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.