Writing Your Memoir
Once upon a time, a person began their sentence with the words, "When I was young, I…" and continued to tell a fascinating and poignant story of a different era. Those around that person would have listened, laughed, oohed, and aahed. Or perhaps those around that person may have said things like, "There's Pops again, telling his life story." And then someone in the audience might say, "You really need to write those stories down. They are incredible!" The person telling the story probably smiled and said, "Yeah, I really should."
Sometimes the story stays there, within that group of listeners, to be repeated each time Pops comes over and you ask him questions about his life. Sometimes Pops writes them down, capturing them on paper for his family to enjoy. Pops had an amazing life, and it's essential that this generation and those in the future know what life was like for him. Without our words, nobody will know, and since lifestyles, technology, and the Earth itself changes so rapidly, the written word becomes more critical with every generation. Movies capture only so much. It can be idealized life on film. Real-life stories written by real-life humans will last well into future generations. As a vital contribution to this planet's past, present, and future life.
So now you know how important it is to write your story, Pops. Let's write it. But what kind of memoir would you like to write? There are a few types to choose from:
1. Autobiography: This can be a linear story of your life. Beginning at birth, continuing through your childhood, young adult life, marriage, children, empty nest, retirement, and ending whenever you feel you've shared enough of your stories. The stories Pops has told around the family would probably fall under this type of linear story of his life. You can record and then type them up, or your family can simply enjoy watching Pops talk. This is something you'll definitely treasure when Pops isn't around anymore.
2. Memoir: This is a snippet of something you did that has greatly impacted your life. You learned a lesson, and you want to tell the story to make an impact on others, either by inspiring them, entertaining them, enlightening them, instructing them, or for catharsis. Right now, I'm working with a client who is writing about her first teaching experience right out of college. She taught Alaskan natives and lived with them. A tall, blond woman who felt like an outsider finding her place within their community makes for an incredible story. Entertaining, instructing us about what she experienced, and perhaps inspiring others to step out of their comfort zones and dare to think of themselves as living a different life. Memoirs will have a theme. You may not know the theme when you begin writing your memoir. But as you write, you'll know. It will make itself clear.
3. Creative Nonfiction: You may not consider this genre a memoir, but it can be. You can embellish so much and make your main character as interesting or as boring as you want. The story's foundation is something that happened to you or because of you. Your main character is you. She makes the same decisions as you. She goes to the same places as you. I'm currently contemplating writing a creative nonfiction piece about a trip I went on with my sisters. I won't name my sisters because I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. I can also create a composite character taking different traits from each of my sisters and molding them into one character to simplify things. I would still stay true to the story, but nobody wants to read a story with many characters. Because goodness, I've got six sisters. Creative nonfiction will also compress events for better narrative flow. The essential occurrences would make it into the story; the more tedious moments, like walking for two hours to get to the Temple of Dionysus (this is just an example. We never went to Greece.), would not.
4. Guided Autobiography: This type of memoir writing is based on working with a small group of people who are all in the process of bringing their life stories out. I would like to teach this type of memoir class, and I am setting things up to do that. This approach guides students as they write their life stories. It guides you through significant themes in your life and helps you remember the most important moments that fall into them. I will create writing prompts for the class; they will reflect on them, write, and then share their stories if they feel inclined to do so. This is the type of memoir writing that my mother did, which gave us all her life stories that I used to create her book: Love is a Family: Memoir of a Lifetime by Charlotte Adele Schwab Schmidt.
Writing your story can bring out so much. It can help you appreciate what an incredible person you are, help the generations after us see what life was like when they weren't around, and give your family the best gift of all: YOU. Let me know if you'd like to meet with me separately so we can work through bringing your life stories to life.
Cheers!
