Memoir Writing For Dummies

Ryan G. Van Cleave, PhD, is a writing coach, keynote speaker, and award-winning author of 40+ books. He runs the creative writing program at the Ringling College of Art and Design and serves as Editor at Bushel & Peck, a children’s book publisher. Ryan has taught memoir writing at universities, conferences, and workshops.

• Introduction 1About this Book 1Foolish Assumptions 3Icons Used in This Book 3Beyond the Book 4Where to Go from Here 4Part 1: the First Steps to Writing a Memoir 5Chapter 1: Diving into Memoir Writing: Just the Basics 7Understanding the DNA of a Memoir 8Identifying the Essential Parts of a Memoir 9Making the Necessary Revisions and Edits to Help Your Memoir Shine 10Focusing on the End Goal: Publication 11Answering the Key Question: Why Write a Memoir? 14Chapter 2: Getting Started: What You Need to Know about Writing Your Memoir 17Exploring Why People Write Memoirs Anyway 18Granting Yourself Permission to Write a Memoir 25Focusing on More Than Just Fame and Fortune 27Tapping into the Vaults of Memory 28Contemplating the Role of Reading 30Finding your audience 32Understanding subgenre 33Chapter 3: Understanding What Readers Expect: The Story Behind a Good Story 35Following the Traditional Story 36Seeing Your Story as a Pyramid 42Eyeing the Importance of Plot 48Chapter 4: Researching and Remembering: Gathering Enough Material 49Tapping into Your Past: Unlocking Your Memories 50Putting on Your Researcher’s Cap: Uncovering Vital Info about Yourself 52Using Others as a Mirror to See Yourself 57Sticking to the Truth: Avoid Embellishment 60Chapter 5: Developing Ideas like the Pros 63Summoning Your Muse: How to Get Inspired 64Giving Yourself Some Structure 72Breaking Past Writer’s Block 75Part 2: Telling Your Story with Pizzazz 79Chapter 6: Giving Your Story Some Structure 81Going Chronological 82Taking a Nonlinear Approach 83Embracing Episodic Storytelling 84Sticking with a Thematic Structure: Focus on Connective Threads 87Recognizing Unconventional Structures 88Developing an Outline that Works for You 89Chapter 7: Considering Scenes and Setting 99Maximizing Scene Power 100Defining Setting: Where It’s All At 106Creating a Sense of Place 109Building Atmosphere 111Chapter 8: The Character of Characters 119Understanding What Makes a Good Character 120Identifying Character Archetypes 127Making Characters Three-Dimensional 130Ensuring That Characters Evolve 132Dealing with Minor Characters 136Chapter 9: Making the Most of Dialogue 139Managing Memoir Dialogue Differently than Novel Dialogue 140Recognizing What Good Dialogue Should Do for Your Manuscript 141Identifying the Four Types of Dialogue 147Managing the Mechanics 151Drafting Speech that Sounds Real versus Real Speech 153Writing Less Is More 155Considering Accents and Dialect 158Recognizing Where Dialogue Goes Awry 161Chapter 10: Maximizing the Power of Voice 165Grasping Voice: Your Manuscript’s Soul 166Being a Minimalist versus Maximalist 168Shaping Tone 169Creating Irony 172Generating Humor 173Using (Yes, I Said “Using”) Clichés 175Chapter 11: Handling Point of View 177Understanding Your Basic Options 177Recognizing When “I” Isn’t “Me” 186Using More Than One Point of View 187Creating Narrative Distance 188Chapter 12: Bold Beginnings, Magnificent Middles, and Fantastic Finishes 191Going with the Three-Act Structure 192Beginning with the First Scene: Setting Up Act 1 194Moving to the Middle Scenes: Making Act 2 Work 197Ending with the Final Scene: Closing Act 3 201Part 3: Revising, Editing, and Pushing Your Story to the Next Level. 