You want to write a memoir and the first star to steer by is giving you problems? You’re having difficulties with story? Join the club.
Story is not only the listing of the events and dates that make up your life so far – that’s the easy part – it’s the inbetween bits – they’re the ones you have to place into the story. Until you do this and write the story you have nothing to work on. So get that done quickly – it’s only a rough draft so you don’t need to agonise over it. There’ll be plenty of agonising time later.
Maybe the barrier is that you think story doesn’t have a lot to do with memoir? Or nonfiction? You think oh for heaven’s sake – I was born and years passed, I lived through them, I have a life – but a story? You mean make things up? Of course not. Why would you need to make things up? You’ve had plenty of experiences, good, bad, wonderful, heartbreaking, it’s just that when you think about them they somehow vanish and you’re left with dates and records and substantial amounts of nothing in between.
A trigger that could work for you could be to look up particular times on the internet. For example look up the best songs/music of a certain year or decade you’ve lived through. Pop, classical, church, folk, whatever. I guarantee your memory will be triggered with some brilliant memories of that time. Music triggers off memories. Then write them down. You don’t need to do a huge spiel, just make notes for now. These will act as triggers later. You could also look up other events – political, sporting, film, books, and gradually revisit the context of the times you lives through. I’ll talk about context later but for now these triggers will be enough to set your mind working on your own story. Don’t worry if some parts seems to take up more space than others. There’s no rule that says this is wrong. It’s the impact they made that matters.
When you recreate the story of your life, put yourself back as the person you were then. Yeah, yeah – so its not easy – don’t whine. One thing for sure, before you go onto the second star, structure, you need to nail your story so you have something to structure – get it? You need to get that first star right or at least glimmering.
What do you think makes a story? Think of the stories you have loved, still love – what makes them stand out for you – why do you go back and reread them?
Here’s an excerise… Name one story in particular you’ve loved, either a short story or a book, fiction, nonfiction, doesn’t matter. Write the title then write the story of it as far as you can remember. Possibly you’ll write down just the highs and the lows of the story, that’s fine. Now write why you enjoyed the story. This is not a test. You don’t have to show anyone. Look at the beginning. What happens in the first three paragraphs? What happens in the first chapter? Something must or you wouldn’t have gone on reading it. Note what happens and what happens and what happens because this will reveal why you like and remember this story.
There are all kinds of ways of writing a story whicb help to make it memorable but always, always, writers have to start with the bare bones of story. That’s where we all start. Sometimes a story is memorable because of the exterior journey the main charcter makes, sometimes its memorable because of the interior journey the main character makes. Sometimes it’s brilliant because the writer has included both the exterior and interior story of her life.
There is no template, there is no formula you can follow and say hey, if I do this and then do that, I’ll have a brilliantly readable life story. But — there are lots of helpful and illuminating clues as to why some some life stories are read over and over and others only read dutifully by your nearest and dearest. And then only when you’re looking.
Go online, look through the lists of ebook memoirs, choose a couple for your ereader. Alternatively, go to the library, look through the shelves, read and take particular note what makes up this story you’re reading. Here’s a couple that sold well because people loved them. These are both good stories (and good reads). See if you can work out why. Eat, Pray, Love – Elizabeth Gilbert, This Piece of Earth – Harvey McQueen Both of these are available as ebooks and both are on library shelves along with loads of others. I’m not asking you to like these books, although you probably will, I’m asking you to read and note how they made their story work so well.
If you want to read more about creating story, Christopher Vogler’s The Writers Journey is a good start. Its written for those writing film scripts but there’s a lot of good stuff for anyone who wants to write a good story whether its fiction or nonfiction. You are the detective – your mission is find the story of your life – go and do it … then we’ll talk about the second star – Structure.
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