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Every ordinary life story is extraordinary!

Ideas for memoirs content

Original Interviews Can Help You Write Memoirs

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When I write my memoirs I plan to mix personal reflection and research with original interviews. I suggest you do this as well. You don’t have to interview everyone you’ve ever known, but I bet you’ll get some great material for inclusion in your life story if you talk to even a few of the people who have influenced you or impacted the direction that your life has taken.

If your parents are alive, get them to a tape or video recorder immediately! They will prove to be rich sources of information about your early life. An aunt, uncle, older neighbor or family friend can substitute or supplement if necessary. How about a teacher or professor? Even if he or she doesn’t remember much about you as a student, a teacher can describe the educational practices of the time and save you hours in the library or on the Internet, especially since the information will relate to the school you actually attended.

Your best friend while growing up, coming of age or during adulthood can lend yet a different perspective, as can a spouse. Even your children will be helpful in providing a vantage point that, by definition, you are incapable of having yourself. In rehashing old stories, my kids often serve up insight that reflects on my parenting. Sometimes their younger minds recall details that have not stuck with me. The simple interview can be enlightening as you write your memoirs and fill a lot of factual holes!

Your Autobiography Reflects Your Generation

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I was reading an article about the aging of Generation X, which got me thinking about how our generation shapes our lives. I don’t mean only the time frame into which we were born. Obviously your life will be influenced by a war as you’re coming of age, a recession that costs you a job, a sociological revolution that adjusts your options in society or a technological boom that changes your professional direction. But the people you grow up alongside also have an impact. Your memoirs are bound to reveal that.

If you’re part of what’s referred to as the “greatest generation,??? which lived through both world wars, your contemporaries have a sense of sacrifice and accomplishment. If, like me, you’re a Baby Boomer, you never feel alone. It’s such a huge and self-analyzing generation that everywhere we turn we have someone to whom we can relate, someone who will commiserate or celebrate with us. It provides a collective consciousness that we love to share with each other.

But if you are part of GenX, you might want to check out that article since it makes it sound as if, unlike the Boomers’ case, very little is written about you. You’re alienated and you feel displaced. That’s a great way to frame your memoirs—and motivation for writing them! At least your own life story will be recorded!

What do Teen Autobiographers Write About?

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I’m sure you’re excited to learn that passages are being leaked from First Step 2 Forever: My Story, the autobiography of 16-year-old Justin Bieber. Or maybe you’ve never even heard of Justin Bieber, the latest sensation to top the pop charts. In either case, perhaps you wonder: what’s there to write about when you’ve been on the planet only 16 years?

Apparently, there’s enough to inspire quite a few young people to tell their life story, short though it might be. Of course, there’s childhood. Actress Drew Barrymore’s autobiography, also written at the age of 16, recounted less-than-innocent early years with the introduction of drugs and alcohol, and Kelly Osbourne, who waited until she was a ripe 24 before penning her memoir, told some harrowing tales about growing up under the same roof as dad Ozzy. Gymnast Shawn Johnson, 16 when she wrote her book, and British soccer star Wayne Rooney, who was 22, each focused on a life dedicated to competition and sportsmanship. At just 15, both American pop’s Miley Cyrus and British classical vocalist Charlotte Church revealed details about their somewhat ordinary childhood that proceeded during their very extraordinary rise to fame.

These young authors wrote memoirs more for their fans than for themselves or their families. You may not have legions of fans, but if mere teens can find enough interesting about their lives to craft an autobiography, certainly you can draw on your experiences to knock out a book’s worth of chapters. Keep writing!

Own Your Life Story—Or Someone Else Might

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Own Your Life Story—Or Someone Else Might
You’re probably not nearly as famous as poet Emily Dickinson. But if you’re on the fence about whether to write your memoirs, you might want to consider what’s still happening 124 years after Dickinson’s death.
The New York Times last Sunday reviewed Lives Like Loaded Guns, just the latest in a series of Emily Dickinson biographies that guess, speculate, presume and assume regarding all sorts of details involving the somewhat mysterious Miss Dickinson and the feuds that allegedly drew in her family. The book reviewer, Christopher Benfey, repeatedly questioned the assumptions made by the book’s author, Lyndall Gordon. Further, Benfey addressed Gordon’s assertion that “Dickinson scholars remain divided??? about their subject’s feelings toward two particular people in her life.
Most likely your life story will not attract scholars, much less be fascinating enough to divide them. Still, there are lots of people writing memoirs, and you just might end up mentioned in one of them. When you’re the one writing about your own life, you will set straight all the facts and explain your feelings about the people around you. No one will have to wonder why you quit that job, broke up that romance, chose to pursue that area of study or did whatever it is that will remain an inaccessible fact if other people are the only ones who write about you.

