Memoirs come in a
variety of flavors: travel, spiritual, food, legacy, and others.
Although each has a unique focus, they share the need for story.
Vignettes can be sad, funny, or poignant, but they need the structure
of story to captivate the reader.
The first chapters
of the book give a plan for starting a memoir and finding the story
buried in your reams of material. After this section, the authors
devote a chapter to each type of memoir from travel to legacy. At the
end of each chapter, you will find exercises to help you use the
information in the chapter, writing prompts and a short section on
publication.
The second part of
the book is devoted to publishing. Sarah Jane writes about what
agents do. After reading her section, I think anyone would be
fortunate to find an agent like her who not only tries to sell your
book, but helps you over the rough places while you're writing it.
Several editors discuss what they do and how to edit your work.
Finally, they include a section on self-publishing which is valuable
if you want to give your descendents a real book, but aren't looking
for a traditional publisher
If you plan to write
a memoir, this is an excellent way to start. The book is crammed with
information on writing memoir and on publishing. Although you may
need other references along the way, this one combined with a good
critique group can get you started in the right direction.
I also recommend
this book for fiction writers. Although the information isn't new,
seeing it from a slightly difference perspective may give you ideas
for improving your writing.
I didn't choose this
book with the idea of writing a memoir, but after reading it, I'm
thinking about starting one. Writing a memoir, like any writing
project, is a lot of work, but the payoff is learning more about
yourself, finding your story, and having a gift to pass on to your
descendants.
I reviewed this book
for the Amazon Vine Program.
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