MEMOIR

KEY FEATURES

• A good story
• Vivid details
• Clear significance

A GOOD STORY

• Your memoir should be interesting, to yourself and others. It need not be about a world-shaking event, but your topic — and how you write about it — should interest your readers. At the center of most good stories stands a conflict or question to be resolved. The most compelling memoirs feature some sort of situation or problem that needs resolution. That need for resolution is another name for suspense. It is what makes us want to keep reading.

VIVID DETAILS

• Details bring a memoir to life by giving readers mental images of the sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and textures of the world in which your story takes place. The goal is to show as well as tell, to take readers there. A memoir is more than simply a report of what happened; it uses vivid details and dialogue to bring the events of the past to life. Much as good fiction brings to life events that the writer makes up or embellishes.

CLEAR SIGNIFICANCE

• Memories of the past are filtered through our view from the present: we pick out some moments in our lives as significant, some as more important or vivid than others. Over time, our interpretations change, and our memories themselves change
• A good memoir conveys something about the significance of the subject. As a writer, you need to reveal something about what the incident means to you. You don’t, however want to simply announce the signifcance as if you’re tacking on the more of the story.

WAYS OF ORGANIZING

• Page 223 of The Norton