Resources for Writing Memoir

>The Last Lecture – uplifting and inspirational while being a tear jerker all at the same time.

>Not all memoirs have fairy tale plots and fantasy endings. The thing about writing a memoir, you are correct, is that the writter is the closest to the material. I think knowing when to expand and when to pull back is key in where your story is going and in keeping the reader along the journey. But the other thing about a memoir is that it is a collection of facts, written for a pourpose or to simply share the journey with others. If an ending seems tacked on in the end it is because there has to be some message for the reader, a last thought to leave them with. By the time you hit the ending, you are out of the story telling of facts and in to the promise of hope for the future. So it does seem a bit odd and different than the rest of the book. That should be expected. I cant change my past, therefore, my memoir tells the true journey of where I've been, ending with the hope for the future, in where I am today and where I am going from here. There is ugly and there is beautiful. There are a million ways to twist a story to fit the reader, or to rewrite it until it is marketable. I choose to write my memoir in fact and visceral emotion. I cant make it a lie. I know that you represent Christian based books. I have a God, but my spirituality does not change the fact that past might be a little too uncomfortable for some to read. Please note the difference between a bad past and a bad story. They are not the same thing. Yes it takes a lot of work to write a best selling book. If it is a profession or a career choice to write, than training is in order. I think that risk taking is appropriate in the right situations. I know there is an audience for my book. I believe in it. Thank you for your opinion. I just dont want people to feel discouraged after reading this post. If you believe in your work and you've given it your best effort and no one has picked it up yet, keep trying. You will get there.

>Thanks for this post Rachelle. I take the art of writing memoir very seriously and am currently investing in having a professional third party read it. I also have numerous beta readers who read for me. You are right, one can get too close to the work.

Having a story and being able to tell it are two completely different things. I believe in mine and I want to give it every chance by making sure I do my homework.

I am well on my way to having read through your list of suggested titles as well as others. Thanks for this list. I intend to study them all.

Thanks again

>Rachelle, thanks for your list. I enjoyed Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver.

>I'm sure you already know this, but they are making Eat, Pray, Love into a movie! The previews looked really good and I love Julia Roberts.

I don't read a whole lot of Memoirs. But of the few that I've read, the one that really sticks out as my favorite was:

Thin Places, by Mary DeMuth

Talk about a powerful read!

>oh- and thanks for the good suggestions of 'How To' books. I think the problem with a lot of memoir-wannabes is that either their story is really boring (not trying to be mean), or that their voice is really boring.

I could read Augusten Burroughs talking about a trip to the grocery store and think it was the best story ever written, because he's so hilarious. Or a historical memoir because it's such a good story and written well.

Two more- I think they would fall into the memoir category.

First They Killed My Father- by Loung Ung (a story about a Cambodian girls life when the Khmer Rouge took over- she tells it in the POV of her as a child)

and then

"Wild Swans" by Jung Chang- This isn't just memoir because it covers her grandmother and mothers life, along with her own growing up in China- but I'd still say that it's an excellent book that you could learn a lot from!

Ok, I'll quit now….

>"Birds, Beasts and Relatives" by Gerald Durrell.

>All of Anne Lamott's memoirs, especially Operating Instructions and Traveling Mercies.

Expecting Adam by Martha Beck–This inspired me to write my own memoir on a similar theme, although I was not successful in finding a publisher until I changed the manuscript so it's not pure memoir. Publishers seem very hesitant to publish memoirs by unknown people, despite the impression that memoirs are very successful.

>I agree with several of your choices. LOVE Eat, Pray, Love and Marley & Me. Rick Bragg was a huge surprise to me, and I just fell in love with him when I read All Over But the Shoutin'. I just love when an author surprises me.

>I read a lot of memoir and autobiography/biography. Some of my favorites I read years ago, like Agatha's Christie's autobiography. Daphne Phelps has a lovely one–A House in Sicily. Summer at Tiffany's was also an exciting memoir. I love travel memoir, too, but I'll refrain. I could spend all day listing my favorites.

>Kelly Corrigan's "The Middle Place" was the first memoir I read that made me shout, "YES!!" I absolutely love that book and her wonderfully personal voice. She has inspired me in so many ways. Her newest book, "Lift," is also great.

>Such gems in the comments! YOUR LIFE AS STORY is the best book I've read on writing memoir so far. Also enjoyed THINKING ABOUT MEMOIR.

I'm reading THE GLASS CASTLE now!

>Thin Places by Mary E. DeMuth. Absorbing, gut-wrenching, well-written, profound. A must read.

>Love in the Driest Season by Neely Tucker. Loved this book.

>OK – is there anything better than recommending a book to someone you respect (an agent no less) and the put it up as an example of what they love? (OK – maybe writing a book and that all happening.)

