Remember: These suggestions do not refer to the sequence in which the stories are written but rather to how they can be ordered after they have been written.

Here are four ways you can organize your memoir.

1) Chronology

If you choose a chronological order, you organize your memoir by time. This approach most nearly replicates the sequence in which events happened in life and is usually the easiest for the reader to follow.

For example, what happened in your childhood is placed first in the narration; what happened in your youth is placed, second; and what happened in your middle age, third. What happened in the spring is placed first, in the summer, second, etc.

If you organize your stories in this way, there will be a natural continuity among them based on time connection. This organization makes it possible to follow the cause and effect relationship between parts of your life.

Chronologically is how most people choose to link their stories and it is an easy organization for the reader to follow.

2) People or Topics 

You might choose to put together everything about one person in one chapter and everything about another in a second chapter. The same can be true of topics. You put what you have to say bout your marriage in one chapter and everything you have to say about career in another.

This gives a clear account of your relationships to your subjects but omits interactions that might change the way we perceive a character or a situation. In his organization it becomes difficult to make the link between the effects your marital discord had on your career or how your career affected your marriage.

One result of this is that your collection of stories may seem either less emotionally charged or even disconnected because the reader does not perceive connections.

3) Theme

You might write about a specific theme that is of interest to you. This is a bit like the previous choice except that the focus tends to be less tangible. The reader will be interested in your theme rather than in your life.

In this way, your story might be a story about labor unions or about dedication to art. Everything is chosen or omitted according to how it develops your theme. This can make for a very focused book and can be a good way to organize your memoir if your life was dominated by a theme. In this choice, you might omit any mention of your marriage—or make only a fleeting one—in favor of covering your involvement with labor unions. This choice creates a book about labor unions as seen through your perspective.

Alternately, you can choose topics across the generations or among family members. These topics might include religion, careers, marriage, etc. For example, you might look at the relationship to work in your family during your childhood. You might write about your grandparents’ and your parents’ work attitudes and practices during this time. Then you can give your attention to other themes in their lives during your childhood: parenting, religion, etc.

Another possibility is to write about a theme in your grandparents’ lives and then go on to its appearance in your parents’ lives and then in yours and lastly in your children’s. You can choose to give an internal chronological development to each of your themes: start with youth and proceed to old age or the present with each generation. Then, as you organize your memoir, start the whole process over again with another theme.

4) Both chronology and theme to organize your memoir

Although you may begin to write your pieces chronologically or thematically, you may find yourself combining both of these elements in your final product.These approaches can easily be integrated into your life story as a whole. Stories that are organized around chronology and theme tend to read the most like a novel and are often the most enjoyable. This is what I chose for We Were Not Spoiled and A Sugary Frosting.

Best of luck to you as you organize your memoir.

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This post is also available as an audio on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIun1Xhl63E