207Chapter 13: Making Revisions 209Differentiating Between Revision and Editing 210Embracing Rigor and Honesty in Your Revision Process 212Developing Your Revision Process (and Sticking to It) 213Navigating with a Road Map: A Nine-Item Checklist 214Incorporating Three More Advanced Revision Tactics 216Chapter 14: Adjusting the Big Picture: Fine-Tuning Structure and Story 219Sizing Up Your Story: Maintaining Proportion 220Revving Up the Story’s Engine: Bring on Conflicts Big and Small 221Adjusting the Pace 222Using Transitions Effectively 226Chapter 15: Saying the Unsayable: Knowing What to Include or Exclude 231Addressing Painful Memories with Care and Purpose 232Touching on the Taboo: Family Secrets with the Living 234Dealing with the Dead: Unclear or Missing Information 235Looking at the Ethics of a Memoir 236Navigating Legal Considerations 239Chapter 16: Streamlining Your Story with Sentence-Level Edits 243Having a Firm Grasp on Grammar 244Appeasing Your High School English Teacher: Avoid Wordiness 245Showing versus Telling 249Avoiding Amateur Constructions 251Steering Clear of Common Grammar Issues 253Maximizing the Active Voice 257Chapter 17: Getting Outside Help: Critique Groups, Editors, Experts, and Sensitivity Readers 259Trusting the Feedback Process 260Joining a Critique Group 260Finding a Golden Reader 264Bringing in a Professional Editor 265Seeking Expert Guidance 270Part 4: Sharing Your Story: a Publishing Primer 275Chapter 18: Locating and Landing a Literary Agent 277Seeing What a Good Literary Agent Can Do for You 278Finding an Agent Who Meets Your Needs 280Hooking the Right Agent 283Making Sense of an Agent Agreement 287Chapter 19: Making Sense of Traditional Publishing and the Submission Process 293Researching Publishers 294Working with a Publisher: The Pros 297Going with a Publisher: The Cons 300Crafting a Winning Query Letter 305Grasping the Power of a Proposal: Think like a Publisher 307Staying Away from Serious Submission Don’ts 308Using Subsidy/Vanity Publishers 311Chapter 20: Going It Alone: Self-Publishing, E-Publishing, and Audiobook Publishing 315Examining Self-Publishing and E-Publishing 316Deciding Whether to Self-Publish: The Pros and Cons 319Expanding Your Reach with Audiobooks and Multimedia Formats 322Facing the Reality of E-Publishers 324Researching and Working with Printers 329Pricing Your Book: Two Philosophies 333Letting Amazon Distribute Your Book: You Need to Do More 334Chapter 21: Promoting Your Finished Product (and Yourself) 337Understanding Marketing versus Publicity 338Finding Cost-Effective Ways to Promote Your Book 339Marketing Your Memoir: A Little Monetary Investment Can Pay Off 347Bringing in Professional Help: Hiring a Freelance Publicist 351Part 5: the Part of Tens 355Chapter 22: Ten Myths about Memoirs 357No One Reads Memoirs 358You Have to Be a Celebrity to Write One 358My Family and Friends Remember Things Differently 360People Will Hate Me If I Include Them 360I Can’t Write an Entire Book 361I’m Going to Be Rich and Famous 361My Life Is So (Insert Adjective Here) that It Will Be a Bestseller 362I Don’t Have Any Writing Credentials 362I’ve Been Journaling for Years So Writing My Memoir Will Be a Breeze 363I’ll Get to It Later 363Chapter 23: Ten Reasons Memoirs Are Rejected 365Insufficient Editing 366Data Dumping versus Storytelling 366Lack of Focus 367Improper/Incomplete Submission Procedure 368Skips/Avoids the Juiciest, Most Interesting Parts 368Incredibly Slooooow Pace 369Lack of a True Emotional Experience 369Theme Bludgeons the Readers 370The Story Is Overly (and Unnecessarily) Complicated 370The Writing Is Merely Competent versus Exciting 371Index 373