Are you planning to write some significant stories of your life and the important lessons learned along the way? If you don’t know much about a memoir, this article is a quick guide to get you started. Follow this article to get details about the types and characteristics of memoirs and also learn how to write a memoir.
When people reach a certain point in their lives, they feel an urge to write down the story of their memorable life events. Sometimes, it is just for personal satisfaction to put a particular time or event on paper. Other times, they simply wish to pass on their life lessons in hope that the readers can look upon their success in life. Whatever the reason, memoirs have become a very popular way to discuss the lessons learned over the course of life.
People show immense interest in revealing snapshots of their life from their own perspectives. Memoirs have been around for quite a long time as we can trace them back to ancient times. One of the most ancient memoirs is that of Julius Caesar who wrote Commentaries on the Gallic Wars around 50 BCE. Through the memoir, Caesar depicted his firsthand experiences of the epic Gallic War battles he had fought.
Whether you have a habit of writing down your memories or just randomly picking a memory to write down, you must know how powerful memoirs can be and the lasting effect they can leave on the readers’ minds. Readers might not know the writer whose memoir they are reading, but they certainly feel the situation and the event in the memoir as deeply as to become a part of it.
Writing a memoir is all about writing a compelling story. While each memoir is unique in its own way, there are certain elements that all the best memoirs have in common. And knowing what makes a memoir compelling and riveting is the key to drafting an effective one. This article will explain all such characteristics for you to weave them into your own memoir.
Apart from the stepwise guide on how to write a memoir, this article will also explore different types of memoirs and how you can start writing your suitable type.
What is a memoir?
By definition, a memoir is a narrative written from the perspective of an author about a particular part or event of their life. It is a type of nonfiction or factual writing that tells the story of a specific time period of a person’s life. Although a memoir is subjective, it is primarily focused on facts.
The word memoir is derived from a French word – memoire, which means reminiscence or memory. A memoir belongs to the nonfiction genre of literature where the author digs up a part of his memories and writes about it. Written from a first-person narrative, a memoir is usually based on facts but we cannot overlook the chance that the writer might hide some details or even add some unreal details in order to make his story more interesting and compelling.
Memoirs are usually written by famous people like celebrities, world leaders, athletes, etc. Celebrities like to tell their stories of survival in the difficult and competing showbiz industry. Soldiers try to describe what war feels like and singers tell the tales of their musical journey. From a drug addict, you can expect the description of their roller coaster lives and their struggles to remain sober. You can think of a memoir as a window into another person’s life.
However, writing memoirs is not limited to such people and anyone can write a memoir. There are millions of stories to tell, ordinary as well as special. Every story is unique in its own way. Sometimes, memoirs written by ordinary people turn out to be great works of literature even when nothing unusual happened in the memoirist’s life and he has led a pretty ordinary life.
Memoir vs autobiography
People tend to get confused when it comes to autobiographies and memoirs; they think of both as the same thing. But they are not the same thing. Although the difference between the two is a fine line, it still exists. While both are written from a writer’s perspective about his life, an autobiography usually spans the writer’s entire life, providing every little detail of each stage of the writer’s life, his childhood, and family history in chronological order.
So, the major difference is that a memoir is more focused and centralized. It is a story of a specific time in the memoirist’s life or any major event that occurred in their life. This way, a memoir is more selective with its timeline. It is the result of loosening the constraints of an autobiography.
Memoirists will choose an essential memory from their past and try to recreate it through storytelling, allowing their thoughts and feelings to take control of the narrative. This story is generally based on facts and real-life events but the author has the flexibility to write it down as he or she remembers it and not as how others remember it.
Let’s see it through an example. If you were to write an autobiography, you would have to spend a lot of time digging up your past and remembering the dates and places your father and grandfather were born. On the other hand, you can write a memoir simply by closing your eyes and remembering the special moment you want to capture. You can just write it down as you remember, adding all the details and feelings that follow.
Thus, a memoir can be defined as the subgenre of an autobiography but these two are not exactly similar. One has a larger span of time while the other has a significantly smaller time span.
Why are memoirs important?
Memoirs are not only meant to tell good stories, they can serve all sorts of functions. A good memoir has deep feelings instilled in it; it can be funny, sad, inspiring, strange, or deeply relatable. When you write down your past experiences or events, it can help you understand what led you to where you currently are and what you can learn from your past life events.
Memoirs serve many purposes. A memoir can be written to change readers’ perspective of any particular thing, such as a political viewpoint. When written by famous people, memoirs can help them raise their profile and stay in the public eye. It can also help them defend themselves when negative opinions or rumors are spreading about them.
A memoirist can write from a variety of directions. That’s why there are a number of reasons to write a memoir. You can write a memoir to recall and cement a certain important memory of your life. If you have traveled somewhere amazing in the past, you can relive those moments of joy by putting all your journey details on paper. Moreover, if you have experienced something traumatic or painful, you can just write it down. Whatever be the reason, a memoir is compelling enough to be relatable to the readers.
