Labrenne
New member
I always thought memoirs were for famous people. Then a friend read an essay I'd written about my grandmother and said "this should be a book." I laughed. But the seed was planted. Turns out, anyone with a story can write a memoir—you just need to find your focus . You can't write your whole life. Pick a specific period, relationship, or theme. Mine is the summer I spent in my grandmother's village after college, learning family secrets I'd never known.
The first tip that helped me: know your audience. I wasn't writing for my family. I was writing for anyone who's ever felt disconnected from their roots. That shifted what details I included and what I left out.
Second: find your bookends . Where does your story start? Where does it end? I began the day I arrived in the village and ended the day I left, with everything I'd learned. That container kept me from wandering into decades of backstory.
Third: be honest. Readers can smell self-protective writing. I had to include my own mistakes and flaws, not just the pretty parts. That vulnerability made the story resonate.
Memoir is hard because everything feels important. But if you focus on one through-line—one theme, one period, one relationship—you can shape your life into a story others will actually want to read.
The first tip that helped me: know your audience. I wasn't writing for my family. I was writing for anyone who's ever felt disconnected from their roots. That shifted what details I included and what I left out.
Second: find your bookends . Where does your story start? Where does it end? I began the day I arrived in the village and ended the day I left, with everything I'd learned. That container kept me from wandering into decades of backstory.
Third: be honest. Readers can smell self-protective writing. I had to include my own mistakes and flaws, not just the pretty parts. That vulnerability made the story resonate.
Memoir is hard because everything feels important. But if you focus on one through-line—one theme, one period, one relationship—you can shape your life into a story others will actually want to read.
