________________________________________________________________________ Why offer these 21 best memoir writing tips?

They are an effective overview of what a writer need do to write a successful memoir—that is, an interesting and meaningful memoir that is read.

How did you select these specific 21 best memoir writing tips?

Well, they come from our blog which contains over 500 posts. But, that is begging the question a bit. The posts are there in the first place because mastering their topics was deemed necessary to any memoir writer who wants to write a good memoir. We have been working with first-time and only-time writers for the last 30 years. We've heard a lot of questions in that time. Our blog posts are answers to those questions.

Why the length of this post?

Content required it. Following these 21 best memoir writing tips is essential for quality writing. Think of this post as a curriculum your college professor hands you at the beginning of the semester. Your prof doesn't expect you to read and study the whole curriculum immediately. You have a semester to master its contents.The same is true of this post: you have time to explore and study its contents. Eventually you will want to have mastered all the content. It's that important.

How to write a memoir: our 21 Best Memoir-Writing Tips to get you writing your memoir—quickly and well—and getting it into the hands of your public.

By Denis Ledoux on June 23, 2020

Note from the editor: This post is a memoir-writing course. I suggest that you glance through the whole of it, and pick those best memoir-writing tips that you most need to read at this time. Later, bit by bit, you will read the rest.

Click on the links that interest you and study the posts where you land. The links in even just a few of the tips below will uncover articles that pertain to the topic(s).

Following these best memoir-writing tips, your knowledge of memoir writing will grow more certain, and you will write with more confidence. One day, sooner than you think possible, your memoir will be published and in hand.

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This is where Memoir Network Writing Book Series will be so useful to you—especially if:

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It’s later than you think. Don’t put off writing your memoir any longer.

Our 21 in-depth, best memoir-writing tips below will help you to start memoir writing today.

You’ll find these guides will see you through the process of how to write a memoir—an interesting and meaningful memoir—more easily and quickly than you may now think possible.

One day soon, you will have written your book.

The Memoir Network’s 21 Top Best Memoir-Writing Tips to get you to memoir success.

1. What is a memoir? Hint: it’s not an autobiography!

Is the difference important to the memoir writer? Somewhat! Knowing what you are writing will orient you from the start! It can be discouraging to realize that you have been headed in the wrong direction when you could have saved yourself time and energy by understanding the difference between memoir and autobiography as you launched yourself. While it’s not huge, it can be significant.

An autobiography is about a whole life: from birth to the present. A memoir is a part of your life that is characterized by a theme. It might be about the first years of your marriage during which you realized what an immature and selfish person you were and earned to be a giving souse. This may interest many people as it is a struggle many are waging.

The fact is that, while it is totally possible to write a memoir that will interest the public and draw an audience to you, the same is not true of an autobiography. If you are famous: possibly. If you are not, it is not likely that people will be interested in what grade school you went to and how much your grandmother loved you.

(This statement about autobiography is not applicable if you are writing for a family audience. Your children and grandchildren will definitely be interested in an autobiography.)

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About Denis Ledoux

I hope this blog post has been helpful to you to write a better memoir. It is a brief—and, I believe, high quality—assist in a facet of your writing, but there is much better I and my team can provide you. The best ways always come down to a Memoir Network professional coaching and editing your memoir. As your coach or editor, we don't give you just theory as in this blog post (beneficial to you by the way). You and your Memoir Network professional plunge deep into your story and develop it so it "comes alive" for your readers. To explore this option in a free consult, email me at [email protected] for an appointment. Want to try a launcher, do-it-yourself option? Try The Memorable Story / Write Your First Memoir Draft Program. Over the coming weeks, you will learn to write better, deeper memoir and to write more quickly and with more satisfaction. Enroll today. Another option is my classic book Turning Memories Into Memoirs / A Handbook for Writing Lifestories and my many other memoir-writing books. My Start to Write Your Memoir FREE five lesson e-course will help you to calibrate—or recalibrate—your memoir writing. Join our FREE My Memoir Education membership. It's easy to register, and you'll receive tons of free materials.

View all posts by Denis Ledoux →

Audience, blog book tour, characters in memoir, editing, finish my memoir, getting started memoir writing, healing, launch a memoir, memoir, memory list, order, pain, plot in a memoir, point of view in memoir, pre-writing, publishing a memoir, setting of your memoir, staying motivated, theme, truth telling, writer's block

7 Responses to How to write a memoir: our 21 Best Memoir-Writing Tips to get you writing your memoir—quickly and well—and getting it into the hands of your public.

Daniel Bennett August 1, 2020 at 11:30 AM #

Thanks Denis. Great tips. Just gotta follow a few and get writing.
catherine coyle October 26, 2020 at 5:24 PM #

Thank you.
,,
Finding this site has encouraged me to have another go at writing my memoirs.
Denis Ledoux October 26, 2020 at 5:51 PM #

You are welcome, Cathie.
Thanks for your comment. It makes me feel my work is making a difference to people.
I believe that the experience of writing is important to the writer and the reading of our memoirs can change people’s lives. So…
Keep writing. It is an important undertaking. And…
Continue to read. There are over 500 posts on the blog and all are available to you and everyone for free.
Michaelboubs Michaelboubs November 28, 2021 at 6:10 AM #

My brother and I are excited having found your website. It is exactly what my friends from work and I have been looking for. The knowledge on the website is beneficial and helpful and will assist my family and friends. It looks like the site has a lot of info about subjects on memoir writing and the other links and information really show it. I’m not typically on the internet all of the time but when I get a break I’m always hunting for this kind of knowledge and others closely concerning it. I have two of my family members that have acquired an interest in this because of all that I have found out about it on your site and they will for sure to be visiting the blog because it is such an incredible discovery.
Denis Ledoux January 3, 2022 at 2:26 PM #

Thanks for your words of appreciation. I am always gratified to know that my work helps other. Let me know how your writing is shaping up
Tina Bozzuto April 7, 2022 at 3:54 PM #

Hello, Denis,

I am a graphic designer and writer/editor and have been working with an older friend who asked me to write, design and self publish her memoir. We have been working on it for 4 years. It is a slow process as I am not interviewing her, she has no word processing applications and insists in writing her thoughts in longhand and having me transcribe them into a typewritten draft. I use InDesign to do that and realized that eventually I will need to break that document into individual chapters so I can insert her photos that I am scanning. I recommended that she have Lulu publish the book ( I have worked with them before.)

I have looked around on your site and see that there is a lot of useful, free information- thank you! Right now I am focused on the mechanics of how to efficiently get to the place where I can hand off the final files to Lulu. I expect that the writing will be finished in several months. What should I be planning for or avoiding to wrap up this project?
Denis Ledoux April 29, 2022 at 10:25 AM #

I’d be happy to spend sometime with you to address these questions. Send me three times you can meet for a consultation and I will choose one.

How to write a memoir: our 21 Best Memoir-Writing Tips to get you writing your memoir—quickly and well—and getting it into the hands of your public.

The Memoir Writing Series