I recently finished editing and publishing a Christian-perspective memoir, Help, God! I Can’t Afford a Psychiatrist! by Donna Benedict and am reading The Soulful Child by Chloe Gallaway, as well as Melania by Melania Trump. I just gave three memoirs as gifts: One. Little. Pill. by Deb Lawless-Miller, Black Sheep Tries Bleach by Lee Volpe, and I Did Not Miss the Boat by Lea Tran.  I do occasionally find great memoirs written by men, like Hollywood Park, by Mikel Jollett, Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance, and When I Stop Talking, You’ll Know I’m Dead, by Jerry Weintraub. I didn’t use to read memoirs, but after working with so many people to write their memoirs and get them published, I fell in love (not only with each author but with the genre).

A memoir offers a unique window into another person’s life. Sometimes it can be almost unbearably intimate, in the sense that we aren’t accustomed to so much vulnerability from someone we “just met.” Mikel Jollett, for example, was born inside a cult’s commune, with no “parents” in any traditional sense, so his upbringing was very unlike mine, and likely not like yours. Yet he crafts his story in such an authentic and vulnerable way that we start to understand, relate to, and empathize with him, even though his experience is nothing like our own.

A memoir, it is important to note, is different than an autobiography, where the scope of the book spans a lifetime. Memoirs are selective, focusing on specific themes, events, or phases of life. A memoir typically is more emotional and reflective, with a focus on storytelling rather than just recounting facts. Some are built entirely around one transformational moment in time.

An autobiography will almost always be chronological, but a memoir doesn’t play by that rule. The memoirist weaves memories and reflections to create a thematic narrative.

Wild by Cheryl Strayed explores her journey of self-discovery during her solo hike on the Pacific Crest Trail, not her entire life. By the way, it’s a must-read.

Different from an autobiography, it seems that a person writing a memoir has a purpose and desire to impact the reader. They have an intention, something they hope to accomplish or communicate through the book, such as educating, entertaining, inspiring, empowering, healing, or persuading. Amy Koko must have had an intention to make me laugh out loud a hundred times because that’s what happened as I read her book where she bears her soul in her witty, bittersweet memoir, There’s Been A Change of Plans: Divorce, Dating & Delinquents in Mid-life.

Actually, you have an enormous variety of memoir types to choose from—so what are you waiting for? Categories of memoirs include: personal, family, travel, career, addiction & recovery, illness & death, cultural/historical, political, celebrity, nature & environment, spiritual/religious, sports memoirs, childhood memoirs, and confessional memoirs, with each focusing on a specific aspect of the author’s life experiences and reflections on that period or theme.

Imagine that you are taking a lesson, moment, or adventure from your life and writing about it. What would you most want the reader to say, do, or change after they finish the last page?

Screen Shot

Enter your details below to get your free eBook!

You have Successfully Subscribed!