How to Write an Interesting Memoir.

A memoir is an account of a certain aspect of a person's life, usually told to buttress a specific theme.

A memoir covers an aspect of an individual's life. It could be a short piece about unemployment, a failed relationship or an entire childhood.

Readers would take interest in a memoir when it's told with clarity and an attention to the elements of Fiction.

Five Steps to Writing a Memoir.

The following are simple steps to consider before writing a memoir.

1. Create a Theme.

2. Select the Witty parts of your Experiences.

3. Outline your Book.

4. Write your Story Like a Novel.

5. Expose and Reveal less.

1. Create a Theme.

Most people confuse a memoir with an autobiography. While the first is a detailed account of experiences around a particular theme. The latter is an elaborate account of an individual's life experiences touching on different aspects of the author.

To avoid this deviation, it is important to identify what the Author of the Memoir intends to achieve with their story and what part of their experiences holds the central message they wish to pass on. It is then, that creating a theme becomes easy. 

The theme will serve as a guide for the Author's anecdotes to flow and connect into a story form.

2. Select the Witty parts of your Experiences.

To write a memoir, the writer must be willing to travel into the deepest recesses of their heart to find their story.

As a Memoir Writer, you must be ready to tell the whole truth deeply enough to evoke a cathartic moment in your reader. 

It is necessary to find anecdotes in your life that match the theme of your memoirs.

The more vulnerable you are, the more literary appeal the memoir holds.

To be able to write compelling anecdotes of your experiences. You can draw up a list of events in your life and the impact it has had on you. You should also identify the people who were most significant or insignificant in the theme of your journey.

Visit old photographs and videos with friends, family and foes to find inspiration and relevance to add to your theme.

3. Outline your Book.

You can only outline your book when you have a clear idea of what you want your memoir to like. To be able to create a book outline. You will need to do the following:

a. Write a synopsis of what your memoir is about.

b. Identify the phases that make up the entire story.

c. Plot them into chapters.

d. Identify a narrative storytelling technique you would like to use. First person or second person point of view.

4. Write your Memoir like a Novel.

In writing your memoir like a novel, you will need to do more showing than telling. While it is okay to tell the story like a storyteller, it is very important to show your story like a dramatist as this would be a more effective way to make your memoir have a lasting impression on whoever reads it.

To effectively write the memoir like a novel. You would need to employ the elements of Fiction; dialogue, description, foreshadowing, flashback, conflict and resolution.

It is essential to know how much conflict to infuse and when it is best to pace the story. Also the memoir should have a Character Arc; where the main character of the memoir I.e the Author of the memoir, is seen to grow in every phase of the story. There has to be a well rounded development of the main character who is the life force of the entire story in the memoir. When a character grows in the phases of a memoir, it make the readers accept him/her for who they are having understood their growth process in the book.

5. Expose and Reveal less.

This sounds like an instructive oxymoron filled with sarcasm. However, this is an important part of memoir writing which should not be neglected.

In as much as you want to express your bravery, weakness, strengths and folly, you must remember that in the midst of your story, there are other people who have journeyed with you. 

You would want to be careful how much you tell about these other people in your memoir. This is why, it is necessary to inquire from them, if they would like to be mentioned in your memoir with their real names or a pseudo name or if they would not want to be mentioned at all. This is very important so you do not include a law suit upon publishing your memoir.

If these people you wish to include in your memoir do not give you express permission to include their identities, then it's okay to alter their identity and the impact they had in your life and journey while writing your memoir.

As much as you would like to include family and friends in your memoir, you must also remember they are your support system and if you heavily rely on them for support, then you must be careful to what degree you let their personalities into your memoir. This is so that your reader's do not begin to look at them based on the description you made of them in your book.

I hope you found this topic enlightening. For more writing information and education follow us our social media platforms @moncoeurglobalconcept

About the Author

Francisca Ogechi Okwulehie is the founder of Moncoeur Global Concept and Author of two Fiction books.

She holds a B.A and an M.A in Philosophy from the University of Lagos, Nigeria. Her works has appeared in the Afriworiliterary Project Anthology; The Different Shades of a Feminine Mind (2017) and the 84 Bottles of Wine For Wole Soyinka Anthology (2018). She has a penchant for highlife music.