When to write a memoir?
Whenever you come across one of the reasons mentioned above, you can start writing a memoir. Memoirs are mostly written for fun. But, as people get older in life, they want to reflect on the life they have lived so far and try to understand it more deeply. That’s why many people are inclined towards writing memoirs because they want to understand themselves and get clarity on what life has been like for them.
If you are a growing music star or celebrity and want more people to acknowledge you, you can write a memoir to put your journey on paper and make a mark on the readers’ minds. You can also write a memoir if you are a political geek and want to convince people on a particular agenda.
Characteristics of a good memoir
Memoirs are meaningful; they are supposed to show the relationship of a writer with a particular event in their life. And a good memoir does that in a compelling way. Following are the traits that make a memoir memorable and lasting in readers’ minds.
Relatable
A good memoir is always relatable. People love it when they read something that relates to their life. So they are always looking for relevance to the story in their own lives. This does not mean that the readers are looking to read the exact replicas of their own life situations. It means that a memoir should be compelling enough to let the readers relate to the emotions and feelings that the memoirist feels with regard to a specific situation. Thus, your memoir is good if it makes readers think and relate.
Exciting and entertaining
A memoir that is not entertaining its readers is less likely to be a memorable one. Memoirists must make sure that their memoir is capable of completely engaging the readers. This can be done by making the memoir exciting and entertaining. Since it is your story, make sure to tell it in the best possible way. You wouldn’t want to bore your readers with plain and introspective storytelling.
Whether you are telling a fun story of your life or you are describing a painful event from the past, make sure to tell the tale in a way that captivates the readers. It is your emotions that you are portraying, so make sure that your readers can feel the same emotions and feelings while reading your memoir.
True and authentic
An authentic memoir is one that the readers can connect to. In order to have a sort of intimacy with the readers, the author must describe the situation as authentically true as possible. A good memoir requires an honest account of what happened in that particular phase of the writer’s life. When a memoir is authentic, readers’ connection comes naturally.
Learnability
A good memoir makes you learn something, like an important or valuable lesson. Readers are naturally expecting to see a change in the emotional and sometimes physical state of the writer. They are looking for something achievable in the end so that they can follow in the memoirist’s footsteps and achieve goals in their own life.
Memorable
If your memoir is able to last an impression on the readers and they can remember the emotions and feelings in that piece of writing, then your memoir has been successful. Being memorable is the sole purpose of a memoir. And when that purpose is fulfilled in a memoir, then that memoir is a good one.
Types of a memoir
Since there is no finite number of experiences and events happening in our lives, there is no finite number of types and categories of memoirs as well. However, there are some broad categories under which most memoirs fall. Among these categories, there is a definite chance of overlap as well.
Transformational memoirs
It is one of the most famous types of memoirs. As the name indicates, transformational memoirs include significant events and experiences that helped to shape and transform the writer’s life. It doesn’t matter whether the goal is achieved or not, the stories in this type of memoir always include a theme of redemption and the act of trying.
The lessons learned by the writer at the end of his transformational journey are also some important elements of the transformational memoir. The memoirs that contain the story of overcoming addiction and challenging circumstances are examples of transformational memoirs. The journey of embracing religion or converting to a new one can be well-described through transformational memoirs. Such memoirs can also include some significant decisions of your life and the changes that followed.
Confessional memoirs
As the name shows, this type of memoir includes confessional stories. So naturally, this is a much bolder type of memoir. It focuses on the most difficult and wrong decisions they made in life. The memoirist shares his deepest secrets and unveils his regrets in life. While some go to the confessional booths in the church to confess and talk about their sins, others do the same by writing a confessional memoir. The memoirist can then decide to keep his memoir to himself or let others read as well.
Personal memoirs
One of the most commonly practiced memoirs is a personal memoir. Through a personal memoir, readers can get a glimpse of the writer’s personal life at some specific time or event in life. It might be anything; an extremely happy moment of their life or something quite traumatic that they had to endure.
A personal memoir includes everything about a specific experience or event in the writer’s life; what led to the occurrence of that event and what were the after effects of that event. It also includes if the writer’s life changed significantly after that particular event happened or if there are any lessons learned.
Professional memoirs
Such memoirs are written from the perspective of a writer’s professional life and cover important moments in the author’s rise to fame and success. An important point to note here is that this memoir includes only the significant moments and stories rather than providing a running commentary on the author’s daily life.
Celebrity memoirs are an important example here. Celebrities have an extensive fanbase that is dying to hear every little detail of their idol’s life, so celebrity memoirs can help with that very well. Apart from celebrities, famous politicians, historians and even writers can write memoirs about their life experiences.
