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.
Is theme important in memoir?
Theme influences choices for every element in the story: plot development, characterization, and setting. Is theme important. You bet it is! (more…)
Solving A Narrator Problem
A narrator problem can ruin a memoir. I had put off completing the book because I could not resolve its thematic challenge—ultimately a narrator problem. (more…)
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!” you might answer. Yes, of course. You! But, which you? We’ve all had […]
How to Write More Efficiently #2
In a previous post, I had developed the concept of writing on a deadline. In this post I will stay with the concept of writing close to the finish. (more…)
How to Write More Efficiently #1
Is it possible to write more efficiently? Too many writers (I have been among them) allow the book-writing process to go on and on. We lack efficiency which is a practice and, like all practices, it is possible to learn to write more efficiently. There are many ways to learn to write more efficiently but […]
Regular Writing Practice: An Important Decision!
Many people set off to write their memoirs with considerable enthusiasm. Frequently however over the months and years it takes to complete the manuscript, their enthusiasm wanes and the memoir project that had seemed so interesting now begins to bore the writer is soon abandoned. I don’t think there was ever a writer whose interest […]
Point of View in a Memoir, Part 2
In the previous post on point of view, I shared my challenge of trying to write point of view in a ghostwritten memoir that I knew to be true but which the subject was not forthcoming with. This is not “Truth” material. It is more the sort of reflection that a more intuitive, self-reflecting person […]
Point of View in a Memoir, Part 1
Point of View In a Memoir Is Important. I recently completed my mother’s memoir, We Were not Spoiled. It was a work of love that took me many years to bring to closure as I had other work to do to support myself that filled my days. Finally, she got to be quite a bit […]
Avoid Writing a Chronology: 4 Tips
Is writing a chronology of a life enough? Dates and facts are necessary to life writing in the same way route numbers are necessary to maps. It’s not only that dates and facts provide interesting information but that they keep your readers on the right path as they make their way through your life story. […]