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.