A politician might write a memoir about their experience with public offices. Professional memoirs are also sometimes written for the purpose of forming a historical record of events. Whoever might be the writer, this type of memoir must also be engaging and compelling for the readers.
Travel memoirs
Travel memoirs are a great way to learn about a particular time and place through the writer’s experiences. Memoirists jot down the notable experiences they have had in their travel journey. Through their travel memoirs, they take their readers along on their journey, making every moment special and memorable. A good travel memoir lets readers feel as if they visited the place described in the memoir themselves.
Travel memoirs focus on the personal adventure of the situation and challenges that the writer may have faced and overcome during his travel. For example, the travel memoir may include the writer’s thoughts and feelings when he was traveling to a foreign country without any friends and knowledge of the native language and how he dealt with those difficulties.
Inspirational memoirs
As the name indicates, inspirational memoirs are a way to inspire others. These include the tales of successful entrepreneurship journeys, ups and downs of celebrity life, etc. Anything that can inspire others is included in inspirational memoirs. Such memoirs are written to instill hope in readers and get them going through tough times.
How to write a memoir?
Is there any part of your life worth writing about? If yes, you must start writing a memoir to put every important event and memory on paper. Thankfully, writing a memoir is not difficult at all. Here’s how you can do it through the following steps.
Step 1: Narrow down and choose a pivotal moment
When starting to write a memoir, the first and foremost step is to narrow down your focus and choose a pivotal moment that you wish to write down. Consider your memoir as a slice of a pie, where pie represents your entire life.
Since a memoir is not an autobiography that covers your entire life, you must narrow down your memories and figure out themes by making a timeline of your life. This way, you can identify the turning points or juicy events of your life from which you can attract the most for your memoir. You might think of it as an unnecessary step but it is important for your readers to know you and experience a particular moment that you have lived on a deeper level.
Step 2: Think big and include every detail
Once you have narrowed down your focus, it is time to ask yourself various questions for further clarity. What makes this event more important than others? What struggles did you have to face during that experience? What lessons did you learn during that time period?
Start thinking big and gathering your memories regarding the pivotal moment about which you are going to write. You can include the people with whom you shared that particular moment or experienced a particular event. Include details about how they looked and the conversations you had with them. Don’t hold back on any feelings or emotions.
Step 3: Instill authenticity and tell the truth
A memoir is well-received by the readers only when it shows authenticity and the writer’s true self. When writing a memoir, make sure to include authentic and factual details. Although you can include some fictional details to make the story more interesting, the main event of the story must remain factual and nonfiction.
One of the best tips for writing a powerful memoir is to be honest and genuine. Even if it makes your life as a writer more difficult, you must maintain honesty when writing a memoir. Also, you must refrain from bending the truth or exaggerating. If you can’t remember some things as they were, it’s fine. Omitting minor details is better than exaggerating or telling completely fictional stories. Or you can use composite sentences instead. Rather than overdoing things, you can just lean into what would have been true.
Since past events or experiences cannot be remembered exactly as they are, a memoir is all about recreating what happened while honoring the emotional truth of the story.
Step 4: Structure your memoir
One important thing to keep in mind is to structure your memoir like a novel or a story. It should have a clear story arc and all other important elements of a compelling story. Your memoir should also include a description of your event’s setting; when, where, and how it happened. Try to recreate the dialogues as faithfully as you can.
Moreover, you can try not to be judgemental of certain things. You must structure your memoir in a way that represents your perspective of a particular situation. Instead of drawing conclusions yourself, let your readers do that. Paint the picture so well so they can draw conclusions on their own.
Step 5: Include powerful emotions
A memoir is all about emotions. You need to write your memoir in such a way that it leaves your readers in awe, laughing hysterically, or maybe crying tears of affinity and sorrow. A good memoir is compelling enough to convince the readers to read the next chapter and leave them wondering about you long after they’ve finished reading your memoir. And who knows, they might even tell their friends and family about your life as well.
And the best way to achieve this is to connect your emotions and describe pivotal takeaways about the happenings in the specific time period. Including powerful emotions can instill power in the overall structure of your memoir.
Step 6: Share life lessons
A memoir is incomplete without life lessons. Towards the end, your memoir should include any change or transformation, or growth of the memoirist. In short, a memoir should always end with important lessons from the life of the author.
If you have gone through difficult times, readers would want to know how you manage to survive the situation, and what is your current situation. Readers are curious to know how a certain situation has affected you, has changed you for good, or has helped you to become a better version of yourself.
Conclusion
Now that you know what a memoir is about, you should start writing one for your life stories as well. If you have read this guide thoroughly, you would now know that writing a memoir is quite simple and easy, owing to the steps described.
Go through the above-described characteristics and traits that make up a good memoir. Keeping that in mind, select the type of memoir you would like to write based on your circumstances and reasons for writing. After that, the stepwise guide will help you in writing a perfect and well-structured memoir.
