How is a memoir structure
How to Outline a Memoir: Writing your story with the audience in mind
[Music]
hello shameless writers I'm Cristen
McTiernan the nonsense free editor here
to give you your weekly dose of writing
wisdom I'm back this month with 100%
more face last month I was traveling
quite a bit so I used the avatar since
hotel rooms aren't terribly attractive
and if I can be honest I didn't really
do my makeup a lot while I was
travelling so the avatar was really more
for your benefit than for mine October
is nonfiction month and we'll be
discussing the five best-selling
nonfiction genres that you as an author
can market specifically we'll be
discussing how you as the author can
perfect them and thus sell more copies
the genres we'll be discussing are
religious and inspirational best-selling
and nonfiction memoirs and biography
number two business and money self-help
and health and fitness this week we're
starting with memoirs though they are
admittedly the number two best-selling
non-fiction genre at least on Amazon
they are the number one genre I receive
as a professional editor over the past
11 years I feel comfortable saying I
have edited at least 1000 memoirs nearly
all of them suffered from the same types
of unforced errors all of which would
have been prevented if the author had
started with a solid outline for their
memoir which is exactly what we'll be
discussing today in addition to the
video I've included a link below for an
outline that you can use while
constructing your memoir even if you're
at the very beginning of your writing
journey the worksheet will assist you as
you organize your memories and decide
exactly what you want your memoir to be
about my first tip for outlining your
memoir is to structure it like fiction
this what started you on your journey
this journey can be emotional or
physical as everyone's life and
everyone's message is different
while conflicts exist in your memoir
both internal and external
what is the all's lost moment not to
mention the climax and the resolution
identifying these crucial plot points
will make constructing your scenes much
easier it can be extremely hard to
choose which elements of your life
in the memoir and which parts don't what
makes a memoir different from a
biography is it's not simply a catalogue
of everything that you've gone through
it's a carefully curated list of life
events that is designed to communicate a
specific message which brings me to my
next point decide on your theme when
someone miss about you per se chances
are they don't know who you are rather
they're picking up your book because of
the theme that you're writing on they
don't want to read about you Jane Doe or
whatever your name is they want to read
about overcoming addiction dealing with
obesity dealing with any kind of a
health crisis they want to know about
climbing out of poverty by starting a
small business generally unless you're a
presidential candidate or former
Secretary of State you're not going to
be selling your memoirs off your name or
picture I apologize for the engine noise
it's Sunday and I have neighbors with
motorcycles though you might not be as
famous as a presidential candidate you
still have the ability to touch the
hearts and minds of readers on an
international scale with your memoir if
you choose your theme carefully and
construct your scene list around that
theme next up make your scene list once
you've decided on your feet so you know
the appropriate plot points to hit you
need to select which scenes of your life
will contribute to this story
this can include backstory which are
events that take place before the
timespan that your memoir takes place
during just keep that to a minimum keep
in mind that all of my admonishment
against info dumps still applies for a
memoir there are many things that
happened in your life all of them in
some way or another contributed to who
you are as a person but not all of them
contribute to the existing theme of your
memoir so be ruthless in your scene
selection don't be afraid it goes for
while you're writing it and of course in
the self editing phase once you have
your scene list put them in order and I
don't necessarily mean chronological
order like all good books you want to
start off with a bang
you want to get your readers attention
and keep them coming back for more
often because memoirs aren't necessarily
as exciting as a car chase this will
involve a prologue often people argue
against prologues which is odd to me I
like them in general for memoirs they're
often necessary you don't want to start
things off slow and get off on the wrong
track with your reader also do your due
diligence as part of your outline put a
star next to anybody's name who appears
in your story that you'll need to get a
release from put a different symbol next
to someone that you will need to obscure
and I don't just mean changing their
name you need to change their height you
need to change their gender if you
possibly can the reason you need to
obscure these people is because you're
going to be writing unflattering things
about them I think you'll find it very
unusual for someone to have an Ashton
Kutcher like Zen regarding unflattering
memoir portrayals libel laws are
different in every country and
especially if you live in Ireland of the
UK be very very careful if you're going
to be writing unflattering things about
someone even if it's all true you might
find yourself getting sued for libel
so disguise them well if you want a
deeper dive into how to create your
memoir specifically how to find the
courage to write your own story give
this video a click and enjoy my full
speech as always if you like this
content please like share and subscribe
it really helps me grow on YouTube next
week we'll be talking about writing
Christian inspirational nonfiction so be
sure to tune in for that until then take
care and write well
