Setting in a memoir is crucial.
Absolutely!
A story will be supported an enhanced by the development of the setting in a memoir.
The term “setting” is generally understood to refer to where your memoir takes place. This is a city or a rural neighborhood, a state or province, a country. Setting includes a house and a room and a street. If your pen were a movie camera, the setting would be what your camera would eventually project on the screen.
In this sense, setting is a physical and tangible element. Even when it no longer exists, your obligation as a memoirist is to reproduce it in your pages as if it were still there. The reader feels as if s/he were in the midst of the world that once was.
But, there’s more…
Setting in a memoir can also refer to a whole series of abstract factors that are equally crucial to understanding—interpreting—your story:
- socio-economic status of your family, especially in relation to the community,
- the time frame (the era),
- religion or religious group,
- ethnic group, again in relation to the community,
- education of the characters—or lack therof,
- history of the town, state, country.
Your challenge
The author frequently assumes either the universality of his/her experience or the lack of interest readers will have in this setting. Consequently, the author omits including the abstract setting in much detail. She might write, “We were Congregationalists,” but not demonstrate what that meant in her life—whether a lot or little. Your experience is not generally understood without details
To understand a character and memoir one has to understand the setting—in all its complexity.
In conclusion
Nurture the setting of your memoir. Setting in a memoir is crucial.
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