I can tell by the speed from downloaded to blog post that you didn't put down Orange is the New Black either. (I know you had a lot of recommendations for it,not just me, but still, small thrill.)

>My all-time favorite memoir is Annie Dillard's An American Childhood. From Ruth Reichl, I like her Tender at the Bone even more than Garlic and Sapphires.

>Loved Angela's Ashes and The Glass Castle. Enjoyed Eat, Pray, Love — but thought it needed to be edited down a bit!

Just finished Evolving in Monkey Town last night and loved it — I feel a real kinship with Rachel Held Evans, even though our religious background and upbringing are very different.

Love, love Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott…but not sure if that's considered memoir, personal narrative, or essays.

Chasing Supermom is next on my list — I "met" Susan via one of your tweets. Thank you for that — she is wonderful!

>I've actually never read a memoir. But I'll remember this post, Rachelle, because some day I want to write one about my love story, since my husband & I courted.

>What a great list of book titles. I'll just add Mary Karr, whose latest memoir, Lit, is amazing.

I was just told by a big Canadian publisher that they've received so many "high-concept" memoir proposals these days and they are feeling memoir-ed out. I was quite shocked, if only because I don't think it's a genre that's going away. Finding the gems is their job. But also, I tried to imagine him saying that about fiction….

>Loving the comments! I've read my fair share of memoirs they make for fun reads, sort of like 'reality reading'. I've enjoyed several titles already mentioned.

Here's a few that have made great beach reads in the past; Paula Deen 'It ain't all about the cookin' It details her marriages and how she started from nothing and worked her way up to the top. It also gives an account of how she got her literary agent.

Also, I confess, I've read all four of Jen Lancaster's memoirs. (Yes four). I don't think I've laughed that loud or consistently throughout a book (or books in this case) ever.

Have a great day Rachelle!

>Memoirs, eh? Why don't they write these as fantasies or science fiction? I don't read a lot of memoirs (or write them, for that matter), but a few I've read that i liked:

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers

any short story collection by David Sedaris

The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom

A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis

I'm calling those memoirs. If they're not, well… they're memoir-y. I give up.

I'd like to see someone mention A Million Little Pieces or The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things.

>Hi Rachelle! Thank you for your list of books. I'm planning to write my grandmother's biography (probably not for national publication), and I don't generally read memoirs, so I'm really glad to have a place to start with this genre.

I think there is a transcription error in your list of books about writing memoirs, though. Amazon says "Inventing the Truth" was written by Russell Baker, not William Zinsser. Zinsser wrote a book called "Writing About Your Life."

>I too enjoyed Thin Places by Mary DeMuth

>Rachelle — Thanks, I'll look for that in the used bookstore then.

>I agree with many of the suggestions here – Kelly Corrigan's The Middle Place, anything by Anne Lamott. I'd like to add one I don't see: An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination, by Elizabeth McCracken. Beautiful, spare, painful and lovely.

>Awesome post! I ditto so many of the recommendations, especially Anne Lamott, David Sedaris, Lucy Grealy's Autobiography of a Face and Alice Sebold's Lucky.

Some others that I don't think have been mentioned:

Truth & Beauty by Ann Patchett (esp. if you liked Grealy's book)

JoAnn Beard's The Boys of My Youth

Susan Orlean's The Orchid Thief

And if you want to try something different, consider memoirs that are told in third person, such as J. M. Coetzee's Youth: Scenes from a Provincial Life and Gaylene Perry's Midnight Water .

I thought this was a great second-person memoir: An Italian Love Affair by Laura Fraser.

Two memoirs that use a combo of first and third person to great effect: A Shining Affliction by Annie G. Rogers and Prozac Diary by Lauren Slater.

As for books on craft, Vivian Gornick's The Situation and the Story: The Art of Personal Narrative is good (the second half is a tough read, but I really found the first half to be insightful).

Thanks again for a great post and an equally great discussion in the comments!

>Many of my favorites have already been mentioned–in addition to those, I'd like to mention "She Got Up Off the Couch" by Haven Kimmel, "A Wolf at the Table" by Augusten Burroughs, "Fat Girl" by Judith Moore, "The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid" by Bill Bryson.

>I think these haven't been mentioned:
"Change Me Into Zeus's Daughter" by Barbara Robinette Moss (poverty, alcoholism, amazing ch1)
"Waking" by Matthew Sanford (paralysis+yoga)
"A Match to the Heart" by Gretel Ehrlich (struck by lightning)
"Crazy for the Storm" by Norman Ollestad (11yr old only survivor of plane crash)

>I just tweeted this. Thanks for sharing!

- Corra

The Victorian Heroine