Three Tips For Using Fiction Techniques in a Memoir
We all love well-told stories. We love the entertainment, the sound effects, the punchy plot built around solid characterization. As we share stories in our everyday conversations, we inevitably use fiction techniques to keep our listeners’ attention and interest. When we say “And then she said…,” we are using dialogue – that’s a fiction technique. […]
Writing a memoir: how to
Writing a memoir is not easy. Writing a memoir requires a lot of time and energy—but you can do it. You can succeed. Many people just like you have done so already. I want to share a system with you for getting started on writing a memoir. (more…)
How to Organize Your Memoir: Four Ways
Do you wonder how best to organize your memoir? Eventually, after you have written awhile, you will likely have amassed a number of vignettes, story segments, and stories. You will want to organize your memoir to make a statement, a bigger picture. How will you do it? Below are four ideas for organizing your memoir. […]
Memoir Writing Needs Inner Work as well as Outer Work
Whether as a coach or as an editor, when I have engaged with writers, I have often found similar presenting problems— I don’t have time, I never had a good grammar education, I have so many stories to tell I don’t know which one to start with. Frequently, these “reasons” writers present for not writing […]
Turning a Journal into a Memoir
I have been slowly revising my latest book My Eye Fell Into the Soup. This book is the first of a two-book set depicting the two years that Martha and I lived with her cancer illness. I have described some of the writing process elsewhere. There was a time when writing / organizing / revising […]
Eight Reasons to Share the Inner You
Our lives are composed not only of facts and dates but also of dreams, expectations–realized or denied–and hopes. You are not alone in having lived an inner life. Others too have experienced much of what you felt and dreamed for yourself and are likely to identify with some, or even much, of what you say. […]
Three Tips For Creating an Effective Writing Schedule
You’ve already taken several steps in lifewriting. You have begun to write your stories and memories. perhaps the summer got in the way of your perseverance or perhaps it was something else–an illness, a temporary job, travel. Now you need to recommit to memoir writing by creating an effective writing schedule for yourself. (more…)
Word Redundancies
As writers, words are our most-used tools. (Other important tools include punctuation, grammar, the visual aspect of a text layout.) Each of our tools, too, ought to be respected for their best use. Avoid word redundancies. (more…)
Writer’s Block Is Often Caused by Lack of Discipline
Some people successfully use the notion of writer’s block to convince friends and family that, while they’re real writers, they just happen not to be producing–but a person can do this only for a while. Remember: you can never successfully use writer’s block to get your stories written! (more…)