Denis Ledoux's Blog, page 68
December 2, 2015
Memoir Ghostwriting – How Much Does It Cost?
Working with a memoir ghostwriter can be a costly undertaking. Depending on the length of your memoir, it may take months and even years to complete your book. Understandably, people want to know how much memoir ghostwriting will cost. Here are a few considerations for you to ponder over as you assess how much a co-author costs.
1. Asking “How much will it cost to have my memoir ghostwritten?” is like asking “How long will it take to cross the lake?”
Many factors will af...
November 30, 2015
November 30 Activity: Set a Timeline for Writing Your Memoir
The use of a timeline for writing your memoir will both speed up the writing process and assure that you complete your book.
It is possible, of course, to choose to write a memoir so that it takes you forever to complete it. You can write when you feel like it for as long as you feel like it and get it done whenever you get it done. Too often, that’s never.
Your book is very likely to remain in a computer file unless you set...
November 29, 2015
November 29: How to Write an Introduction for a Memoir
Do not omit to write an Introduction to be placed before the first chapter of your book. The Introduction lets fly a hook to get the reader caught so s/he reads on. In a bookstore, the Introduction is often what the reader peruses. Online, the sample copy usually includes the Introduction.
When you write the Introduction for a memoir, be sure that the pages either pose a low-point (nadir) problem—how was I to extricate myse...
November 28, 2015
November 28 Activity: Create Suspense and Foreshadowing in A Memoir
In an earlier post, I had written about the importance of plot in your memoir. Plot is what happens in a story. For many readers, it is what keeps them a reading.
There are some fiction techniques—namely suspense and foreshadowing—that you can use in your memoir to keep the reader reading. Today’s post explores these techniques.
Suspense is the technique of suggesting that something important may or may not happen....
November 27, 2015
November 27 Activity: Add Direct Dialog in a Memoir
There are two ways characters can speak in a story. One way is called direct dialogue. When you write she asked, “How are you doing today?” you are using direct dialogue. Direct dialogue requires quotation marks. When you use direct dialogue in a memoir you are saying this is actually what the speaker said. This is different from indirect dialog.
Indirect dialogue on the other hand is used when you are not sure...
November 26, 2015
November 26 Activity: Where Is 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...
November 25, 2015
November 25 Activity: Using Photos in Your Memoir
I have already written about how the memory is false, flattering, and faulty. I’ve also offered you one possibility for correcting this. That is the use of the memory list, the journal, and other artifacts.
Today, I would like to offer you another opportunity to assist those false, flattering, and faulty memories. That is the use of photos in your memoir.
This is not, of course, a new concept. Using photos in your memoir wi...
November 24, 2015
November 24 Activity: How To Find Stories Missing in Your Memoir
In some way, writing a memoir is like organizing an anthology of stories. In the method that I teach in my workshops, tele-classes, and coaching, writers write stories as stories come to them. I am not a great one for starting to write from the beginning and writing to the end. Instead, I encourage writers to write the stories they most feel impelled to write. The initial result is an often-chaotic collection of stories with...
November 24 – How To Find Stories Missing in Your Memoir
In some way, writing a memoir is like organizing an anthology of stories. In the method that I teach in my workshops, tele-classes, and coaching, writers write stories as stories come to them. I am not a great one for starting to write from the beginning and writing to the end. Instead, I encourage writers to write the stories they most feel impelled to write. The initial result is an often-chaotic collection of stories with...
November 23, 2015
November 23 Activity: Listening to Your Memoir Yields Dividends
As writers, we have often experienced of writing what we feel has to be deathless prose. Later, perhaps a week or a month later, when we pick up our own manuscript again, we realize that our deathless prose is perhaps closer to deadly prose.
Having your story read out loud is a revealing experience. Whether it is someone else who is reading or you yourself, it seems that you become a much more objective audience for your story...
