Memoir Essentials

“Your memoir is about something you know after something you’ve been through.”

~ Marion Roach Smith

Is this description of memoir overly simplistic? Perhaps. But It's also noteworthy how often this statement is true -- or should be true.

What do I mean by that?

Rather than 'here's what happened to me,' memoir is most often successful when it charts a shift of some kind, a transformation, a new way of being or seeing. Itn the simplest terms, it is a journey through 'what happened' to what it has come to mean.

Which doesn't imply that you now exist in The Land Where Everything is Perfect (in fact, please don't try to end up there!), but it does imply that you do more than just take readers back through your past.

What do you now have (or see or understand) that you didn't at the time of the story you are writing? Who are you now as a result of what you have lived? What insight do you have into past events that you didn't at the time?

You don't want to be too explicit -- dear reader: look how wise and evolved I am -- but rather to *show* the shift in subtle and nuanced ways. In the quality of the voice, for instance, or the perspective you bring to the portrait you are painting.

Instead of feeling confessional, try letting your story feel generous.