Memoir writing techniques refer to the “tools” of writing. Tools are instruments people use to make or facilitate fashioning something. Often, we cannot make what we want to make without the proper tools. So tools are not only helpful, they are often necessary to our success.
If you were a carpenter, you would use hammers and saws and levels, etc., to create solid, beautiful objects. The carpenter who uses stones and tree branches and kicks materials together with his feet, however, is not likely to produce a solid, beautiful result. (Not that I would know from personal building experience!)
A range of tools is also true with writing. There are “tools” which we call memoir-writing techniques. If you use them, they will help you to write a more elegant, more interesting and more impactful memoir. Other tools—or lack of them—will produce crude, uninteresting pieces of writing.
How to Use this Category
This section on memoir-writing techniques is our most visited category on the Memoir Writer’s Blog. Rightfully so as it contains a cornucopia of suggestions for better writing—or should I say “tools” for better writing.
If you have a specific inquiry—for instance, “which point of view should I write my mother’s memoir in?”—go directly to that subcategory in the right hand menu of “Blog Categories” under “Techniques.” In most subcategories, you will receive plenty of insights to help you with your issue. (Beyond this, you ought to consider coaching. Coaching has helped many writers break through impasses—of technique, motivation, insight.)
There are other visitors who may not have a specific need and so may prefer to read through the different titles to select one to learn about various memoir-writing techniques they may eventually need.
Consider this category as a university-level reading list for you to inform yourself on the possibilities of memoir writing.
Below are articles which present many different memoir writing techniques. This list does not, by any means, exhaust the possibilities of techniques. Learn to use these and other tools of writing.
One more thing…
One article in this category, How to write a memoir: our 21 Best Memoir-Writing Tips to get you writing your memoir—quickly and well—and getting it into the hands of your public, ought to be bookmarked for continuing reference. It’s that good.
In conclusion
The posts below ought to be persuasive in getting you beyond spontaneous writing into writing that helps a reader understand what you have written.
8 Tips: How to Have a Successful Memoir Interview
A successful memoir interview will add depth to your memoir. While you know much about your story, it is always beneficial to gather information from other sources to fill in the gaps. These sources can be formal research on the net or in a library or it can be reviewing letters and journals or talking […]
Three Pillars of a Powerful Memoir
There is power in writing your story. Your memoir can transform you as it leads to understanding the energy in your life and ultimately making that energy work for you. The three pillars of a powerful memoir I want to talk about are the old stand-bys of character, action, and setting. A story is not […]
Five Tips for Avoiding Vagueness in Your Memoir
Do you struggle with vagueness in your writing? Here are 5 tips for writing clearly and vividly to help you avoid vagueness in your memoir. (more…)
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.” (more…)
Sweetheart, Are You Using Precise Words for Your Memoir?
The clearer you are in your choice of precise words, the easier it will be for your reader to understand your writing. The reader will be able to respond to you as you wish the reader to respond—instead of looking around while you are pleading “sweetheart, sweetheart.” (more…)
Banish Fear of Revealing Too Much: Be a Bigger Presence in Your Memoir
The fear of revealing too much of ourselves in the memoir we are writing can be paralyzing. We wonder: “What will people say? How will people react to what I am revealing?” So… We hold back in our writing. We stop ourselves from personal revelation, from sharing secrets. The fear is founded—it’s not always a […]
Writing Hooks to Open a Paragraph or Chapter
How do you start a chapter with writing hooks that capture the reader’s interest? Try these 3 methods create curiosity in your reader! (more…)
Too Much Backstory–Are you making memoir writing more difficult than necessary?
When you overwrite a story by stuffing it with backstory—and many writers seem to want to tell their entire story in what ought to be a vignette—you disrespect chronology and drama and the reader’s patience. (more…)
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. (more…)