About MEMOIR WRITING

What defines it?

Writers often confuse memoir writing with other narrative non fiction which includes autobiographical writing.

So what is a memoir?

Think of it as a turning point--that time in life when crisis catapulted you in some significant way. Read good memoirs. Favorites of mine include Drinking: A Love Story and Eat, Pray Love. Commonalities to both: pivotal moments that anchor the telling of these tales. For Caroline Knapp, it was the day she almost killed her friend’s daughter during a drunken spree. For Elizabeth Gilbert, the night she ended up in the fetal position on her bathroom floor sobbing; a wretch of a woman she’d become in order to stay in her marriage. That night on her bathroon floor became her turning point.

Posted by Marla Miller