Examples of Good Writing
AN EXAMPLE OF GOOD MEMOIR WRITING
Before we get into specific examples of memoirs, let’s get clear on what defines a memoir and how this can help you craft yours.
DEFINITION OF MEMOIR
According to Wikipedia, memoir is “any nonfiction narrative writing based in the author's personal memories.”
But it isn’t actually as simple as that.
For one thing, there is a big difference between memoir and autobiography, both of which are based in the author’s personal memories, so let’s sort that out first. I’ll also offer some examples of memoirs and a sample of a memoir below.
MEMOIR VS. AUTOBIOGRAPHY
In the simplest terms, an autobiography is the story of a life, while a memoir is a story from a life.
What’s the difference? While a memoir may visit different times and elements of a person's life, its intention is not to tell or describe the whole thing.
Memoir has a clear and narrow focus, diving deeply into one aspect or period of the writer’s life. The challenge with memoir writing is not what to write about, but what to leave out so that a strong central story can emerge.
The other critical difference between memoir and autobiography is that memoir chronicles a transformation of some kind, a shift in perspective or understanding, a new way of seeing one's life, a place, a relationship, an element of the story.
Memoir is not just ‘what happened’—that’s an anecdote—but rather memoir explores why what happened matters.
MEMOIR TIPS
1. Narrow the focus of your story. Choose one aspect or theme. Remember: this is not your life story, rather it is a story from your life. It might be a pivotal period of time, a defining event or relationship, a journey or rite of passage.
2. Start small. A memoir doesn’t need to be a book-length work (and a book is the Mount Everest of writing!). A memoir can be ten pages. It can be two pages. It can also be a series of short personal essays.
Want a personal memoir example? The Amy Award Anthology is a collection of excellent short works of memoir or memoir story examples.
3. Chart a transformation. I’ve heard memoir described as ‘something you learned after something you went through.’ In the simplest terms: who were you at the beginning of the story versus you became afterwards? That question can help you create the map of your story and ensure that your memoir isn’t just a series of anecdotes.
4. Look for the larger theme. Your personal story can only speak to others when it echoes a larger, more universal story: overcoming loss, finding one’s true power, finding release or forgiveness, establishing a sense of belonging, etc. Memoir is successful when we write not about our lives but through our experiences to something greater.
5. Show don’t tell. I know, I know: everyone says that! But we all say it because it’s vital. Rather than ‘this happened and then this happened,’ invite the reader into the scene using dialogue, sensory detail and other literary techniques that allow you to ‘paint’ the story instead. It will make all the difference!
EXAMPLES OF MEMOIRS
These are all good memoir examples, in that they are clear examples of a beautifully written, narrowly focused, personal story that charts a shift or transformation.
1. Wild by Cheryl Strayed follows the author on a 1000-mile hike, during which she grieves the loss of her mother and tries to find the strength to live through the slaughtering pain and grief. While Strayed reflects on various periods and moments of her life, the focus of the story is the hike, the transformation is who she was before and after this hike, and the larger theme is learning to live, and love life, despite such a devastating loss.
2. There is a Season by Patrick Lane is told through a single calendar year [narrow focus!], the author’s first sober year (at age 62) since he was a teenager. The writing moves from present to past, but we revisit only those scenes that are pertinent to Lane’s story of addiction and, ultimately, his transformative recovery.
3. Common Language by Karin Jones is an example of a memoir story that incorporates all the tips above! In fewer than 2000 words, Jones tells the story of a woman longing to be a mother while being married to a man who doesn’t want children. Common Language was one of the winners of the International Amy MacRae Award for Memoir. [link to www.amyaward.com – this redirects to my website]
SAMPLE OF A MEMOIR
Here are a couple of excerpts from Common Language by Karin Jones to give you a sample of good memoir writing.
The first excerpt is the opening few paragraphs. Notice how Karin ‘shows’ rather than tells, how rich and unique the descriptions are, how firmly the story is placed in its setting without just giving us information (ie. “We were travelling through Namibia in a jeep.”).
They were two upright pillars in the heat-soaked distance. As we got closer, it was clear they were children, a boy and a girl, who looked to be about ten. Dan slowed the Land Cruiser to a halt. It was hard to say who was more surprised, the disoriented travellers crossing paths with a couple of kids in the arid country of northwest Namibia or the desert dwellers themselves, looking both impassive and dazed, as if a bus had arrived on schedule, powered by wings.
The boy wore tight braids plaited forward, resting on either side of his face like the horns of a young wildebeest. A beaded loincloth hung loosely from around his ramrod waist. The girl’s skin was tinted umber and her coiled hair caked with coppery dried mud. Around her neck and wrists were rings of woven reeds and leather.
“Do you suppose they’re our guardian angels?” I whispered.
This next excerpt is taken from midway through the story, when it moves from ‘travel anecdote’ to something larger:
“Where are your children?”
Children? I looked at their faces, all veiled with a genuine look of confusion. We were a couple after all, still young, married by evidence of the rings on our fingers, and rich enough to afford this palatial home on wheels. It was a fair question.
Dan answered apologetically. “We don’t have children.” His feigned remorse was so convincing I just about grabbed a can of corn to hurl at him. If it broke open his chest, what would spill out? Imagined calamities? Yowling fears? The songs of his absent father?
“No,” I said, addressing the woman and shaking my lowered head. “No children.”
Again, Karin ‘shows’ the dilemma of the story through dialogue and reflection, rather than ‘telling’ the reader: I wanted to have children. Dan didn’t.
Lastly, here a few lines from the end of the story, where we are shown its meaning or why what happened matters. The bracelet she refers to was a gift, a maternal talisman of sorts, from an old woman in the scene above.
The copper bracelet traveled in the glove box. It crossed the Atlantic and passed through the Suez Canal. It made its way up the North Pacific and now nests inside a basket woven of desert grass, smelling of salt bodies and earth. The old woman lives there still, in the scent of it, her song echoing a long line of mothers who have kept the fabric of humanity intact. I will pass it on some day to the next woman who needs it.
There is so much to be learned from every great piece of writing! It’s just a matter of finding good memoir examples and studying what the writer is doing.
WHY WRITE MEMOIR?
You might want to set a story down on paper for your children or grandchildren. Or you might have aspirations to publish your story, write that book, or just play with idea of writing for yourself.
All of these are beautiful reasons to write memoir. In fact, you don’t even need a reason. Just the desire to write is enough. It means there is something in you that longs to be born.
You do not need to know exactly what your story is or what it means. We discover our stories by writing them.
And we discover what they mean by learning to craft them well.
To learn more about memoir writing, please join me for a free masterclass.
Alison Wearing is a bestselling, multiple award-winning writer, playwright and performer. She is also a memoir writing coach and the creator/facilitator of Memoir Writing Ink, an online program that guides people through the process of transforming personal stories into memoir.