You’ve got Story. You’ve got Structure. You’ve got Frame. Now — Style. From confessional to conversational to formal, with all gradations in between.
You have some choices. They have to do with perspective. There are many ways of looking at the same story.
You can tell it straight. Write incidents, situations, impressions, how they happened, as your memory tells you they happened. If you’ve done your homework on Story, Structure and Frame, this can work really well. You’ll have a mixture of light and shade, happy and sad, go easy on the in-betweens.
You can tell it funny. Write the same incidents, situations, impressions, and looking back as an adult, deliberately find the funny side — there are different styles of humour — you can be light or cynical, you can build up particular parts of your story or your own character to show the funny side either then, or now, as an adult, looking back.
You can write it as a formal piece of writing, quoting research, citing references, including an introduction and a summary. Sometimes memoir writers enjoy working in this style because it detaches them from parts of their life they find too hard if approached in any other way.
Before you make any decisions — go to the library. Look along the Autobiography shelves. Read at least 10 first chapters — make sure you choose five you wouldn’t normally pick up. You’re looking for style Sherlock, so just do it. Among the ten there will be a style that appeals and that you’d like to try.
Play around. Write two pages in each main style and see which feels like you. If it comes across as your own voice then that style is right for you.
Some writers find that actually copying the first few paragraphs of a first chapter gives them a feel for a particular style — they either hate it or think yes, I’d like something like that. Whatever turns you on.
Next week … Context
