8 Tips for a Fast and Sure Start to Your Memoir by Denis Ledoux
Posted by Kathleen Pooler /@kathypooler with Denis Ledoux/@denisledoux
We all know that anything worth doing-such as writing a memoir-requires tremendous discipline and perseverance.Often times we hold the stories inside for years,then when we begin to write about them, we struggle with how to get started.
I am thrilled to have Denis Ledoux return to Memoir Writer’s Journey with more valuable tips on the memoir writing process. Denis is a well-known and well-respected memoir coach and founder of The Memoir Network, a site which provides a wealth of resources –many free–for anyone wishing to write and publish their memoir.
As I have disclosed on my sidebar, I am an affiliate of The Memoir Network and do receive compensation for any registrations from my website. I strongly believe in memoir education and stand behind the programs Denis offers through The Memoir Network.
I hope you’ll enjoy Denis’ practical tips on getting started and keeping the writing momentum going in a process that can often feel daunting and overwhelming.
Denis recently published A Sugary Frosting: A Memoir of a Girlhood Spent in a Parsonage.
My reviews can be found on Amazon, Goodreads, LibraryThings and Riffle.
Welcome back, Denis!
Memoir Author and Coach Denis Ledoux
8 Tips for a Fast and Sure Start to Your Memoir
Recently, I wrote and published A Sugary Frosting / A Memoir Of A Girlhood Spent in an Orphanage. I appreciate the the efficiency and effectiveness of my writing process all the more. A Sugary Frosting is the story of the first 20 years of my deceased wife’s life. She had written a number of her stories but died before completing a memoir. When I took up the task, I followed what I consider to be “best practices” of memoir writing. Here below I offer them to you to help you get a fast start and to write more prolifically–and even bring it to a finish in the form of a published memoir.
Here are my eight “best practices” for memoir writing. They are tried and true tips that bear repeating and repeating.
1. Set up a regular writing time. Length of your writing session is not as important as regularity.
How long you write is perhaps not as important as how frequently you do so. I only commit to 30 minutes a day. Once you have set up a writing time, honor it as you would a medical appointment. Don’t allow others to usurp your time! Generally, I have found my own best time to write is early in the morning. When I put off writing early, I find myself forgetting to write and before I know it it is evening and I am tired.
A schedule may be the tool you need to make a success of your writing. Don’t become another person who tried to write or who is thinking of writing.
2. Give yourself permission to write a rough first draft.
Perfectionism is not a virtue at this stage. Keep writing for volume. Quality will enter in later. Perfectionism is really a loss of faith in your work and in your vision. It pretends to be in your favor but it is really a slow death. Avoid perfectionism.
Another way to urge you to avoid perfectionism is to repeat the saying “Paralysis by analysis!” Perfectionism is paralysis!
3. Start anywhere in the story you feel like writing about on any given day.
If the topic changes on the next day, write about the new story line even if you haven’t finished the previous one. You are connecting to your muse at this point! Where you start to write is not the same place as where a reader starts to read. You will find the beginning of your memoir later. Right now: start to write.
In practice, I find that I continue writing a vignette until I have exhausted its possibilities. My commitment to writing remains 30 minutes a day, but on some days, if my schedule, permits I continue writing for a longer time.
4. Once you have a number of stories or story pieces, collate them.
You can simply organize them into the same document according to chronological order or print and collect them in a three-ring binder.
Write the missing links between the texts that you have already written and collated. Seeing your stories add up will also encourage you to continue writing.
5. Read memoirs critically to learn as much as you can from other writers.
I call this process “reading as a writer.” When you read as a reader you are caught in the story, in its unfolding. Of course, this sort of reading is very enjoyable but it is not particularly developmental for you as a writer. When you read as a writer, however, you are looking for how the writer wrote. How did the author begin his chapters? How did she handle dialog? Was she good at setting? Did he use any special techniques to portray his characters?
I am always reading memoirs.
6. Commit to reading how-to-write books.
There are many on the market. Read one, read several. Take notes, do the exercises, do the writing.
The internet is also full of writing sites. Visit them, use the materials they provide.
7. Create an end date as a stimulus to keep writing.
Tell people about this publication date. This will be a goal to help you “keep your nose to the grindstone” and write more efficiently. Tasks can take as long as you allow them to take. By setting a deadline that has a certain flexibility to it, you are helping yourself to stay on the course. For A Sugary Frosting, I had a deadline of November to finish the unedited draft and then February to publish it. I did finish the draft for November but I was not able to publish the book until May 6.
8. Find some beta readers.
Having someone, or several someones, read your memoir will help you to write the best memoir you are capable of. Sometimes you can find beta readers among your acquaintances, and at other times, you may need to hire them in the form of editors. Beta readers provide that extra pair of eyes that not only catch mistakes but can help you to develop your story.
I hope these tips will help you to get a fast start writing and a happy ending to your writing.
Good luck.
Author Bio:
Most recently, Denis Ledoux published A Sugary Frosting / A Memoir of a Girlhood Spent in a Parsonage [http://thememoirnetwork.com/shop/a-sugary-frosting/]. He is currently working on a sequel, My Eye Fell Into the Soup. The next book chronicles his wife’s first year with cancer. My Eye Fell Into the Soup will be available in late August, 2016. The free MyMemoirEducation membership area of his Memoir Network offers much free memoir-writing material.
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Imagine how your memoir could soar if you were supported by other writers in a group: http://thememoirnetwork.com/services/memoir-writers-group/
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Thank you, Denis, for offering these valuable tips on getting started with memoir. It takes commitment and action to see our stories through to the end. But, getting started and writing on a schedule are essential first steps.
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How about you? What helps you jumpstart your writing? Do you have any other tips to share that have worked for you?
Denis has graciously offered to give away a copy of his memoir, A Sugary Frosting, to a commenter whose name will be selected in a random drawing.
We’d love to hear from you. Please leave you r comments below~
Next Week:
Monday, 6/13/16:
“The Secret Entrance Into the Lair of Memoir” by Dorothy Sander
