4 Ways to Build Your Memoir’s World

By Katie Bannon

“Worldbuilding” often calls to mind fictional settings—Hogwarts, Gatsby’s mansion, Alice’s Wonderland. But creating a vivid world on the page is just as essential to creative nonfiction, including memoir.

Crafting a rich, evocative world on the page is one of the best ways to pull readers in and make them care about you and your story. When a reader is immersed in the “world” of a memoir—for instance, in a highly detailed, sensory-rich scene—they feel closer to the chara...