Fabulous, you’ve got your story – how will you structure it? Two things to consider when you think about structure.
- How will you cut it up into manageable reading chunks?
- How will you frame your story?
I’ll consider structure first.
Writing is not only putting words one after the other on a page. Writing involves making decisions. Developing judgement. You need to practise and be prepared to make the wrong call sometimes. We all do.
So how will you divide up your life-story?
Consider this. Your story that you’ve worked on has become a journey involving you as the hero and on that journey is a series of events. Some events were more important, had more impact, caused more stress, gave more happiness, taught you a significant lesson, started off badly, turned out well. Some caused you heartache, some great happiness. Some events loom larger than others. Some events that seemed small at the time had a large impact later. The value of getting the story right is now apparent.
Make a list of these more important events. Once you’ve isolated out these events make these the structural markers for your story. All the other bits and pieces can be accommodated around them but within this list of definite, important (for whatever reason, its your call) focal points, you’ll find your memoir structure.
Will it be chapters? Parts? Months of a particular year? Anniversaries? Days of a week? Particular years? Decades? Something else entirely? Think about this — what will be the best for your story? The way you divide up your story will have a bearing on the way you write it and the way you r readers read it (or not). Have a look at how other writers divide up their stories. Choosing the right structure can make a huge difference.
Look at the events you’ve listed. Are there clues there? Is one more important than any of the others? Does this mean it will dictate the order of the others?
When you’ve worked this out and decided, tentatively, on a structure, then I want to talk about the second clue to this star — the Frame.
