

The biggest misconception is that you have to be famous or have to have experienced something major in order to write a memoir. Yes, anyone has the ability and experience to write a memoir. Unless you’re a Matthew McConaughey writing something to the level of Greenlights (that sits at just over 90,000 words), you can’t often get away with writing longer memoirs. The length of a memoir for the average person should stay between 50,000 – 60,000 words. It’s your life story and therefore your own story. Memoir DefinitionĪ memoir is a historical account written with personal knowledge and experience covering the lifetime of an individual, usually with a greater purpose or message within it. Memoirs are very specific in the sense that it accounts for the entirety of your life with an emphasis on stories and impactful moments that lead to a great purpose. This means that “how-tos,” “motivational books,” “ self-help books,” and other topics don’t qualify as a memoir. What Qualifies as a Memoir?Ī memoir is unique in the fact that it covers your life’s events in a more story-like structure with an overarching theme or message written in. It’s an entertaining read fashioned like a story…it just so happens to be true. It’s like the highlight reel from your diary (if you ever had one) about the experiences that shaped your life.Īnd even though you’re technically writing a nonfiction book, memoirs should be more in the category of “fiction” when it comes to the style and flow of the book. You bring your memories to life in order to touch on an overarching message others can learn and grow from. But that’s not all a memoir is!Įssentially, this is a book written by you about key moments in your life. We all typically think of a memoir and cringe a little at the idea of a book about someone else’s life. It’s a book about your life, the lessons learned, and key moments that shaped who you are. What is a memoir?Ī memoir is a historical account or biography written from personal knowledge or special sources.
#I write like by memoires how to#
Let us answer some of the most popular questions before we dive into the full steps of how to write your memoir. Here are the steps for how to write a memoir: Which is exactly what Nadine did when she published her own memoir, Hope Dealers, with us, a journey of the struggles of addiction, health issues, entrepreneurship, and more.

Like Nadine, you’ll learn that writing a memoir is both empowering and rewarding, and when broken down into these feasible steps, it’s something you can learn to master in no time. Which means learning how to write (and even publish/market) a memoir can be really hard.

It takes a lot of skill and craft to be able to write down intimate details about your life for others to read and learn from. Memoirs can be very complex pieces of work. The thing is, if you’re like Nadine, you probably don’t even know what you’re missing to take your idea of a memoir and turn it into something tangible and effective in aiding others. Our student Nadine Blase Psareas sure thought so before joining Self-Publishing School. You may think it easy to jot down details about your life in a cohesive, entertaining fashion…but there’s quite a bit more to and this is where we see a lot of writers fall short. Learning how to write a memoir might seem simple…
