Without other people, our lives and our memoirs risk becoming dull. Although ideas are pivotal for many individuals, relationships are even more commanding. We are intrigued with who other people are and how they function. “Who’s that? What are they doing? Where did they come from?” These are question we want answered. To write a […]

Without other people, our lives and our memoirs risk becoming dull. Although ideas are pivotal for many individuals, relationships are even more commanding. We are intrigued with who other people are and how they function. “Who’s that? What are they doing? Where did they come from?” These are question we want answered. To write a strong story, capitalize on this interest.

The people in your memoir are your characters. It is your job to bring vivid characters to the attention of your readers. To do so, use descriptive writing to present believable characters.

Many people mistakenly believe that characters in a story have to be well-known to be interesting. When they write their stories, they search their pasts for when they might have crossed paths with the famous. Consequently they write about when they were in the same elevator with some luminary back in 1978. This is not necessarily something that will make your story interesting. A representation of a vivid character is more likely to entice your reader.

I have written about this more extensively in Dramatic Development vs. Dramatic Story. It’s worth your time to read the post to learn how to add drama to the narration of people in your memoir.

In lifewriting, you create a strong, vivid character by describing him or her in sensual details. (The senses, of course, are: taste, sight, sound, smell, and touch.) The most effective descriptions of people make use of these.

Here are ways you can use sense details to make your characters—the people in your memoir—more vivid:

1. Taste – Let the reader sample foods associated with your past or with the person you are writing about. Perhaps a food image or a metaphor will give a deeper sense of the person’s personality. Write about cravings, cooking, wine making preserved foods. Include topics that have to do with tasting.

2. Sight – What did the person you are writing about look like? Describe height, weight, color, shape, posture, mannerisms, contours of the face, prominent features of the people in your memoir. How did they move, talk, walk, sit? Describe their clothing, sense of style, hairstyles. In what ways did those people typically express emotion with body posture?

3. Sound – This includes voice modulation, timbre, and pitch as well as favorite expressions, accents, dialectical usage. Don’t forget throat clearing, foot scraping, or the knocking of a wedding ring against glass as a hand cleared frost from a windshield.

4. Smell – Your text should make references to perfumes, colognes, pipe tobacco, barn odors, the scent of a kitchen, the aroma of a bath, or the smell of a workshop.

Smell is one of the most evocative senses. A particular herb or soap or cleaning fluid can immediately return us to another time and place. Be sure to use that power in your descriptions of the people in your memoir and of their environments.

5. Touch – Help the reader feel how rough your character’s skin was, or how smooth the clothing, how gentle the hands, or how furtive the caress.

When you use these sensory details to describe the people in your memoir, your readers will think, “These are vivid characters!”

The old adage “Show, don’t tell!” is as true as ever. It is one technique that will always improve your writing.

I admit that there is some great writing that use a “tell” approach, but as a rule, “show” is more effective

Good luck writing about the people in your memoir!

NB: This post can also be viewed as a YT video.