To Memoir or Not to Memoir
Posted on | June 11, 2018 | 2 Comments
I recently attended a wonderful Redwood Writer’s presentation given by award winning memoir writer, Linda Bello-Ruiz. She put it all in a large, but concise nutshell for me.
Be honest. Feel, even when it hurts. It is a process. Some may not wish to see your story written. Some may not believe what you’ve written. Do your homework. It’s not about you! Your audience wants to be enlightened, inspired and entertained. Use conflicts and emotions. Show, don’t tell. Find a way to show how you moved from tears to triumph.
I found this information to be valid… even for a fiction writer like myself. I also know that at this juncture I will continue to draw from my life, but write it as fiction, because some deeply felt traumas are too disturbing to be unearthed and reexamined in the first person for all the world to see.
What about you? Can you write a memoir. Can you sincerely delve into your “past” and put it down on paper. If so, more power to you.
Comments
2 Responses to “To Memoir or Not to Memoir”
Leave a Reply
Follow us on Facebook
June 21st, 2018 @ 10:58 am
I wrote personal essays for years without realizing that I was writing a memoir. I just wrote what was on my mind about the small steps of a Boomer Woman’s journey. Many years into this introspective project I realized I had a book that lacked only a common thread and some polish.
I found a publisher for ORDINARY APHRODITE, as the essays became. That memoir became my proudest accomplishment. Dozens of women have contacted me to tell me how individual essays resonated with them. My shotgun approach to the stages of womanhood (the ups and downs) seemed to embolden readers. As one put it, “I didn’t know I could think this, let alone say it out loud. Thank you for showing me it is okay to feel this way.” One woman said she cried all the way through, finished it, picked up the phone and called her ex. They started dating again, remarried and as she said, “finished the job God gave them to do.”
We should write the stories that define us, even if it’s only five pages–or ten. I worked with my mother to write hers, and handed out her thin volume at her funeral. It was a proud moment for both of us.
Just write it.
June 21st, 2018 @ 11:22 am
Anne, I find your approach enlightening. I may try my hand with the single personal essays. Taking a one small bite at a time feels less overwhelming to me. Thank you, PH Garrett