How is a memoir organized
How to Write a Memoir | Best Practices for Writing a Memorable Memoir
hey everyone a Bella here in today's
video we're gonna talk about a very
specific type of book that a lot of our
students are writing and that's memoirs
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powerful not only for leaving a legacy
behind for your family or friends to
read but also for kind of putting your
life together in a very concise a
version of the lessons that you've
learned and what you've taken away from
life in general so what is a memoir a
memoir is technically a collection of
lessons that you've learned in life with
stories about your life and what your
life has encompassed and your
aspirations and your accomplishments
essentially now an autobiography and my
more differ greatly an autobiography is
kind of more of a chronological telling
of your life versus a memoir which kind
of has a more theme or message or focus
that you also want to give to readers
now people might read an autobiography
to just learn what your life is about
what you did the dates of certain
accomplishments well a memoir is more
about your own perception of your life
and what you learned along the way
today's video I'm gonna break down how
you can actually write a memoir and some
best practices that we recommend in
order to write a successful memoir that
people will actually want to read
because not many people want to read
something like an autobiography unless
you are super famous and people are
writing a research paper about you
whereas a memoir can appeal to a larger
audience even if people don't know you
so here are some twelve solid steps for
writing a memoir step number one choose
your theme or focus now your life is
obviously complex and it's very vast and
that being said you can pick a number of
different themes or messages that you
want to share however with a memoir you
do want to focus on really one
overarching theme that your memoir will
encompass and that's kind of the theme
of your life one of the best ways to
come up with your theme or core focus is
to just sit down and list a bunch of
different themes of your life things
that have really impacted you and what
you've learned the most this is often a
really great way so you can narrow down
what the theme will actually be step
number two is to list out associating
memories with that theme so now that you
have what your core focus will be you
want to look back on your entire life
and think of
all stories all the memories that can
connect to that theme all the things
that you've been through that got you to
the conclusion of where you are when you
want to write your memoir this might
take a few days so feel free to take
your time and just list out as many
memories as you can think of that are
important vital big things in your life
now the ones that are probably gonna be
the most important are gonna be the
easiest to remember simply because those
were obviously impactful moments in your
life because you find them easier to
remember now step number three is pretty
optional but it's really beneficial for
those of you who might not be famous and
people might not know you by name this
is to list out other people's memories
or experiences that can help support
your theme or core focus this is also a
really great way to connect with other
people who have influenced you in your
life maybe there's somebody who is a big
name who is famous that influenced your
life in some way
that has a similar situation to what
you're going through adding those bits
and pieces in can help make your I guess
argument or your theme stronger and more
convincing step number four for writing
a memoir is to write truthfully you
really have to be honest there's
something really really magical and
special about somebody who is just
laying out the truth of their life onto
a paper that is very easy to pick up
when reading readers are not stupid they
can tell them people are being fake or
they're being insincere and that's
something that people don't want to read
they can pick up on that really quickly
and so being truthful often means
admitting your flaws admitting things
that you have messed up in your life now
this can be really hard to deal with it
can be hard to look back on those
difficult times in your life but that is
what's gonna make your memoir special
it's what's gonna give it life and it's
what people will relate to the most
and when people can relate to your story
they can relate to you and that's how
you develop fans so make sure to write
truthfully and be honest about yourself
about what you went through and you'll
find that readers it can digest that and
they will relate to it much easier step
number five when writing a memoir is a
tip that I love is show don't tell now
if you're not familiar with this we have
a video detailing exactly how to do it
and how you can basically uplevel your
writing using this writing tip one thing
to keep in mind though that you don't
have to show and not tell in every
single situation the reason
I say show don't tell is because showing
allows the readers to experience what
you went through versus you just telling
them what happened so a quick example of
showing versus tiling would be we were
great friends that's telling the reader
that you were great friends but you can
share a story in which the reader will
interpret your interaction with that
person as you guys being best friends
and that's showing them what happens
which creates a better experience for
them it makes them feel as though they
are a part of your life versus just
looking at it from the outside and
that's what makes a really impactful
memoir number six is to get vulnerable
your memoir is going to be so much
better it's going to be so much more
meaningful not only to you but to other
readers if you get vulnerable with them
admit your faults admit your fears admit
things that you might not even have
admitted to anybody else before and
that's something that is going to really
set your memoir apart from everybody
else out there who might not be doing
this your life is full of vulnerable
moments you have had times when you hit
your lowest low you had to be vulnerable
or maybe you were forced to be
vulnerable and that was hard for you
write about those times those are things
that people are going to remember about
your memoir step number seven for making
