Why Writing a Memoir is Just Like Writing a Novel

Here are the secrets no one tells you.

Image by ClarissaBell from Pixabay

Your memoir will contain many of the same elements you would use to write a novel.

There will be interesting characters, snappy dialogue, breathtaking scenes, emotional shares — as well as a beginning, middle, and end.

If you are writing a memoir, here are some questions to ask yourself about what you have written:

Do I have a strong inciting incident?

This is the first scene of your story, where you introduce yourself as the main character and hook your reader to care about what happens to you.

This could be the moment you discovered your family had hidden from the you fact your mother committed suicide, or the night your father beat you and the police were called, the day you were sent away to boarding school, or the day you decided to backpack through Patagonia in the footsteps of novelist Paul Theroux.

Is there action in the scene that leaves the reader thinking, OMG, what will he/she do?

Does my story have a strong middle, full of challenges and obstacles I needed to overcome…