The memoir narrator is the “voice” in which you tell your story. You have many choices as to how you will narrate your experience, as to which voice or sensibility you will use.
You can be angry, righteous, understanding, impatient, intellectual, crass, or you can appropriate another position from which to narrate the memoir.
If your instinct is to say, “But, I’m the narrator!” you need to read these posts. The concept of narrator is more sophisticated than “I’m the narrator,” and your choice of narrating voice can either float or sink your memoir.
Two “you” personalities
There are at least two “you” personalities who figure in your memoir.
There is the “you” which is telling the story. That “you” is your narrator. Then, there is the “you” who is the subject of the memoir. That is you when you were at another stage of your life, at a stage you are writing about.
Sample the posts below
The posts below will help you to discern the different voices you can use to write your story. Do they serve your theme or work against it?
Some narrators want to shock the reader while other narrators are trying to soothe the reader.
Does your memoir narrator voice attempt to snooker the reader to be on your side? If so, don’t let this happen! The reader will resent what you are doing. (I would also not recommend appropriating another voice to tell your story. Gertrude Stein chose her mate Alice Toklas as the narrator for her memoir which she called The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas. While this allowed Stein to praise herself—”Gertrude is a genius,” the reader knows what is going on and does not believe the assertions.)
In conclusion
As with so many of our categories, this one is about learning to manipulate a tool you need for best memoir writing. There are so many of great tools and employed together they can transform your story.
You will do well to also check out the category “point of view.” Narrator and point of view are close concepts.
Who is Your Memoir Narrator?
This may sound like a trick question, but it’s not. In fact, “who is your memoir narrator?” is a very serious question that will determine—or at least greatly influence—the tone and the theme of your narrative and how your reader views your story as being truthful.
Your choice of memoir narrator and the consequences of this choice.
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How to Solve a Wrong Narrator Problem
This was created as I struggled with choosing the narrator’s voice for a memoir on my early life. The memoir had been stalled by simply not having the right voice.
Memoir Versus Fiction, or 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 memoir in this post, it must be an as-much-as-possible true accounting of an experience. I must confess to not seeing a problem with the idea of memoir versus fiction. Memoir IS NOT fiction!
A strength of fiction is its ability—when it is done right—to place us in the story, to enable us to get out of our “present” and enter into the time of the story. The memoir writer has to aim for the same level of involvement. In that sense, there is again no conflict of memoir versus fiction.
In many cases, this involves removing the narrator from our field of attention.
An easy mistake to correct
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Solving A Narrator Problem
A narrator problem can ruin a memoir.
A narrator problem can ruin a memoir. In 1996 and 1997, I composed about 200 pages of a memoir about my high school years and then could not continue. It was blocked; I was blocked. As a result, I stored the manuscript in various computers for all the while since then.
After having completed my mother’s memoir (We Were Not Spoiled), I was looking for a personal writing project I might devote myself to. The high school memoir was always in the back of my mind—had been for years. As I picked it up to peruse it, completing it seemed the next project. It is what I am working on now. [Free Membership required to read more. See below. ]
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A Narrator Issue: Who is Writing Your Memoir?
Who is writing your Memoir?
This may sound like a trick question but it’s not. In fact, it is a very serious question that will determine—or at least greatly influence—the tone and the theme of your narrative.
“But, I’m writing my memoirs! I’m the narrator,” you might answer. Yes, of course. You! But, which you? [Free Membership required to read more. See below. ]