Memoir, Autobiography and Autobiographical Fiction – The Memoir Network | RSS

Have you ever succumbed to this memoir shortcut?

Denis Ledoux — Tue, 11 Oct 2022 17:45:00 +0000

“I just added a little bit of fiction to move the story along,” you say, to explain a memoir shortcut you have just taken, joining the ranks of such pseudo memoirist as James Frey in A Million Pieces? Or, perhaps the ranks of Frank McCourt who fictionalized long dialogs in Angela’s Ashes. (No one remembers […]

Only Telling the Truth in Your Memoir Will Set You Free

Denis Ledoux — Sat, 06 Nov 2021 12:30:00 +0000

I urge all readers to commit to telling the truth—100% of it—in their memoir. It’s the only way you will get to the truth—and as they say, the telling the truth will set you free. (more…)

Are Your Details Destroying Your Memoir? How to Avoid These Memoir Writing Mistakes

Denis Ledoux — Thu, 16 Jan 2020 11:00:48 +0000

Liberties with facts ultimately, I believe, undermine the authority of a memoirist to present his/her life experience as a lived (vs. fictionalized) version of the mythic journey. The lived hero’s tale must figure at the center of every memoir if the story is to rise above a chronology, a dirge or an encomium. (more…)

Which to Write: Memoir or Autobiographical Fiction? There is a Difference!

Denis Ledoux — Tue, 26 Mar 2019 10:00:07 +0000

Should I write memoir or autobiographical fiction? I sometimes get asked this and I have to confess that my reaction is firm. I don’t believe particularly in an either/or possibility. There is a clear difference—a chasm really—between the choice of memoir or autobiographical fiction. While one has a choice to write one or the other, […]

Memoir Versus Fiction, or Is Memoir Fiction?

Denis Ledoux — Thu, 21 Feb 2019 11:00:32 +0000

Is memoir fiction? I emphatically don’t agree that memoir is fiction. Although a memoir invariably uses fiction techniques—and we will look at one in this post it must be an as-much-as-possible true accounting of an experience. (more…)

The Difference between a Memoir and an Autobiography

Denis Ledoux — Thu, 17 May 2018 10:10:46 +0000

The difference between a memoir and an autobiography can be rather minimal—or they can be fairly large. “So what is the difference between a memoir and an autobiography?” you may persist in asking as so many people do. Practically speaking, for most people, there is no difference. In common speech, the terms are interchangeable. But […]

Fiction and memoir writing: When Is It not a Memoir?

Denis Ledoux — Wed, 07 Feb 2018 10:55:37 +0000

It’s an interesting book, very well-written in terms of style and organization, but my nagging doubt is that it is autobiographical fiction and not memoir… (more…)