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10 Memoir Prompts To Get You Started
What Should I Write About? Some of the first questions people ask when beginning a memoir are: What should I write about? How do I choose which events and incidents to include and which ones should I leave out? What’s Important? Sometimes a writing prompt or suggestion can help you to get your first words down and give you a sense of direction, but it helps if you have a clear idea of why you’re writing your memoir in the first place. Purpose And Theme Your subject matter should be determined by your purpose and your theme. These are the glue that holds your story together. Without them, your story…
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How to Rivet Your Reader with Narrative Drive
What is it that keeps a reader interested in your memoir? Why should they keep reading what you have to say? And what’s Narrative Drive anyway? I first heard the term narrative drive from John Truby, Hollywood screenwriter, and one of my heroes. Narrative drive is the momentum that carries any story forward – a situation, investigation or inquiry that must be resolved in order for the story to make sense to the reader and satisfy their curiosity. Why do we love stories? Some people identify with characters – their adventures resonate with the reader in some way, giving them a sense of “Yes, I get that,” when they find a…
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How Important is Scene Construction in Memoir?
Are You A Pantser Or A Plotter? When I started taking my writing seriously in 2015, I was an avowed “pantser” — someone who writes by the seat of her pants, with no thought to plotting, construction or structure. No scene construction for me, boy! I wanted my fictional characters to tell me their story without trying to impose myself on their creativity. It was a heady time, great fun, and I fell in love with most of my characters. But…it wasn’t very good. My narratives wandered about and never reached a conclusion, so I never finished anything of any great length. My short stories were much better, though they…
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Who Cares?
Why would anyone want to read my memoirs? Who am I to think my story is worth writing down? Who cares? And if nobody cares, why should I bother? What’s the point? There are two main questions here: 1. Who do I think I am? 2. And who am I writing it for, anyway? The first question indicates a lack of confidence or a sense of insecurity, possibly about your writing ability or the value of your life story. Questioning yourself and the value of your story happens because you don’t know the answer to the second question, ”Who is my audience”? Until you figure out that answer, there is…
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Mirror Image – A Poem
Mirror Image © 2018 Beverley J. Hanna I look in the mirror and what do I see? A grizzled old hag who looks nothing like me; She’s wrinkled and fat and has hairs on her chin. I’m vital and slim and she’s ugly as sin. Inside, I’m a girl with the hubris of youth. My thoughts are self-centred, judgemental, uncouth. “I’m fit and I’m smart and I’m quite lovely too. “I couldn’t turn into a Wrinkly like you.” And yet as we stare at each other’s visage The more I accept that it’s not a mirage. ‘Cause each missing tooth, each wrinkle and scarring Are stories that tell of a…
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Exploring the Antarctic at 96
There’s a gentleman in my writing group whom I’m proud to call my friend. An inspiration to me, he’s been writing his autobiography for the past several years. He’s been an explorer, an intrepid sailor, an engineer, an immigrant and a family man. He’s navigated his sailboat down the eastern seaboard to the Caribbean from the Great Lakes, sailed across the Atlantic, circumnavigated the globe and just last winter, travelled through the Panama Canal, around the Horn of South America and visited the Antarctic Peninsula. This epic voyage was a gift to himself for his 96th birthday and his written descriptions of this awe-inspiring land near the south pole were…
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To Lie or Not to Lie, That is the Question
So you’re cruising along, writing your life story and suddenly, you run head-first into an ethical dilemma. If you tell your story the way you intended, someone’s going to be hurt. Maybe you’re the victim of a crime or even a participant in a crime. Maybe a friend or family member has skeletons they’d really prefer to be left in the closet. If you tell the full story, someone may be imprisoned, revealed, or merely embarrassed. What do you do? Do you lie, prevaricate? Or do you tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? When is it acceptable to lie, and when is it not? Lie…
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The Purpose of Memoirs – Why Write Them?
Have you given any thought to why you want to write your life story? There are many reasons for writing memoirs, different for every individual. Before you start on such a large project, you should have a clear grasp of your own purpose in order to avoid a lot of re-writing later. Without clarity, your story could be confused, rambling and full of holes. With a solid “Why” or purpose, your story will be coherent with a clear narrative drive that pulls your reader along and keeps him engaged. The Purpose of Memoirs Often when an individual wants to write their life story it may be a way to leave…
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Anachronism and Research in Memoir
When writing a memoir, it’s important to ensure your recollections are accurate. Relatives will forgive the odd mistake, because they know you (and hopefully love you). If you’re writing for eventual publication however, you’d better be sure your references are true to the times you’re describing. Disclaimers Disclaimers can only go so far. Phrases like “The names have been changed to protect the innocent” or “based on a true story” can persuade the reader to expect a degree of departure from actual facts, but your facts should be as well-researched and accurate as you can make them, especially in autobiographies. Memoirs can have more flexibility and can even be fiction…
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How Do I Write My Memoirs?
Are you stuck trying to write your life story? By the time we become seniors, most of us have come to the realization that we’ve left it too late. We think we’d like to write our memoirs, but we never got around to asking our parents the important questions: How did they meet? Who was their first love? How did they become the people they ended up being? How Did I Get Here? Then there are the questions about our own history: What was I like as a toddler? Who was my best friend in kindergarten? Where did my first pet come from? What was my first word,…
