In fiction, the people who appear on the pages and play a role in the story are called characters. Your role as a memoirist is to take character development seriously.
As with fiction so too with memoir
The same is true of the people who appear in our memoirs and play a role in our stories: our family, friends and colleagues are our characters. How you handle character development, not how flamboyant or dramatic your people were in life, is the basis for making your story “interesting.” Without well-developed character, your memoir will be said to be “flat.”
Vivid character development is as crucial in memoir writing as in fiction writing. As in fiction, memoir characters must be developed into rounded figures that the reader will sympathize with and relate to. (No stick figures allowed!) This calls for details and exactitude in depiction as well as for consistency in presentation.
No license to fictionalize
But, this call to take character development seriously is not to provide you with a license for fictionalizing in your story telling.
The need to respect the distinction between what is allowed in fiction and what is allowed in a memoir arises in many instances. For instance, take dialog. A fiction writer can write a detailed dialog but a memoir writer cannot “remember” in too exact a detail. Really: who can remember a conversation that occurred 40 years ago? The tone and the gist of the dialog, yes, but exact working adding up to a 75-word quote? No.
Memoirs that take liberties in character development are not memoirs but are autobiographical fiction. Calling autobiographical fiction “memoir” is like calling lobbing the ball over a lowered net “playing tennis.”
In conclusion
The posts below will help you to develop more vivid characters out of the people in your life.
For anyone interested in more than the character development posts below provide, we offer a distance-learning tutorial Develop Vivid Characters. It is an extract from our Write Your First Memoir Draft Program.
[To watch a video on developing characters in memoir, click here.]
Going Deeper in a Memoir: Look at “Life’s Failed Contracts”
Understanding “Life’s Failed Contracts” is necessary for going deeper in a memoir. This post is about going deeper in a memoir, deeper even than you thought you could go when you started. This may be hard, but take a look at the contracts with life we make and the terrible disappointment that inevitably comes from […]
Vivid Characters Are Essential in a Memoir
The people in your story are your characters. It is your job to bring vivid literary characters to the attention of your readers. You must use descriptive writing to present believable characters. Without other people, our lives and memoirs risk becoming dull. Although ideas are pivotal for many individuals, relationships are even more commanding. We […]
Show Don’t Tell Your Characters, or Don’t Describe Your Characters–Show Them!
The old adage “Show your story rather than tell it!” is as true as ever. It is one technique that will always improve your writing…
5 Better Ways to Describe The People in Your Memoir
Without other people, our lives and our memoirs risk becoming dull. Although ideas are pivotal for many individuals, relationships are even more commanding. We are intrigued with who other people are and how they function. “Who’s that? What are they doing? Where did they come from?” These are question we want answered. To write a […]
Writing Feelings into Your Memoir
How to write feelings into your memoir is a rather important topic. Recently on the Forum, David wrote about not accessing the feeling side of his memories, of writing a memoir that, if I am understanding him right, was all details and facts. Below is my response which can serve as a stand alone article, […]
Revealing Ourselves in a Memoir — 3 Reasons We Don’t Do It.
Why are we afraid of revealing ourselves in a memoir? As we reveal too much about ourselves, are we revealing too much about someone else as well?
What everyone ought to do to create vivid characters
As a memoirist, do you accept that your family, your friends and your acquaintances are characters in your story? Easy, proven tips for adding feelings to a memoir
Destiny and Fate: Have You Placed These Concepts at the Center of Your Memoir?
Over the years, I have found that the concepts of destiny and fate, which explained so many things for Greeks in the centuries before the Christian era also explains so much about the characters of a memoir.
Three Points Not to Forget When You Write Your Money Story
There is power in writing your money story. Your money story can transform you as it leads to understanding the money energy in your life and ultimately making that energy work for you. In this post I write about three features you must utilize in the writing of a money story. These are character, action, […]