How to write memoir
I have written a memoir. The process was long, surprisingly painful and full of the steepest learning curves imaginable.
But through a period of about seven years, I did realise that, though writing memoir is not necessarily straightforward, there are things to bear in mind. We might start by deciding, first, what we do not need, when embarking on writing our memoir.
We do not need:-
- Any qualification in literature, creative writing or equivalent.
- A law degree or formal adult education to fend off critics or lawsuits.
- To conduct embarrassing interviews with friends and family.
For now, here is a glimpse of what you might find helpful to write memoir
- A work ethic or method to get you started
- A willingness to make time
- An desire to continue, bordering on the obsessive
- Willingness to listen
- Patience to undertake literally hundreds of rewrites
- The willingness to change your understanding when casual conversations with family reveal that you may have got something wrong
- A willingness to come clean and be honest
- Playful optimism and the ability to laugh when it all gets too much and you feel like throwing in the towel.
This is a light-hearted list, incomplete and perhaps even a bit contentious. We each have our own list of what we need. What’s missing? Ah yes, of course.
- The desire to write our story
- Something to write about.
If we start writing, and realise that our work is, well, boring, we can do several things we can do with
We can
- throw out what we have written and start again. Given that, after a million re-writes, nothing in your original MS will remain, this is a perfectly feasible option.
- Go out and live an interesting life, and then come back and write about it. We might be twenty years too early.
Thanks so much for reading.
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August 30, 2017
How to keep writing memoir
Fran Macilvey 'Trapped: My Life with Cerebral Palsy', Fran Macilvey, Memoir, Path To Publication, The Rights & Wrongs of Writing 6 Comments
How to keep writing memoir
Rest assured, it is very useful to write a book – to write anything – even if we don’t get round to finishing it. We learn a lot in the process, and we figure out stuff which perhaps isn’t suitable for anyone else to read anyway, so that’s all good. In any case, as any writer will tell you, ‘finishing’ has a rather subjective aspect to it: is a book we are writing ever ‘finished’?
But writing memoir can feel peculiarly, individually self-obsessed, so it feels almost easier than in most creative endeavours, to say, ‘What am I doing this for? I should give up now, before I get carried away … before I end up being swallowed up in this idiotic undertaking. What do I know, anyway?’
It is so easy then, to shut the book and never go back to it. It lies around on the shelf, while we feel uncomfortable and slightly ashamed. I know all about that.
Self belief is fundamental for doing anything as intangible as writing.
There are those who will, when you tell them snippets from your life, nod encouragingly and say, ‘Hey, you have had a really interesting life, I’d love to read about it!’ But by and large, writing memoir is a private undertaking, best understood alone and fashioned in private into something that may, eventually, end up being something more.
It takes years, though. Unlike all the rags to riches stories favoured of Hollywood and Bollywood of starlets immediately getting that sign-up, or winning a national talent contest, ‘instant success’ for authors is usually the result of about ten years of hard graft. So, be prepared to work hard for nothing, for a long time.
Doesn’t sound promising, does it? But when the chips are down, we rarely write memoir because of the tangible, commercial rewards. We write because challenges have to be met sometime, so we might as well meet them while we can, head on.
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