Memoir Writing Tips
© 2007 Marybeth Lorbiecki
Memoir writing is
not about
seeking publication.
It’s about seeking yourself.
1)Value your memories and your thoughts enough to honor them with writing.
2) Set aside (or schedule in) regular times for writing (or talking into a taperecorder), journaling, sketching, or jotting.
3) Freewrite first without worrying about editing, grammar, structure, etc. Don't expect things to come out just the way you want them. Just write things down to prime the pump and start the flow of material to shape later!
4) Use photographs, objects, and your imagination to spur your writing. Don’t worry if everything is not “true” – just keep writing to see what comes out.
5) Write incident by incident, question by question, theme by theme, idea by idea, place by place. That’s how we often think of our lives – with incidents strung chronologically like pearls on the necklace. But rarely do they come that neatly packaged to you….our minds and memories squash things together in so many ways – images flit and feelings flit in and out and fight against being pinned down in time and space. Once you open the door, things rarely come out in order, but don’t worry, just let it come. And find the senses and place to help ground the memories.
5) Include dialog and action. Use your senses (describe the smells, sounds, tastes, feels, sights, and inner feelings and thoughts) to ground your action in settings of time and place so your readers can relate and imagine your past with you.
7) Let the structure of meaning, plot, and themes evolve through drafts. Watch transitions and conjunctions within pieces and between them. They help show you patterns, trends, meanings, themes.
8) Remember as you relook at drafts to add/include places (settings); people (characterization – quirks and actions); emotional/physical challenges; struggles; and growth (plot and themes). Also deletion is as important as inclusion. Delete tangents of little interest, flat sections or words, characters you don't care about, scenes that get you off track.
9) Give yourself small, doable assignments (such as two pages a day or week, or one piece a week), and commit to doing them consistently over a specified term -- say six months. You will be amazed at how much you can accomplish a little at at time over a certain period. Just show up! Consider having some people to check on you to cheerlead, encourage, nag, edit, etc. or a memoir writing group, either in person or via email. It is so much easier to keep at the writing process with friends behind you, giving you feedback and motivation, while you do the same for them.
10) Enjoy the process. It is one of discovery and adventure. Let the writing surprise you!
| Some Web Resources
The Life Writers Digest: An E-ZINE with RESOURCES FOR LIFESTORY WRITERS FROM SOLEIL LIFESTORY NETWORK
http://www.turningmemories.com/lifewritersdigest.html
Memoir Writers E-Zine: This site also has many helpful memoir writing articles: http://www.memoirwriters.com
Inspiration for Memoir Writers: At this site, you will find new resources, every month, that will provide guidance and inspiration for memoir writers by Joan Tornow, Ph.D. http://www.writingmemoir.com
Mrs. Hoffman’s Writing Advice: Some quick advice on memoir writing from an English teacher: http://members.aol.com/HoffmanMrs/memoir.html
Memoir Writing Online Course from Sr. Eleanor Lincoln
Go to the web site for good ground press, and then click on her course.
http://goodgroundpress.com
Books
Living to Tell the Tale: A Guide to Writing Memoir by Jane Taylor McDonnell, St. Martin’s Press, paperback
Life Story, Soul Story from CSJ Wisdom Ways, a spiral bound book that uses a 12-step spirituality program to help readers enhance their sense of personal story.
Memoirs of the Soul: Writing Your Spiritual Autobiography , by Nan Phifer
Writer’s Digest Books, 2002
Memory and Memoir: Self-Knowledge through Writing Your Memoir by Eleanor Lincoln, CSJ (often available in CSC bookstore****)
Writing Life Stories (Paperback) by Bill Roorbach, Writers Digest, 2000
Writing Memoir Together: A Roundtable Approach by Joan Tornow, Ph.D (available at her website noted above)
Memoirs Turned into
Good Books
There are so many…. here are just a few
A Brief History of the Flood by Jean Harfenist
A Girl Named Zippy: Growing Up Small in Moreland, Indiana by Haven Kimmel
Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood by Alexandra Fuller
Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
The Liars Club: A Memoir by Mary Karr
*******Remember As You Pass Me By by Lucy King Perez --- fall 2007, from Milkweed Editions
(*****I LOVE THIS BOOK ! I helped this woman turn her memoir stories into a novel so I’m biased, marybeth)
For a longer list:  |