Five Questions Every Memoirist Should Ask Themselves
When you start your memoir, you are embarking on a wonderful journey of self-discovery and reflection. Writing a memoir can prove tricky, though, if you do not organise your writing and approach it with a clear understanding. These five questions of a memoirist will help you avoid the difficulty that comes with writing a memoir and allow you to produce your best work.
What exactly took place?
Every memoirist is writing about something that is important to them or influenced their life in a major way. Before you start writing your memoir, make sure you understand the ins and outs of the events you are writing about. When you start writing your memoir, you might notice that you don’t know what happened as well as you thought you did, which can be discouraging. Don’t let this happen to you!
Fully jump into research: talk to your family, and friends to research anything you can. Online websites can help you track your family tree. With this information, you can reach out to relatives you might have never even talked to before to get more details for your memoir. If you approach your memoir like this, you will find that you can provide a deeper sense of reflection and understanding.
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What Caused This to Take Place?
When memoirists consider what they are writing about, they often forget to realize what caused the events to take place. This is just as important as knowing what exactly took place. The cause of the events you are writing about can deepen your understanding of the events and exactly how they impacted your life. Including this information in your memoir will strengthen your writing.
What Does It Matter?
There are several memoirist techniques that create a strong memoir, and one of them is to explain why the event you are writing about matters. A great way to do this is to consider the impacts the event had on the rest of your life, and why you chose to write a memoir about it. A strong memoir comes from impactful events, so asking yourself this question is a great way to make sure your memoir is as good as it can be.
If you are not sure why your events matter, think about them in the grand context of your life. How would your life be different if you didn’t experience the events in question? Did the events impact anyone around you? Do you have any regrets regarding the event? Talking to family and friends can help you find the answers to these difficult questions. Your memoir will thank you!
Why Is It Important?
You can answer this question by considering why the reader will keep reading your memoir. Consider how your reader might be affected by the experiences you are writing about and what lessons they might learn from your memoir. This will help you discover why the events you are writing about are important, as well as make your memoir stronger and more likely to keep the attention of readers.
What steps will you take next?
It is common for memoir writers to feel stuck at a certain point in their writing process. This is normal! To avoid this entirely or at least help lessen the effects, plan your next steps. You can take a memoir writing course to sharpen your skills and make the process of writing your memoir much easier. Make sure that whatever your next steps are, they help you write your memoir with as little struggle as possible.
Also, consider the amount of time in which you want to write your memoir and the goals you have for it. This will heavily guide your next steps. For example, if you want to finish writing your memoir in a year, then you will know how many hours you want to spend writing every day, or every week.
Final thoughts
Writing a memoir is a wonderful adventure that can teach you about yourself and your family. You can also help and inspire others by sharing your story. Writing a memoir can be a difficult task, but if you ask yourself these five questions, then you will find that you have a much better understanding of how to go about writing your memoir, and your memoir will be stronger and more impactful for thousands of people.
