How to Write a Memoir

I was interested in reading a "how to" article about memoirs so, through my research, I found an article written by Shannon Hernandez on TheWriteLife.com, which seemed to fit just that description.  The article is titled How to Write a Memoir: 6 Creative Ways to Tell a Powerful Story. In the introduction, she pinpoints that a powerful memoir can make an audience feel compelled and moved by the authors recounts.

She then breaks it down into six numbered tips where she lends her opinions and advice on six different things to keep in mind while writing a memoir of your own:

1)Narrow Your Focus:

The first tip is about how in order to write a successful memoir, the writer should not think of it as their autobiography and keep a narrowed focus on snapshots of their life that revolve around one theme. In this first tip, she uses the helpful metaphor of your life being a pie and your memoir focuses on one sliver of that pie.

2)Include More Than Just Your Story:

Here, Shannon Hernandez states that a successful memoir is full of specific details about the memory you are writing about. She advises not to just tell the story in its basic form but include details about the larger picture of that event in your life. For example, if I was writing about my mother's overdose, I would include specific details on how it made me feel or what the environment of the hospital was like (such as the nurses and the other patients) and not just tell the story in a linear narrative manner that recounted step by step what happened.

3)Tell the Truth

This one is pretty straight forward. She advises to be honest and genuine while writing your memoir. This will make for a more powerful memoir by allowing for more specific detail as she mentioned in step 2. Although this might make for a more difficult writing process for the author due to the power of raw honest emotions of memories, it will make for a genuine memoir that will captivate the audience and allow them to empathize or sympathize with your story.

4)Put your Reader in your Shoes

This step is all about considering your audience. "Powerful writers show, not tell," Shannon says here. This involves inviting the reader into your perspective so she can draw her own conclusions and so she can have a fulfilling reading experience.

5)Employ Elements of Fiction to Bring your Story to Life

Here she advises to think of the characters in your memoir as characters in fiction in order to focus in on them and allow for deep character development. This way the reader can get to know the characters in your memoir. Another way to do this is to focus in on setting the scene and plot for your reader.

6) Create an Emotional Journey

I think this step might be the most important as I believe it takes all of the prior steps and combines them into one point of advice. Through allowing your honest and raw emotion to come out in your writing, your memoir will be all the more genuine and captivating for your audience. This sense of emotional awareness will also allow for more specific details in your content. As far as form goes, many adjectives as well as diverse sentences that vary in length and stamina will be crucial to make your emotions evident to your audience. This will create tension that will form the themes and readability of your memoir.

Sources I used:
http://thewritelife.com/how-to-write-a-memoir/