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Archive | Writing Process

As soon as you begin to think of writing a memoir, you are involved in the writing process. You have begun to be a writer—even if only with a small “w.” Welcome to the “gang.” (We memoirists are all in this together.)

This “Writing Process” category covers a range of material. It is a compendium of disparate materials that together will help you to write more easily and deeply.

Writing a memoir takes skills that you may not now possess. This category, as all of the blog on the Memoir Network site, will help you to acquire what you need to know to write with more skill and pleasure.

As elsewhere, all the articles are included chronologically in the parent category. Like every writer you have challenges that might leave you baffled as to how to respond. Scanning the list will reveal to you posts that you need to read now for answers to the questions that are stumping you.

What you’ll find in “Writing Process.”

If you are just starting out, we have posts on pre-writing. In fact, if this topic interests you at your current stage of memoir writing, go directly to the subcategory called “Pre-writing.”

At the other end of the writing process, we have posts on completing a memoir. These articles are both scattered chronologically in the parent category or they can be found under the subcategory “Completion.”

In between beginning and completing, we have many articles that will sustain you in your writing.

In conclusion

These articles on writing process will help you, the aspiring the memoir writer, at every stage of your commitment to produce an interesting and meaningful memoir for yourself, your family and—perhaps—for the world.

what to write about in a memoir

What to Write About in a Memoir

“What to write about in a memoir?” is a basic question. The right answer will keep you writing and the wrong may lead you to believe that writing a memoir is to hard and not for you. My answer to what to write about in a memoir is always to write about something important to […]

WritingGreatMemoryListsCOVERsm

Don’t Use A Writing Prompt Unless…

You read the piece written from a writing prompt to your writing group or post it to a forum and people comment about how clever you are and how important it is to write with humor. “Make things funny,” they say. But… Have you plumbed the memory that would give your memoir depth? (more…)

motivation to complete a memoir

Motivation to Complete A Memoir

All writers face the atrophy of motivation to complete a memoir that seems to come with writing a long literary work over months and months and even over a period of years. Let’s face it: writing can be hard and discouraging. The most interesting of topics (more…)

publish a book

Ten Questions On Memoir Writing

(The following interview appeared in the Nov. 19, 2010, Oral History Education blog.) How did you get started in your profession of memoir writing? I started writing autobiography-based fiction. Some of these have won literary awards, and, while I like that, I feel the most satisfaction from helping readers who are stimulated to tell their […]

scenes and dialogue

Three Tips For Using Fiction Techniques in a Memoir

We all love well-told stories. We love the entertainment, the sound effects, the punchy plot built around solid characterization. As we share stories in our everyday conversations, we inevitably use fiction techniques to keep our listeners’ attention and interest. When we say “And then she said…,” we are using dialogue – that’s a fiction technique. […]

christmas

Not Being Preachy: Four Tips

The negative underside of theme is being preachy. You are preaching when you insist that your reader endorse your theme, message or point of view. (more…)