You’re probably not nearly as famous as poet Emily Dickinson. But if you’re on the fence about whether to write your memoirs, you might want to consider what’s still happening 124 years after Dickinson’s death.

The New York Times last Sunday reviewed Lives Like Loaded Guns, just the latest in a series of Emily Dickinson biographies that guess, speculate, presume and assume regarding all sorts of details involving the somewhat mysterious Miss Dickinson and the feuds that allegedly drew in her family. The book reviewer, Christopher Benfey, repeatedly questioned the assumptions made by the book’s author, Lyndall Gordon. Further, Benfey addressed Gordon’s assertion that “Dickinson scholars remain divided??? about their subject’s feelings toward two particular people in her life.

Most likely your life story will not attract scholars, much less be fascinating enough to divide them. Still, there are lots of people writing memoirs, and you just might end up mentioned in one of them. When you’re the one writing about your own life, you will set straight all the facts and explain your feelings about the people around you. No one will have to wonder why you quit that job, broke up that romance, chose to pursue that area of study or did whatever it is that will remain an inaccessible fact if other people are the only ones who write about you.

Read This Online Autobiography to Study Memoir Style

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Many of you trying to write your memoirs may never have written anything of length before now. While you’ve probably read enough—both fiction and non-fiction—as you try to craft your own autobiography it can be helpful to read passages specifically of others’ life stories. If you can read them online at no charge, that makes it even easier for you.

A classic memoir, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, is a good place to start. Click here for the online version, which lets you pull up one chapter at a time. Certainly language has evolved since Ben Franklin’s time, so you won’t want to imitate the wording. But there’s an elegance to the way he writes that you can aspire to assume for your own work. Also, these chapters give you an idea of how to structure your memoir, which topics are important enough to cover, how to introduce dialogue and how candid to be as you describe your friends and relatives.

According to the website, Franklin’s is considered to be the most acclaimed autobiography to come out of colonial America. It covers his early life, travel, professional training, romantic encounters and all sorts of details of his days from his own perspective. Although Franklin lived to be 84 years old, he ends this account at age 51. This illustrates that you can create a compelling memoir by recording what you’ve accomplished so far before without necessarily waiting until you’re in your senior years.

Your Memoirs Can Document Property Ownership

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I spent part of the July 4 weekend at a friend’s summer home on property that has been in his family for four generations—five generations if you count his grown children. There’s the original house, a second house built by a sibling of the original homeowner plus my friend’s house, built by his grandparents and still owned by his mother.

It seemed that everyone there was “a cousin.??? One of the cousins by marriage gave me the rundown on the ownership of each house and how the descendants are all related. It was really interesting. I saw that this summer property by a beautiful lake offered a way to keep family together. Even the fifth-generation cousins knew each other—and I suspect the little kids in attendance might have been sixth generation. Are you acquainted with cousins who are that far “removed????

I wonder how many details of the ownership and activities that went on there for more than a century are forgotten by now. Even my own house was built in 1929 and had at least three owners before we bought it. I know a little about them, but some research could turn up interesting particulars. In your memoir, you might want to trace factual details like the lineage of property ownership. You may not think it’s that interesting to the reader or pertinent to your life, but your memoir provides a written record of information that otherwise may be forever lost to the ages.

War Memoirs May Skew Details

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A fellow blogger lists nine topics he finds that authors exclude form their war memoirs. I won’t repeat the topics here; click through to his blog On Violence if you’re curious. But I will take issue with his claim that writers who avoid topics they think readers may find unpleasant or boring compromise the integrity of their book.

I distinguish between “the truth??? and “the whole truth.??? I don’t think that you, as the writer of the story that by definition you own, are obligated to mention every last detail of what’s going on in the setting of that story. Number five on the blogger’s list is civilian deaths. “An honest memoir,??? the blogger writes, “will deal with this messy truth about any war.??? I disagree. If you’re writing a non-fiction account of the war, then I believe you should include the facts surrounding civilian deaths. But in your memoir? The war is just one more player in your story. You can write about as much or as little of it as you like, even if it becomes such a main character that you’re really writing a war memoir.

I am all for rich detail in a memoir. But the On Violence blogger calls his nine points a litmus test that must be passed for him to respect a war memoir. While I support writing only the truth in your autobiography, I  disagree that you must include the whole truth for your story to be compelling.

Use Description to Communicate Opinion in Your Memoirs

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The whole point of writing a memoir is to tell the story of your life from your unique point of view. But, as with other types of writing, it can be most effective to let readers draw their own conclusions. This subtle difference lies in your style of description.

