A good memoir is built around the turning points of your life, not the years. Make it vivid, tell the truth and nothing but the truth, and show how you have grown. These 4 tips explain how.
In her memoir Inside Out, the actress Demi Moore tells the story of her life, including the good, the bad, and the worse. She digs so deep into her personal life that the book may surprise even her most devoted fans, and many readers find it hard to put down once they have read the first few pages. Her book is a good example of what a memoir can do.
How to write a memoir that leaves an impression
If you are thinking about writing a memoir yourself, here are some things to keep in mind.
1. Have a clear beginning, middle, and end
The beginning, middle, and end of your memoir are not marked by the number of years you have lived, but by the major decisions and turning points of your life. A good memoir grabs the readers' attention from the very beginning and keeps it, and that is where the decisions and turning points come into play. When did your life become a story worth sharing? What great challenges changed you as a person? And what made you the person you are today?
2. Make it vivid
Think of a memoir as a descriptive essay: you are trying to draw your readers into your world. In her memoir, Moore writes about how she became interested in acting. It started when, as a teenager, she was dazzled by the young Nastassja Kinski, a German actress who had come to the United States to study acting. The way Moore writes about that meeting lets you see vividly how impressed she was.
It all comes down to the old golden rule for writers: show, don't tell. Use all your senses to describe your experiences, so that your readers can easily imagine how they felt to you.
3. Tell the truth and nothing but the truth
You are not writing a novel. Every detail in your memoir must be based on things that really happened in your life. If your version of events differs from other people's, check the facts again. People often see the same events from different points of view. Never bend the truth or make up a story just to make your memoir more interesting to read.
4. Show how much you have grown
You are the most important character in the story, so showing your growth matters more than anything else. Just as in novels and films, the main character must develop, or readers won't care what happens next.
One useful way to show growth is to give only a few details at a time. Do not put all of the information in one part of your memoir. Spread it out instead, and reveal the details through your interactions with other people during the important chapters of your life.
You can also show your personal growth through the eyes of the important people in your life. They are secondary characters as far as the memoir goes, but showing how their view of you changes is an excellent way to enrich your story.
Conclusion
Everyone has a story, and a memoir is an excellent way to tell it. You may not be a star like Demi Moore, but if your life holds stories that others can learn from, your memoir can have a strong impact on its readers. If you want to write about your whole family rather than only yourself, see how to write your family history.
One last thing: make sure your memoir is not riddled with grammar mistakes. You may have an editor to clean things up, but it is always a good idea to remove typos and grammar mistakes from your draft before you show it to anyone. The Spell Checker marks spelling, grammar, and punctuation mistakes and explains each one.