yet?

telling the truth

Do not waffle in telling the truth

“I have permission [as a memoir writer] not to waffle in my writing,” I was recently informed by a memoir writer.

“Not to waffle” somehow missed the point for me.

Certainly, the memoir writer has permission “not to waffle,” but there is more that is incumbent on the writer. S/he has the obligation not to waffle. As memoir writers, “not to waffle” means to tell our truth about what happened. This is a must. Over the years, I have been amazed at how I can pick up waffling and how, in a workshop setting, others can too. Waffling just comes across waving a “red flag.” So…

Yeah, don’t do it!

But beyond “not to waffle” is telling the truth, the searing truth.

[Free Membership required to read more. See below. ]

We'd love to have you access this content. It's in our members-only area, but you're in luck: becoming a member is easy and it's free.

Already a Member?

Not a Member Yet?

theme in a memoir

Is Theme in a Memoir The Driving Force?

How important is theme in a memoir?

Theme in a memoir is absolutely important!

Here’s is a distinction between a family-focused autobiography and a  memoir that, I hope, will help you to appreciate the value and the role of theme in your memoir.

First: a reminder of definitions

People are always wanting to know the difference between an autobiography and a memoir. [Free Membership required to read more. See below. ]

We'd love to have you access this content. It's in our members-only area, but you're in luck: becoming a member is easy and it's free.

Already a Member?

Not a Member Yet?

theme in memoir

Is theme important in memoir?

Theme influences choices for every element in the story: plot development, characterization, and setting.

Here’s the shell of a plot: your father was laid off; a difficult time followed for the family; your father received additional training and obtained a different job.

Your treatment of this plot will vary according to your theme.

Let’s suppose the following is your theme: “events whose consequences we can’t understand happen gratuitously to us in our lives, but we can always make the best of things.” In the elaboration of this particular theme (message), you will find it natural to set your father’s being laid off not only with his reaction at the time but also with its consequences. [Free Membership required to read more. See below. ]

We'd love to have you access this content. It's in our members-only area, but you're in luck: becoming a member is easy and it's free.

Already a Member?

Not a Member Yet?