Let’s say you’re recalling how your met your childhood best friend. He was a teammate in Little League, but you didn’t know each other because you attended different schools. You could write: Tommy was a very good player, much more skilled than I was, so I was surprised when he seemed friendly to me right from the beginning. You’ve evaluated his ability, your ability and his friendliness, and you deliver to the reader no interesting details—just your conclusions.

Try it this way instead, more like a reporter: Tommy hit at least one home run every game, and as a short stop he could catch the wildest throws, then propel the ball like a bullet to the appropriate plate. I was thrilled to get on base at all, and out in center field I just prayed for pop flies to the infield. So I didn’t see it coming when Tommy patted me on the back after the first day of practice and challenged, “Race you to the Good Humor truck!??? Readers still conclude that Tommy was friendly and the better player, but this style engages them and makes them want to continue reading your memoir!

“American Idol??? Connection Reported to be Contemplating Memoirs

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It’s always fun to see which celebrities are planning to write their memoirs. The latest, as reported by digitalspy.com, is Mezhgan Hussainy, whose fiancé is longtime “American Idol??? judge Simon Cowell. Hussainy, 36, was the make-up artist on the set of the show when she started dating the notoriously contrary Cowell.

You might be wondering what a 36-year-old might find so compelling about her life that she already would want to pen an autobiography. Her famous boyfriend, known to closely guard the details of his private life, is not the major focus. Speculation is that Hussainy hopes to share the story of how she and her family fled Afghanistan 20 years ago and immigrated to America.

The digitalspy report quotes a source saying, “Mezhgan really is an amazing woman. She went through so much as a child but she remains full of optimism and positivity. She wants to get her story out in her own words to give hope to others.??? At WriteMyMemoirs, we hear from some of our members who have similar experiences of escaping brutal lives either because of oppressive governments or abusive parents and caretakers. Like Hussainy, they want to get their story out there. Apparently traumatic experiences and wanting to help others are powerful motivators for writing memoirs.

Another Website Offers a “Memoirs??? Type of Catharsis

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Writing your memoirs can be a way to give yourself closure regarding an episode in your life and finally get something “off your chest.??? When you do, are you directing any of that explanation to a specific person?

Yesterday, a column by Barbara Brotman in my hometown’s Chicago Tribune alerted readers to wouldhavesaid.com, a website that invites everyone to post anything they want to put out there, really. Some contributors write to someone who has died, to someone with whom they’ve lost contact or even to themselves or their “younger selves???; others express a thought they cannot bring themselves to say face-to-face to someone; still others write something they wish the world in general to know.

The contributors say that putting their long-held sentiments into words feels cathartic. As you write your memoirs, you may experience a similar catharsis when you picture various people reading your words. Perhaps you’ll express your regret about something you said or did, or you’ll want someone to see how life turned out for you. The writing process itself may bring you all sorts of surprises, relief and, of course, a sense of accomplishment. What I love about setting a goal to write your memoirs is that the benefit comes not only from the wonderful product you’ll have for your friends and relatives, but also from the process of remembering your life and recording it precisely as you want to present it. It just feels so good.

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Then just set up a chapter and start writing your memoir. Don’t worry about rules. There are no rules to writing your memoir; there are only trends. These trends are based on techniques and features identified in current top-selling memoirs. At best, they’re the flavor of the month. If you’re capturing your life in print for your family, for your own gratification or to inspire readers, rather than aiming to set off Hollywood screenplay bidding wars, these trends don’t even apply to you. You’ll write the memoir that suits you best, and it will be timeless, not trend-driven.There are no rules, but there are four steps:

1. Theme/framework
2. Writing
3. Editing/polishing
4. Self-publishing

You’ve researched this, too, and you’ve been shocked at the price for getting help with any one of those steps, much less all four. That’s because most memoir sites promise to commercialize your work. They’ll follow a formula based on current memoir trends, because they want to convince you that they can turn your memoir into a best-seller. These sites overwhelm you with unnecessary information not to help you, the memoir author, but to address Search Engine Optimization (SEO) algorithms so they can sell more.

That’s not what we do at Write My Memoirs. Our small community of coaches, writers and editors are every bit as skilled as any you’ll find, and we charge appropriately for their expertise and the time they’ll spend helping you craft a compelling, enjoyable read. But you won’t pay an upcharge for other websites’ commercialization, the marketing that follows, and the pages of intimidating “advice.” You can sell your book if you like—we have ISBNs available for you—but our organic process of capturing your story takes a noncommercial path.

If you want help with any or all of the four steps above, choose from our services or save money by selecting one of our packages. If you’d like to talk about what’s right for you, schedule a call. One year from now, you can be holding your published memoir in your hand. And at that point, it will be a big deal!

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