a great memoir is to make connections to
your theme with each personal story that
you share so obviously your my mark can
encompass a few different types of
themes but what's really gonna set it
apart is if you can specifically make
the connections from your memories and
those experiences to the theme directly
this is going to help people learn it's
going to be what people take away from
your memoir instead of just reading a
story about your life they're gonna be
able to take away these tangible
examples of how to get from one place to
another like you did so take that list
that you wrote and step number two and
start making connections if you want to
play connect the dots and you actually
want to cross them and make a list of
your themes and then cross the memories
over the page do that either way you
want to make sure that the experiences
and the memories that you are bringing
forth in your memoir connect to your
theme step number eight to write a great
memoir is to obviously talk about the
current impact of what you've
experienced so a memoir is essentially
you bringing your life into a book the
lessons that you've learned kind of the
key takeaways and you want people to
understand
all of this has affected you in your
current life that's really something
that is really magical and special and
what people want in a memoir they want
to know about your life now but they
want to know how you got there and for
that reason you have to make sure that
you are also connecting what you're
going through the theme with your
current life and what's going on there
step number nine which is my favorite
from memoir and any writing really is to
put your personality into it especially
if it's a book about you people want to
know who you are they want to know your
sense of humor they want to hear jokes
they want to hear you cussed if that's
how you speak make sure that you're just
being you put your personality into it I
always suggest writing how you speak
especially if it's something like a
memoir that's a nonfiction simply
because that's the best way to get a
feel of who you are one way you can do
this is actually to use Google diction
and so you can actually speak the words
onto the page versus writing them but
some of us are better written than
speaking that for me another great way
to add personality is to italicize words
that you emphasize when you're actually
speaking we all have these this and flow
of the way we speak and we emphasize
certain words when we're speaking a
great way to show that and your writing
is to italicize them now don't get
carried away with this or your editor
will roll their eyes and have a field
day but it's a great way to show how you
actually speak in real life so people
can get a feel for you your personality
through your writing step number ten is
to write a memoir that you actually want
to read now think about your memoir your
story your life messages your themes
would you actually pick it up and read
it this is something that not a lot of
people think about they think about
writing a memoir that other people want
to read obviously other people are going
to be reading this memoir but it has to
be something that you're proud of it has
to be something that you're interested
in because that's when the passion comes
through in the writing so think about
your memoir is this something that you
would find impactful in moving and just
important in general if not then kind of
go back and see what can make it better
step number eleven for writing a
fantastic memoir is to be relatable this
is where your stories tie in this is
where your personality comes into play
this is where a lot of the other steps
kind of mesh people want to relate to
you that's what people read memoirs they
want to understand somebody they want to
feel like there are a part of your life
in a way and a lot of that has to be
with being relatable which is done
through
vulnerability think about when you make
friends the reason that you connect the
reason that you can be friends with
somebody is because you guys can relate
to one another and that often comes
after being vulnerable with one another
so make sure that you're being relatable
so other people don't see your life as
being on this pedestal because no matter
how wonderful your life was there were
hard moments there were moments where
you didn't know if you could get out of
it there are moments that were painful
and those are what is needed in order to
tie this together and last but not least
r12 for writing a good memoir is to make
the message clear right away people
should get a good idea of what your book
is about with a core theme and messages
from the first chapter or even the back
of your book everybody's memoir is a
little bit different and since you might
be somebody who's not super well-known
and you're still writing a memoir you
want people to understand what is really
gonna be about because yes MMR is about
your life but a memoir is not just a
nada biography it's not a chronological
retelling of every part of your life
with dates and all that stuff it is more
of a story with an internal theme it has
a message so you want people to
understand what that is because that's
gonna be why people buy your book after
reading the preview or reading the back
of it and that's how you write a really
good memoir obviously there are many
other steps for writing a memoir so if
you have any tips comment down below
what they are and if you've written a
memoir if you're thinking about writing
a memoir what would your memoirs core
theme or message be mine would likely be
creating your own reality or something
around that now I'm only 24 years old
but that has been a very impactful part
of my life is creating my own life
essentially and going against the grain
so that's something that I would focus
on what would you focus on thanks for
watching guys as always make sure to
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down below it's also linked right here
so check that out and make sure to watch
it it's super
informative thanks for hanging out guys
I will see you next time
14 out and then another children's book
on the way which children's books will
my new thing this year
those were fun us a little bit about
this sell more books program this this I
took today and got three books in the
with the number one bestseller you know
up today during the program I went
through an
