Use this instead of a writing prompt…
As readers of the blog know, I’m not a great fan of using a writing prompt. Sure, they get you to writing something and many will insist, “Writing something is better than writing nothing…”
Use an archetype of your experience to revive your memoir
Can an archetype of your experience refocus your memoir? One begins a memoir with a sense of the uniqueness of the story. “It simply has to be told,” you realize excitedly. “The world needs to hear about this.” Then as you write week after week, month after month, and sometimes year after year, that uniqueness […]
Should You Write With An Audience in Mind?
While some people decide to write a memoir according to structure—healing memoirs, investigative memoirs, etc—as I wrote in a previous post, others write with an audience in mind. (Writing with structure in mind often calls for writing with audience in mind, also.) Sometimes the audience is of specific people but many other writers, while they […]
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.
When You Must Have The Photos You Don’t Have/How To Journal Without The Photos, Part II
The Memory List will suggest topics to write about, but what follows is additional tips you can use when you don’t have the photos.
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 […]
The Problem With Writing Prompts
Is there a problem with writing prompts? This is my issue with writing prompts: they tend to lead to isolated stories, stories that are searching for humor, searching to be shared with a group that is perhaps looking for entertainment. They are not, by and large, searching for meaning lost in the morass of your […]
Organize Your Memoir: Life Phases
Life phases are one way in which you can organize your memoir. Life phases are the emotional and psychological cycles or phases that have marked your life. They are a great tool to give depth and cohesion to your memoir.
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.