Writing Memoir
If you’re going to write memoir, it’s beneficial to read a variety of authors to understand the different ways writers go about their topic. Whereas biography is strictly a catalogue of events in the author’s life and not introspection, memoir falls under creative nonfiction in which much more is included. The writer will offer an inside view of what the events meant during a period of time. There often is dialogue and description too.
Recommended memoirs from my own library shelf:
In A Time to Creep, A Time to Soar (2011), Nina Spencer shares her preparations and actual climb of Mount Kilimanjaro. The author deftly ties her experience into leadership, a platform in her international speaking engagements. I felt like I was climbing with her.
Finding Shelter, by Angelina Fast-Vlaar (2018), recounts the story of the author’s childhood during World War II in the Netherlands. The author gives great detail of a child’s perspective during that period of history. As I read, I saw events from her perspective and pondered the questions she asked of her family.
They Left Us Everything, by Plum Johnson,(2014) is a recollection of last days of parents and all the things they leave to their family. The house is like a character, and the belongings, things to decide what to do with them. Beautifully written.
The Unforgiving Tides, by Ross Pennie (2004), is the memoir of being a young doctor in Papua New Guinea for two years, on a CUSO assignment. A rich picture of life on the island in that time.
It might still sound like a record of what they did, but the pages will offer a much more personal viewpoint. The personal processing about what this experience means to the author is not usually a part of biography or autobiography.
I have also written memoir (Once Upon a Sandbox, listed below), and enjoy reading the genre. I’m currently reading Tiger in the Attic: Memories of the Kindertransport and Growing up English, by Edith Milton. It’s fascinating, though not a quick read, as a literary work.
Your Turn
When you begin, choose your own focus. It’s a process, but if you really want to do it, get started. Once you’ve written your draft and edited as much as you can, a critique group can be a great help early in the writing. Later an editor can help you focus and balance your stories. Mine did that for me in Once Upon a Sandbox.
Further online resources will help you learn about writing memoir. Additionally, more memoir titles to consider:
The Minister’s Wife, Karen Stiller
The Way I See Things, Ashley and Brenda Tindall
Once Upon a Sandbox, Carolyn R. Wilker
Becoming, Michelle Obama (comes highly recommended)