Sunday, September 11, 2016
Writing a Memoir
One of the biggest 'hang-ups' I'm worried about when thinking of writing a memoir is that everything always sounds so much better in my head. Once I start writing I tend to jump ahead of myself and end up lost with a million ways to start the next sentence or none. I've noticed I have the same problem with scrapbooking. I think about one event I'd like to put into pictures and words, but then I end up thinking of ten more events I could do. In the end, I manage to feel completely overwhelmed and never get anything done. Writing is also kind of stressful for me because I don't want to sound like an idiot. I'm concerned because I have no idea what to write about. To me, my life has been pretty easy. Sure, stressful at times, but overall, easy. I've always been the good kid, who lives in a nice neighborhood, has two parents, gets good grades and has nice clothes. I don't have some inspiring story of how I've overcome some huge obstacle in my life. Yes, it's hard work to get good grades while dancing four- six days a week and participating in various clubs and plays, but no one wants to hear about that. As far as my childhood goes, it was great, as far as I know. I remember what I've seen in pictures and that is the extent of my knowledge. I think that is a challenge all memoir writers face because you can't possibly remember things from when you were three and especially not in detail. It must also be hard to figure out which parts of your life you want to put into your memoir. You really have to think about which event strung together will reach the destination you're going towards. All that makes me wonder how the authors of memoirs do it, how they manage to write their life in a way that someone else would take the time to read it.
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I completely agree with the fact that it can be really stressful to write a memoir. It is very hard to remember certain events in my life and summarize them with detail. I can never come up with an exact topic to write about, and I feel pressured to do as many events as possible. Finally, I also agree that I don't want to write about something that doesn't interest others.
ReplyDeleteI also completely agree with this. Its so hard to write about your life if its not hard. If you haven't gone through painful events, what are you going to write about? I, personally, would not sit down and read a book about how amazing someones life is. I would rather read about someones struggles.
ReplyDeleteAh, but there are so many events we have all experienced that we may not consider important in comparison with best-selling authors' experiences. But we all do have stories that help us and other understand and make meaning of our world. Everyone's experience is important--even if we're only writing to learn more about ourselves.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it is hard to write a memoir. Often we think that nothing interesting has happened in our lives, however, even mundane tasks can seem interesting when written about well. For example, in "The Glass Castle", some things that Jeanette Walls writes about are very plain and ordinary tasks. She talks about going to school and doing her homework in certain parts of the book. However, the detail and word choice she uses makes me, as the reader, interested in these everyday activities.
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