How to Write Memoirs
Everyone has a story to tell, and perhaps the most important story in the world is that of your own life. Many people want to write memoirs to tell the world of the lives they lived, so that other people can be inspired by the significant events that they went through. If you want to write your own memoirs, here are some tips to help you get started.
What Are Memoirs?
In literature, the autobiography is a very extensive class of text, usually written from the first-person perspective. Memoirs are like autobiographies, although they usually focus on a single significant moment in a person’s life. A memoir has two characteristics that makes it distinct from the autobiography:
Extended moment. A traditional autobiography is written as an extended account of one’s life, from childhood to adulthood. Memoirs, on the other hand, focus on one important and significant moment. The memoir is written in such a way that the reader gets to know what led to that event, the event itself, and what happened after the event.
Creative license. Autobiographies require extensive research into the writer’s own life. The writer of an autobiography needs to rely on documents and accounts of other people so that he or she can be able to write his or her story based on facts. A memoir relies on personal remembrance; while the author still has to be as truthful as possible, factual information like written documents and oral evidence are not needed to write memoirs.
Write an Outline
Like any long text, it’s very helpful to start writing your memoirs with an outline. A draft or an outline helps organize events and thoughts to keep the text as tight and coherent as possible. Here are two ways to make your memoirs easier to follow and to read:
Bullet-points. Instead of writing your memoirs spontaneously, it may help to list the plot first with bullet-points. What makes bullet-points very helpful is that you can refer to them when you make paragraphs, or you can transform the bullet-points into sentences.
Flowchart. A flowchart is particularly useful if you want a guide to keep your chapters in line. You can organize the chronology of your memoirs in a flowchart. From there, you can proceed to write your memoirs according to the arrangement of the events.
Dramatic Structure
The events in memoirs can be very moving and emotional, especially if it deals with something very important and life-changing. Following the traditional dramatic structure can make writing memoirs faster and easier:
The exposition introduces the reader to the key characters and settings of the event.
The rising action sets the plot for the significant event.
The climax is the actual event, written in a very engaging and thought-provoking manner.
The falling action sets the pace for the conclusion, and what happened after the climax.
The denouement is the conclusion of the story, with all conflicts and issues resolved (unless you plan a sequel or you plan to write an anthology).
Memoirs don’t have to be written by people on their deathbeds to leave a legacy to the world. With these tips, you can write a moving, easy-to-read memoir that can very well win a Pulitzer or be a surprise best-seller.