Shaping Your Theme
It is important to spend some time shaping your theme as the theme is the message—the why—of your writing.
You imbue the whole of your story with your theme, and it, in turn, influences the choice of every element in your story—even when you’re not aware of it. In fact, all writing carries a message from the writer, an index of the motivation of the artist. Theme can be as broad as “There are good guys and bad guys, and you can tell them apart” and as subtle as “I want to tell others what it was like to live at a certain time of my life.”
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Facts Are Important in Memoir Writing
Facts are important in memoir writing. The inclusion of dates, addresses, names, and relationships, are one of its special features. Memoir writing cannot, without deleting from its value, omit dates and specific identification of locales, names of individuals and their relationships to one another. Memoir writing is factual writing: hence the importance of facts. A […]
Revealing Ourselves in a Memoir — 3 Reasons We Don’t Do It.
Why are we afraid of revealing ourselves in a memoir? While writing our stories, all of us, at one time or another, come against the fear of revealing too much of ourselves. The fear is founded—it’s not always a friendly world out there. And…
As we reveal too much about ourselves, we may be revealing too much about someone else.
But, excessive revealing is generally not the problem most memoir writers face. Revealing too little is a much more frequent problem for writers I coach or edit.
Often revealing ourselves in a memoir too little can come about because:
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Truth in Your Memoir – Three Tips For Including Safe “Guess-timates”
When writing a memoir or family history, you will inevitably come across bits of information that you want to include, but which you cannot verify…
2 Causes of Memoir Writer’s Block: Not Telling the Truth or Writing Unimportant Material
Many writers suffer from writer’s block, yet few understand—and much less resolve—its possible causes. There are a number of reasons that contribute to difficulty—especially blockage—in writing. In memoir writing, the infamous “writer’s block” can result from avoidance—that is, you don’t want to deal with uncomfortable material and so you “block.”
Memoir Interviewing: how to prepare for one and carry it off!
Memoir interviewing is an integral piece of research. Although you may assume you can depend on your memory when you write your lifestories—memory isn’t always as reliable as you want it to be. Interviews with relevant family members and friends can supplement your memory and broaden the perspective of your memoir.
Below are some notes on how to prepare for the best memoir interviewing you’ll ever undertake!
1) Select whom you will be memoir interviewing.
If your time is limited, or your family is large and offers many choices, it will be all the more important to identify a manageable number of knowledgeable relatives and friends to interview.
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The Wrong Point of View in a Memoir Can Throw the Story
In 1996 and 1997, I composed about 200 pages of a memoir of my high school years and then it wasn’t going anywhere more than where it had been—mired in facts and details with no spirit. What I didn’t know was it had a wrong point of view problem
I merely stored it in various computers for years.
In the fall of 2013, I completed my mother’s memoir (We Were Not Spoiled). Because I was looking for a writing project I might devote myself to next, I picked up the high-school memoir again.
(Lest you think that I went to a high school like yours, let me assure you that I did not. I attended a Catholic high-school seminary. No, I’m not writing about sexual shenanigans—there was none of that whatsoever. I am writing about my life there between 1960 and 1964 and how it shaped me. This theme of identity is usual stuff for a memoir, but the setting is exotic in many ways and not at all usual. Almost none of you who are reading this have “been there”—trust me.)
Suddenly, after more than a decade and a half, the memoir spoke to me again!
“Write me! Write me!” it shouted. The text seemed “alive” again. [Free Membership required to read more. See below. ]
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Show Don’t Tell, or Don’t Describe Your Characters–Show Them!
The old adage “Show, don’t tell!” is as true as ever. It is one technique that will always improve your writing. I admit that there is some great writing that makes a precedent for “tell,” but as a rule, “show” is more effective.
1. Your pen is your movie camera. Show Don’t Tell.
In a film, a director ( that’s you!) doesn’t have an actor go on screen to tell the audience that someone is angry. Instead, he shows the character in a scene where anger is in action. [Free Membership required to read more. See below. ]
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Memoir Coaching Laser-focuses on Getting Your Memoir Written Faster and Better
How does memoir coaching improve your manuscript?
“What does ‘My family was poor’ mean, ” I asked a memoir writer in a recent coaching session.
“Poor?” he asked at the other end of the phone line. “What do you mean what does poor mean? Poor means poor!”
“Does poor mean you didn’t have enough to eat or does it mean you never ate out at restaurants? Does poor mean you were forced to run out on your rent or does it mean you did not have an in-ground pool?”
Clearly, descriptive always adjectives don’t mean what we think they mean!
Empty literary “calories”
On the spot, I shared with him how adjectives are empty literary “calories.” They do nothing for the story but fill up space. They pretend to be effective but are not. Every writer needs to depend on scenes, dialog, settings, characters to tell the real story.
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