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For Authors: February 20, 2008 Issue [#2232]

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For Authors


 This week:
  Edited by: Vivian Author IconMail Icon
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Table of Contents

1. About this Newsletter
2. A Word from our Sponsor
3. Letter from the Editor
4. Editor's Picks
5. A Word from Writing.Com
6. Ask & Answer
7. Removal instructions

About This Newsletter

         I've read quite a bit about memoirs lately. Apparently many people want to write their memoirs, but what is a memoir? I dug in my notes and lesson plans from the past and read writing magazines to find information about this popular genre.

Viv



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Letter from the editor

What is a memoir?


         A memoir is a sketch of emotional milestones, the exploring of range of emotions which helps authors to recall those emotions. The thought which needs to stay in the front of a writer's mind is "What did you feel; how did you feel?"

         A memoir, according to definition, is a narrative composed from personal experience, an autobiography. The author gives the reader an account of not only what happened and when factual account (although, a memoir is non-fiction, factual), but the feelings, the emotional effects of that slice of life. An account of travels or chronological details doesn't make a memoir by themselves, but the emotions felt at the time does.

         According to Christina Baldwin, when we write a memoir, "We live life twice: once in the experience and again in recording and reflecting upon our experience." Reliving the emotions is part of the reflecting the experience.

         Fictional memoirs is an oxymoron. Ricky Moody states, "A memoir is primarily a re-collective work of literature, and it should be as faithful to memory as is possible." Faithful to memory, not creation of imagination.

         Memoirs examine real-life: events, experiences, perceptions, relationships, emotions. They are grounded in exact detail; recalling sounds, sights, smells, tastes, touching. Writers should delve into sensory images - not name emotions but feel them and allow the reader to feel them, too.

         Try writing a memoir of your own. Choose a scene, an event in your life, and bring it to life so that others can see and feel what you lived.

         An example of a memoir I wrote from an experience many years ago is "Crazy-Woman DanceOpen in new Window..


Resources:
1. Vivian Zabel, notes and lesson plans
2. Carter Jefferson, "What's Not a Memoir," WRITER'S Journal March/April 2008
3. Sarah Anne Johnson, "What's a memoir writer to do?" The Writer, November 2006
4. Barbara Krasner, "Sketch your way to CHARACTER EMOTION," The Writer March 2008
5. Ricky Moody, quoted in "What's a memoir writer to do?"


Editor's Picks

Memoirs from W.Com


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by A Guest Visitor

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by A Guest Visitor

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by A Guest Visitor

 Memoirs of an insomniac. Open in new Window. [E]
A little something I wrote one night when I couldn't sleep.
by DennyJames Author Icon

Tears, Trials, & Trouble Open in new Window. [13+]
Memories through harsh times.
by GeminiStar Author Icon

 Invalid Item Open in new Window. []

by A Guest Visitor


 
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Ask & Answer


Words from Readers


          Thank you for all the kind comments about last month's issue.

larryp
Some great tips for creating characters and bringing them to life for the reader. Thanks Viv.
                              Larry


Kate - Writing & Reading Author IconMail Icon
         Thank you for the helpful ideas! Charting each character's personality and physical traits to make them real for the writer *Thumbsup* who can then reveal nuances or layers as each character 'shows' up in the story. *Smile* Another keeper issue. Thank you. Kate


lulubelle
         Thank you for the great newsletter! It was helpful and wonderful to read.
                              Ashton Rose


msmoonbeam Author IconMail Icon
         I like your "Characters That Breathe" article. Think I will use the chart idea you mentioned that you use. Great idea!


Synergy Author IconMail Icon
         As a writer I read, and as a reader sometime I read about writing. What a one of a kind idea, write… I mean right? I know, get to the point. Your article this month was very helpful. It was an approach to a problem that I was actually having at that time. You offered an approach that I do not remember ever running across in the books that I have read so far. So, thank you for your practical, yet simple advice.

Seisa-sleepingcatbooks.com Author IconMail Icon
Viv, thank you for featuring my short story "Unwelcome Guest" in the For Authors newsletter!

billwilcox
         Great job Viv...a wonderful newsletter on character strengths. *Thumbsup*


         I do appreciate when readers get something from what I write, and I enjoy hearing when they do. I also like the questions and comments I sometimes get -- well, not ALL the comments all the time, but most of them.

         Please join me again next month when I think I'll cover writers' attitudes.



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