• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

HollyRobinson

Writer & Red Dirt Rambler

  • Home
  • Bio
  • Blog
  • My Books
    • Haven Lake
    • Chance Harbor
    • The Gerbil Farmer’s Daughter
    • Sleeping Tigers
    • The Wishing Hill
    • Beach Plum Island
    • Folly Cove
  • Ghostwriting

love

HOW TO WRITE A MEMOIR: Part 1: WHAT’S IN YOUR LEGO BIN?

Posted on 10.13.20 | Holly Robinson | 2 Comments

When our children were young, they accumulated so many Lego kits that we eventually filled several Lego bins with the pieces once the kits were taken apart.

If you’re writing a memoir, or even thinking about it, then you’ve probably already accumulated a lot of useful pieces in journals, letters, blog posts, or essays.

Now, what will you do with those pieces? As you get started on your manuscript, there are two approaches:

  1. Empty out that Lego bin of pieces you’ve been accumulating and start building. There will be a lot of trial and error, but eventually your hands, eyes, and heart will tell you what design pleases you most. The advantage of this method is that, if you spend a lot of time writing whatever comes to you, you will uncover some hidden gems and your book might open up in surprising directions.
  1. Organize your pieces by color, shape, and size. Then draw a picture of what you want to build and map out what pieces you’ll need to assemble your structure. The advantage of this method is that it’s harder to get stuck because you have a blueprint to follow.

No matter what approach appeals to you, there are two essential questions you’ll have to answer eventually:

  1. Who is my audience?
  2. What do I hope my audience will gain from reading my book? See if you can boil this down into one sentence, like, “I hope my readers will learn that even children who have been through poverty and abuse can become resilient, generous adults,” or, “I hope readers will see that kicking the scaffolding out from under everyday life by living wild in the New Zealand bush is the true path to God.” That will be your pitch line to agents and editors.

The word “memoir” comes from the French mémoire, meaning “memory.” So in the simplest sense, memoirs are books crafted by authors remembering and reflecting on their life experiences. However, every great memoir is about something universal that extends beyond the author’s life, and it will be helpful to you—and, later, to your agent and editor–if you can decide ahead of time not only on your message, but on what type of memoir you’re writing.

TYPES OF MEMOIRS

LIFE MEMOIR: Life memoirs offer readers a window onto an author’s individual experiences in ways that will resonate and teach life lessons. Good examples of these are Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen is a twentieth-century classic about a Danish woman’s experiences owning a plantation in Kenya. More recent examples include Hope Jahren’s Lab Girl (a female geobiologist’s celebration of science), Susan Straight’s In the Country of Women (about the powerful women who are the ancestors of her mixed-race daughters) and Ta-Nehisi Coates’s Between the World and Me (an exploration of what it is to be black in America).

SPIRITUAL MEMOIR: Each of us has a spiritual belief system, and many memoirs are about how the authors came to find theirs. Check out The Confessions of Saint Augustine, 90 Minutes in Heaven by Don Piper (about dying and coming back to life), and Walden, Henry David Thoreau’s meditations on nature.

CHILDHOOD MEMOIR: Instead of spanning a person’s life, a childhood memoir usually highlights the years of an author’s childhood that were the most formative, and typically involve trauma or struggle. Great examples of these: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, and Freckled: A Memoir of Growing Up Wild in Hawaii by Toby Neal.

TRAVEL AND ADVENTURE MEMOIRS: Many memoirs are crafted around an author’s adventures or travels and reveal the author’s transformation through travel. Terrific examples include Wild by Cheryl Strayed, The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen, and Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert.

So, what’s in your Lego bin? How do you want to start sorting the pieces? Who’s your audience and what is it that you want them to learn by reading your book?

Answer those questions, and you’ll be on your way to crafting your story.

Next up: Part 2, Time-based versus Theme-based memoirs.

  • « Go to Previous Page
  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to page 3
  • Go to page 4
  • Go to page 5
  • Go to Next Page »

sidebar

Blog Sidebar

Follow Me

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

Follow me on BookBub

<span>Follow me on BookBub</span>

Click here to read my recent articles and essays

  • Home
  • Blog
  • Bio
  • Ghostwriting
  • My Books
    • Folly Cove
    • Chance Harbor
    • Haven Lake
    • Beach Plum Island
    • The Wishing Hill
    • Sleeping Tigers
    • The Gerbil Farmer’s Daughter
  • Articles & Essays
    • Essays
    • Articles and Essays
      • Interviews
  • Events
  • Non-Fiction
    • Essays
    • Articles and Essays
      • Interviews
Holly Robinson

What’s New on the Blog

running on Bothwell with dogs

Can We Ever Be Completely Happy?

I was driving through Boston recently when I stopped at a light. Next to me was a rust bucket of a car. The driver had long hair, a sleeve tattoo, and a sharp profile that said, “Don’t mess with me.” Clearly a guy with a hard life and an even harder past. Yet, in the Read More

20230507 094648

Why Stay Married When You’re Living Apart?

I’m unloading the dishwasher when my husband comes up behind me. “You’re making chaos out of my stemless glassware,” he says. “What are you talking about?” He rearranges the glasses I’ve just put on the shelf. There are only six of them, so it doesn’t take long. When he’s finished, there are two of each Read More

mammoWipe

MammoWipes and Other Medical Indignities

Why do pets get red carpet medical care, while humans are treated like livestock?

HollyBlaise

The Imperfect Mother

As we creep toward Mother’s Day, that Hallmark Holiday of flowers and chocolates and too many regrets, here is the most important thing for all of you moms out there to remember: Mothering is an imperfect art. No matter how hard you try, you will never get it right 100 percent of the time. Just Read More

20230505 141526

Winning at Hawaii Bingo

Let me just say this right up front: I never had any particular desire to go to Hawaii. For one thing, I’m more of a hiker than a beach lounger. I don’t like rum or boating or sunning or surfing, and men in Hawaiian shirts make my teeth hurt. Then my dear friend Toby Neal—a Read More

20230328 123906

Creativity, Cancer, and the Circle of Quiet

I walked to the bench today after my MRI. My doctor ordered the test to see if I have pancreatic cancer, not because I have any symptoms or suspicion, but because my mother died of it last year. “Better to know,” is what my doctor said. “We can at least get a baseline.” Of course, Read More

TwitterFacebookLinkedin

Copyright © 2020 Holly Robinson

Website by Bakerview Consulting