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I believe the wisdom and power to create real change lives not only in the experiences of leaders and community builders … but in the things that happen to everyday people all over the world. Each one of us has a story born from our life experience.
We often forget, by offering up our stories we can help others understand their own. We build a structure with our truth so other people can shelter there. In this way, a memoir is not self-indulgent but a road map for the human experience.
Your story also deserves to be told but, unless you’re someone really famous, it’s probably your own responsibility to tell it. Are you ready to share your life story with the world?
Develop a Concept
A memoir captures a period of time or a set of events in your life, rather than cataloging your experience from cradle to grave (that’s an autobiography or biography).
In order to appeal to an audience beyond your friends and family, you must bridge the gap between your life and that of your reader.
Most aspiring authors feel overwhelmed before they even begin. Below are some tips to help you on your way to sharing your story.
You need a solid concept that invites the reader’s concerns into the experience. To get them reading, it has to be more than something saying, “Let me tell you all about wonderful me.”
Consider the elements of your story that are universal and find ways to write them so your reader can imagine their own life through the lens of your circumstances.
Make It Memorable
You can make your nonfiction book as memorable as its fictional counterparts by using sensory language. By that, I mean language that conveys how you felt, what you saw, heard, smelled, and tasted during the scenes you present.
Before you write a pivotal scene, take yourself back to the place, time, and emotion of the moment. Once you’ve transported yourself back to that moment, write your scene.
When you’ve gotten it down on the page, go back and look for ways to vary your language to make it richer and more interesting.
Break out your thesaurus if that helps!
Include Details
Writing in detail takes time to develop, but not as much as you might think. It has helped me in my own writing. View the world in small sections. That limited focus can help you really hone-in on detail.
Construct your book scene-by-scene, moment-by-moment. See the minutiae … the crack etched in the sidewalk cement, the one green pea that rolled under the table, the rim of grease under the thumbnail of your father as he cuts the Thanksgiving turkey. When you add detail to your writing, you are painting with words, and you can use all the colors!
Details like that make the difference, so show them to your readers!
Your Story is Exceptional
You’ve lived through, learned, discovered, or developed something, and you’re still busy living your life. You’re out accomplishing things. What better time is there to write a book about your own life story than now? Don’t keep it to yourself!
Believe it or not, someone out there may need your message. When you share what you know and what you’ve learned, you may become part of the solution for someone.
You may not think of yourself as a writer, but you can do anything you want to do. What do you have to lose? When will there ever be a better moment than now? You don’t need to learn the publishing industry or take writing classes to write your book. You simply need to get your message out into the world.
Writing a book about yourself is definitely a big hurdle, perhaps comparable to running a marathon. But, just like that epic race, once you do it, you may look back and want to do it again.
What are you waiting for?
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I’ll be joining other authors signing books at Detroit Festival of Books at Eastern Market on July 21 and at SterlingFest in Sterling Heights, Michigan on July 27.
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Gentle Readers, my books have all garnered some terrific reviews. You can see all of them by using the Amazon link below. Check them out. Better yet, buy one and read it. You just might like it.
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You’re invited to visit my author’s website, BROKEN GLASS to hear the remarkable radio interview about my novel “Blood Lake” on The Authors Show. You can also like my Book of Face page, find me on Goodreads, or follow my shorter ramblings on The Twitter.
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Comments posted below will be read, greatly appreciated and perhaps even answered.
Tags: award-winning author, award-winning writing, indie writers, memoir
Painting With Light 
April 14, 2019 at 5:50 pm |
Thanks again, Ron, for your inspiration and guidance. I always look forward to your postings.
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April 14, 2019 at 6:14 pm |
Thanks, Bob. I’m glad to know it’s helping.
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April 14, 2019 at 5:12 pm |
Hi Pincus,
I’m not inclined to write a book – or even a memoir. But maybe an isolated event? Yeah, maybe that. Are you inclined to be an editor once in a while rather than an author?
Has anyone published a book of “memoirs” limited to one page in a book? How many words is that? My friend, you know many people from various stops you’ve made in your short stay on planet Earth. Ask them, encourage them, to send you a one page event in their lives that they consider important for some reason. You, Mr. Editor, make a book out of them. (They can even choose to remain anonymous if they root for the Yankees or the Blackhawks.)
I know that you’ll agree that most folks have at least one good story in them to tell even if they don’t know it. Your column above says so!
If you choose to become an editor I’ll send you a submission – or two. Maybe even three.
Snyds
Go Red Wings!
PS – Maybe the Pincus salutation could be the start of a story?
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April 14, 2019 at 5:26 pm |
It might be interesting for folks to know where that nickname came from. Send your chapters, and maybe I’ll play editor.
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