What is a Memoir?
A memoir is the recollection of an event in your life, in your own words. It’s important for the memoir to be as historically accurate as possible. Unlike biographies, a memoir is thought to be more poetic and thoughtful, including the feelings, alongside the events that happened in your life. It also focuses on a period in your life, not the entirety of it.
Many people write their memoirs to share their story with family and friends. Others write their memoirs to enable others to get a glimpse into their lives.
Depending on your writing skills, or that of your ghostwriter, your memories will perhaps resonate with those reading it. Maybe make your readers stop and pause, if only for a little while.
What to include in your memoir?
It’s your memoir, so you can include whatever you want. If you are not sure where to start, you can either get your writer to interview you, or write down a set of questions that you yourself answer. Use these questions and answers to form the base of your memoir, expanding out as you go.
Think about timelines, interesting events in your life, or stories you’ve told that have people avidly listening to. It could also be moments you’ve never told anyone. These could include heartache, loss, travels, joyful times, or events from times gone by that might make people stop and listen.
As with all books, a beginning, middle and end is important. It’s up to you to decide where to start and end your memoir. You could delve into family history, a part of your life that felt quite extraordinary, or even a love story told in your own words.
These days, many people are writing their memoirs as a personal historical account to share with family and friends. A keepsake if you will, and a lasting memory for them to keep beyond the turning of your own life’s pages.
Sticking to the facts as they happened to you is important in a memoir. While people remember things differently, you need to focus on you. How you were feeling at the time, what happened to you, and in what context.
How to get started on your memoir
Think back through your life and choose an event or memory you would like to explore further. A great way to start thinking about what you want to include in your memoir is by creating a mind map. Write down all the interesting memories or events you have on a piece of paper. For each point, list three things for each main point. If you can, expand on the points. What you have left could be the start of your memoir. The point you can write the most about, could be the base of your memoir.
If you have a hard time with this or your memory is too painful, remember why you’re writing this memoir and try again. Your writer can help you find the main topic of your memoir through interviews, notes and any research you can share with them.
A memoir is generally 60, 000 - 100, 000 words. Therefore, you need to share as much as you can with your writer. Or editor as the case may be. You have to remember that the reader is not in your head. Every detail needs to be explained. Your feelings at the time, vital information to help the reader understand and setting the scene to enable your readers to be immersed in your world.
Creating a project brief, or filling one out that is given to you from your writer, is paramount to success. A brief helps you fill in the gaps and includes vital information, timelines, purpose and questions to answer, before the project even starts.
Writing a memoir can take many months, numerous interviews, questions back and forth, edits and reviews, before it is finally finished. Make sure you click with your writer beforehand and the project is scoped accordingly, or you could end up paying much more for your memoir to be written than you initially realised.
You also need to trust your writer and communicate clearly. Before the writing starts, there is a general number of review edits usually included in the original scope. This number is generally two reviews. After that, reviews are charged accordingly at an agreed upon rate. This is to protect you and the writer. Many people who ask writers to help them with their memoirs are not familiar with how books are written. By including this in the original scope, you can save yourself lots of headaches and misunderstandings.
Are you ready to write your memoir? If you are in need of a writer or editor for your memoir, get in contact with me to discuss your project. I only take on a certain number of memoirs per year as a ghostwriter, due to the time it takes to write them. I am able to take on more in my editing role.
Contact me at contact@naomiannelittle.com to book a time with me to discuss your memoir project.
