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“I need help to write my memoir,” many new memoir writers realize as they come to The Memoir Network site—as you have done—to find here much material—informative blog posts, e-books, MP3s, and e-courses in the My Memoir Education area and elsewhere.

Which kind of writer are you?

For one sort of writers who have in mind a readership of children, grandchildren, relatives and a few friends, the free material is enough—enough to supplement their writing skills and knowledge and culminate in a well-received memoir. While they want to write the best memoir they can, they also realize that the bar is not high—theirs is, after all, an appreciative audience which will be thrilled with whatever the writer produces.

For another sort of writers, however, who want to produce a memoir read by a larger audience—people they don’t know and who don’t know them—the challenge is greater. The memoir calls for more structuring of the story line—its pacing and arching, more depth of analysis—after all, “that’s just who I was” is hardly a perceptive observation, more attention to style, greater use of fiction techniques—foreshadowing, suspense, repetition, allusions, compare and contrast.

A compendium category

These topics are covered in many of the 500 plus blog posts, but knowledge is one thing and practice is another. So…

Many writers come to the realization that if they could have done it alone, they would have done it by now. If this is you, working with a memoir professional will bring you great dividends. It will take you from trying to write a memoir to being a published writer. Look up how an editor, coach, or ghostwriter can help you write a memoir a larger public will want to read.

More memoir-writing resosurces

More memoir-writing resources at The Memoir Network.

Recently, we sent our  list of free resources. “Free” is great—in fact, we call it “superior”—but “free” can take you only so far. For more memoir-writing resources, explore the following.

Your fee-based options to learn memoir writing:

Our store:

~ The Memoir Store contains dozens of titles on the art and craft of memoir writing. Stock your ereader and / or bookshelves with quality memoir-writing titles.

Your books have given me a foundation in writing. They’ve taught me what to expect and how to go about writing.

Our programs & packages offer more memoir-writing reosurces:

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

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memoir editing process

So You Wonder How Memoir Editing Works

You ask how memoir editing works. This is an important and reasonable question.

In this post, I will take you through a typical process. (The process explained here is one an inexperienced writer would take. An experienced writer can expect to shorten the process.)

How Memoir Editing Works

When I begin the memoir editing process with clients, I tell them that proper editing generally requires three “read-throughs.” Unless the manuscript is already at a high level of organization and polish, no editor can give a manuscript all the attention it deserves in one reading.

That’s simply how memoir editing works when done properly

Reading a manuscript without doing any specific editing and forming only a general impression has always seemed a good idea in theory, but I have not found a way to do so that is economical for the client. I have therefore evolved this concept of read-throughs as a memoir editing technique. [Free Membership required to read more. See below. ]

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what a top editor does for you

Help to Write My Memoir: Here’s What a Top Editor Does for You

What a Top Editor Does For You

People often ask, “What sort of book editing input does a client receive from her/his Memoir Network editor?”

The answer, of course, varies according to the client. No two receive the same response. We always individualize.

You persist in asking, “Yes, yes, but what sort of manuscript input can I expect from a memoir editor that I begin to work with?”

“Ok, I get it—you want a sample communication.”

Here is one that went out to a new client who had sent us a manuscript and wanted us to read it through and make overall recommendations. This is an actual letter so, to protect the client, we have taken out all references that might point to the client and identify him or her or his or her story. We’ll show you the same respect.

What a top editor does for you is push you

Dear Editing Client,

I have read through about half the text you sent. So many good things to say about the memoir manuscript: [Free Membership required to read more. See below. ]

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avoiding vaugueness

Five Tips for Avoiding Vagueness in Your Memoir

Avoiding vagueness in writing is something many writers struggle with.

When writing slips into vagueness, the reader reads and rereads the text and does not quite “get it.”

I’m sure this has happened to you. You are reading something and you find yourself wondering: “What’s the author trying to say? What’s going on here?”

Not a good place for an author to land a reader.

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

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how to write vividly

How to write vividly–Avoiding vagueness in writing

If you want to learn how to write vividly, use the following tips for avoiding vagueness in writing your memoir.

When a manuscript slips into a vagueness, the reader reads and rereads and does not quite “get it.”

“What’s the author trying to say here?” we ask ourselves. “What am I missing?”

Here are a few of my ideas as to why this may happen.

1. The author is not sure herself what she is trying to say. She has not lingered with this part of the story to extract from it the essence of her meaning. Once she has meaning, finding prose that might do justice to the expression of her feeling becomes easier.

Solution if this is you: journal around the story, look at your photos, take a walk to ruminate about the events you have written about, ask yourself, “What exactly am I trying to convey here? What do I really mean to say?”

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

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dramatic story

Dramatic story development, rather than dramatic events, adds up to an interesting memoir

To view this post as a YouTube video, click here.

People will sometimes suppose that only big drama can make an interesting memoir. Of course, there are many readers who require constant titillation if they are to remain reading. Perhaps they are not the readers you should be seeking for your memoir. Nonetheless, nearly all readers require some attention to “interesting.”  

No, I do not believe that it is the scope of the drama of your memoir that is the crucial element to creating interest. Some would-be memoir-writers get discouraged by the ordinariness of their lives. Yet, I have found that almost everyone I have had a serious conversation with about memoir writing had enough happen in their lives to fashion an interesting memoir.  

An interesting memoir: drama vs. dramatic story development?

Much more important than the inherent drama of an action is the dramatic development of your story.

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

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memoir-writing resources

16 Memoir-Writing Resources You Can Use Today

Having the right resources available when we need them can transform any task from a problem to a pleasure. The same is true of hunting down memoir-writing resources.

I don’t know bout you but when I am trying something new—let’s say propagating a plant—that I’m not knowledgeable about, I head for either the internet or my bookshelves. The internet provides quick information and is sometimes a best resource but I have also found that books often contains more detail information and is easier to use. You are not afraid to get dirt or water on an expensive devise!

Our clients The Memoir Network tend to be first time and only time writers. Usually they have never written anything before and they have only this one book in them.

All of that is find and good but what isn’t so is how often they just begin to write without much investment in learning how to write a memoir. They just place word after word without much sense of organizing their story—even at the paragraph level.

Memoir-Writing Resources

This is a shame as there is so much available for the writer who wishes to learn about the craft of writing.

Our own site can offer a writer—you—with more than 16 possibilities. here are more but I limit myself to thee 16.

1. Your Free Options for Memoir-Writing Resources:

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

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set-goals-brainstorming-2398562_1920

22 Memoir-Writing Goals to Jumpstart your Memoir Writing

Do you find yourself wandering along with your memoir writing and not achieving your memoir-writing goals?  Do you have a sense that you might have accomplished a bit more writing than you have?

At regular intervals, it is traditional to review how the past went for you and to recommit to goals for yourself for the coming months. (A goal is a wish with action steps and a timeline.) These goals need to be written and reviewed periodically.

Studies have shown that people who set goals in writing have a better outcome vis-à-vis accomplishing what they set out to do. Here’s a report on one such study. (The famous Harvard goal-setting study so many of us have heard of apparently never happened, but the concept of goal setting is clearly important and is explored in the linked article.)

22 Memoir-Writing Goals especially for you!

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

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