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The Best Books on Writing a Memoir

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The Best Books on How to Write a Memoir

There's no doubt we are living in the age of the memoir. Go to a bookstore and you'll see tables laden with tell-all books and shelves bulging with the latest slice-of-life stories about someone conquering addiction, surviving an illness or running off with the latest brass ring. Memoirs speak to a culture that is obsessed with itself. There has never been a time when the old saw "everyone has a book inside them waiting to come out" has never been truer. The question is not what to write about but how to write it. To wrestle that demon to the ground, here are a few books that have proven helpful.

Your Life as Story: Discovering the "New Autobiography" and Writing Memoir as Literature by Tristine Raner

Write the story of your life

Memoir Writing, Your Life as Story, how to tell your life storyYour Life as Story
Without a doubt this is my favorite book on how to write a memoir. To write a memoir you need more than just a few incidents from your life and an anecdote or two. A memoir has a shape, a storyline running through it. Rainer does a great job of explaining how to fit all the pieces together and make it work. How do you apply story structure to your life? Your Life as Story explains how.

This is not a light read. The book's meant to be your companion during the process. While the style is easy and the content written so that it can be read in one sitting, the exercises and questions raised are meant to help you think more deeply to bring the story of your life to fruition.

Memoir: Truth or Fiction

Creative nonfiction, memoirs, personal essays

In recent years controversy has grown up around a number of celebrated memoirs. Some writers think it's okay to bend the truth, collapse time, invent dialogue, and pretty much use whatever fictional techniques they can to create an interesting memoir that "resembles" the truth. The most memorable case is probably that of James Frey simply because Oprah Winfrey became involved in the controversy. But he's definitely not alone in his approach. Have these recent writers blurred the line too much between fact and fiction?

Is it okay to collapse time, bend the truth, make up dialogue and basically present false information when writing a memoir?

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I sure would.

TheLittleCardShop says:

I would maybe put some dialogue based on the real one if it ever happened and it is relevant. But no fiction, then those would not be your memoirs

ChaunyWrites says:

no point reading something like that then, might as well go on over to the fiction section if fiction is what you're looking for. If I wrote my story, every jot and tittle would be true.

Nope, have no desire to write about my personal life.

 

Writing the Memoir: From Truth to Art (2nd ed) by Judith Barrington

how to write a memoirWriting the Memoir: From Truth to Art, 2nd Ed.
Writing a memoir strikes some writers as opening Pandora's Box. Who knows what will be uncovered, released and examined? It takes a certain amount of fortitude to be willing to do that much self-probing and self-examination.

Judith Barrington calls on her personal experience as a memoirist and her years as a creative writing instructor to tackle the issues raised during the writing process. She takes the writer from the conceptual stage right through the submission and into the publishing process.

In addition to the practical advice, exercises and to-do lists, Barrington offers up a variety of writings for the reader's enjoyment and study. This is a good, practical book that will be of help no matter where you are in the process.

 

Creating Nonfiction: Researching and Crafting Stories of Real Life by Philip Gerard

how to write your life storyCreative Nonfiction: Researching and Crafting Stories of Real Life
If you're going to be writing the story of your life, then you'll be writing creative nonfiction. You might as well learn from the man who has been one of the genres best advocates. Reading Philip Gerard's work is beneficial whether you're a beginner or experienced writer. Memoirists begin with their feet standing firmly in reality. Whether you're shaping a personal story or writing about a family member, you still have to go through the process of taking those "real" elements and crafting them into a story someone else will want to read.

Gerard takes you through the process providing tips, tricks and techniques for conducting interviews to revising a completed first draft. If you step outside yourself and interview yourself, you'll find some interesting aspects to share with your readers.

Fearless Confessions: A Writer's Guide to Memoir by Sue William Silverman

How-to Guide to Writing a MemoirFearless Confessions: A Writer's Guide to Memoir
Sue William Silverman is the author of two memoirs and certainly knows about the writing process and the craft of memoir writing. In Fearless Confessions, she not only explains the process and the craft need, but also applies her analytical skills to a variety of memoir writing and explains not only what worked but what didn't.

This is a great guidebook to walk you through the process from beginning to end. Silverman addresses the wide range of the genre with plenty of exercises. She also addresses that big invisible elephant in the room:The family. How do you deal with family members when your writing may touch their lives as well as your own? These questions and more are discussed. Definitely a good book to read and probably one worth a place on your bookshelf for the duration.

Interested in Writing a Memoir?

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Resources for Memoir Writing

Write an autobiography, a memoir, and practice journal writing

National Association of Memoir Writers (NAMA)
The National Association of Memoir Writers (NAMW) is a membership organization that invites memoir writers from all over the world to connect, learn, and become inspired about writing their stories. The goal of our organization is to help memoir writers feel empowered with purpose and energy to begin and develop their life stories into a publishable memoir, whether in essay form, a book, a family legacy, or to create a blog.
Center for Autobiographic Studies (CSA)
The Center for Autobiographic Studies (CAS) is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit educational organization dedicated to promoting the knowledge, appreciation, creation and preservation of contemporary autobiographic works. These works may be written for self-understanding, for preserving family and cultural history, or for pooling the wisdom to be gained from diverse individuals' life experiences.
Center for Journal Therapy (CJT)
The Center for Journal Therapy is the premier source of education and training on the power of writing to heal body, psyche and soul.

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So what do you think about memoir writing? Share your experiences

  • Theycallmedramaqueen Dec 22, 2011 @ 11:51 am | delete
    Thanks for this wonderful and helpful lens. I've recently finished my second memoir and am pleased to find so many valuable resources listed here that are specifically about memoir writing. Another exceptional book on the subject is one by Sven Birkerts - "The Art of Time in Memoir - Then, Again"
  • TheLittleCardShop Mar 29, 2011 @ 9:37 am | delete
    Writting your memoirs is a good idea, whether you write them to publish or just for your family. Guess it all depends on the kind of life you had and what you want to share. I already have a beautiful book on which I want to write something special, need to get inspired. Very nice page Vikk :)
  • vikksimmons Apr 2, 2011 @ 9:06 pm | delete
    Thanks, and good luck with your book. :)
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