Denis Ledoux's Blog, page 61

How to Write a Successful Memoir: With No Extraordinary Power

Mary Ellen Ellwell was a writing client with whom I especially enjoyed working. She brought to the relationship a sense of the value of collaboration. This made the time together a creative one for both of us. Below is her account of writing her book. Mary Ellen departed from the Q/A format but very smoothly managed to cover all the same points that the other interviewees had.

My book, With No Extraordinary Power: A Social Worker’s Life, (2008), is a memoir with an emphasis on my profession...

Why You Need an Ebook

Why you need an ebook…

While in the past I had published only hard-copy versions of my books, I have increasingly included a digital version. It just makes sense.

Ebooks are on the ascendancy are more and more a viable publication option. Every year, their share of the book-reading audience grows. Granted you can’t experience the ebook as a satisfying weight in your hand (unless it’s the weight of the e-reader) nor can you feel the page turning, but the ebook has become a good choice at man...

Three Ways an Inauthentic Theme Will Trip You Up

As you articulate your theme, ask yourself if this theme is really yours—does it reflect your present understanding of your story and of life itself? Or is it is a residue of the accepted “wisdom” of someone else: a parent, another adult figure, society at large?

1) A theme that is authentically yours makes for better writing.

It comes from your center of experience. Writers who recognize, acknowledge, and explore their authentic themes in their writing are more apt to present us with clear...

Why Use Precise Language?

Precise Language or Extensive Vocabulary?

Many memoir writers are under the impression that you need to have an extensive vocabulary to write. An extensive vocabulary can only help you—if by “extensive” you mean many precise words, not just big ones.

Precise words are specific and not vague and ineffective like nice, awful, big, OK. “She was nice” is vague. “She understood different points of view” is specific and precise language.

“He was awfully big” is vague. You might write instead: “My...

Don’t Pass On Reaching A Larger Readership – 4 Tips

While family and friends are a worthy readership for your memoir, it is possible to reach an even larger audience. Here are four suggestions to enable your story to appeal to a broader public.

1) Write a story that is truly well-written and whose reading—the prose itself—will bring joy to your reader.

To do this, you will need to make effective use of a number of fiction writing techniques including images, metaphors, similes, suspense, foreshadowing, dialog, etc. You will need to achieve...

"Making Nice" Will Trip You Up

We all have family stories that we have heard over and over again. When they are told in family gatherings, no one expects any contradiction. After all, the stories are the “truth” about someone in the family.

How do you write about these stories?

There’s no problem when you are in agreement with the story line and the interpretation, but what do you do when you are not? especially what do you do when you are isolated in the way you interpret the story?

You can always tell the story in the...

How Writing to Ease Pain—Even of a Son’s Murder

Choosing writing to ease pain

Even before I found out my son had been murdered, I began writing about what I was experiencing as we waited for word of what had happened. Writing to ease pain seemed a natural choice. I was taking notes:

9/8 Amanda (my daughter-in-law to be)brutally raped Prague, Oklahoma Ethan, nowhere to be found

And, six years later, the writing hasn’t stopped.

The days that followed the loss of my son were fraught with much confusion. I knew that taking writing and t...

Dramatic development, not big events, adds up to an interesting memoir.

What makes for an interesting memoir? People will sometimes suppose that only big drama can make an interesting memoir. Of course, there are many readers who require constant titillation if they are to remain reading. Perhaps they are not the readers you should be seeking for your memoir. Nonetheless, nearly all readers require some attention to “interesting.” No, I do not believe that it is the scope of the drama of your memoir that is the crucial element to creating interest. Some woul...

How to Write a Successful Memoir: Digging for Treasure

Today’s successful memoir writer is Jean Crichton. Jean attended the very first national workshop that I organizedin 2000. From that time, we developed a strong working relationship via coaching and editing. She was one of those writers who was an absolute pleasure to work with.

To read past interviews For the most recent interview with Peggy Kennedy, whom we firstpresentedto you on June 5, 2009, click here.Approaching Neverland, her memoir of a mentally-ill mother and a family that struggl...

November 26 Activity: Where Is the Hero’s Journey In Your Memoir?

November 26 Activity: Depict the hero’s journey in your memoir.

Perhaps you have never thought of yourself as a hero—but in fact you are one. It is the energy of your hero’s journey that has impelled you to write a memoir. Every memoir tells the story of a hero’s journey. It is the story of how the main character (usually you) was beset by difficulties and has survived. In short, every memoir is necessarily a hero’s journey

Look at it this way: there is a problem that you have resolved and...