Living to Tell the Tale: A Guide to Writing Memoir

by Jane Taylor McDonnell, Vivian Gornick (Foreword by)

"Writing is a second chance at life," writes Jane McDonnell. "I think all writing constitutes an effort to establish our own meaningfulness, even in the midst of sadness and disappointment." In Living to Tell the Tale, McDonnell draws on this impulse, as well as on her own experiences as a writer and teacher of memoir, to give us what should become the definitive book on writing "crisis memoirs" and other kinds of personal narrative. She provides specific techniques and advice to help the writer discover his or her inner voice, recognize—and then silence—the inner censor, begin a narrative, and develop it with such aids as photographs and documents.

Citing many landmark works such as Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior and Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes, as well as unpublished writings, McDonnell shows how writers can recreate past experiences through memories, and imaginatively reshape material into the story that needs to be told. Each chapter concludes with exercises to help the writer grapple with particular problems, such as trying to write about experiences that are only partly recalled.

McDonnell also offers a list of recommended reading.

• Memoirs, such as Mary Karr's The Liars' Club (Penguin) have hit bestseller lists nationwide during the past year, and are of great interest to aspiring writers.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Memoir

176 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1998

Reviews

[julieta · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are a few things I disagreed with, the author gives you some good tips on writing, but there is something in her tone which I did not like. Also, she says that in memoir writing you can make up what you can't remember, or make up some parts to put together watever it is you are writing, and I don't really see the point in that. But she does have some good starters to get you writing.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

The introductory paragraph to her book is inspirational and a cogent definition of memoir:

"Writing is a second chance at life. Although we can never go back in time to change the past, we can re-experience, interpret and make peace with our past lives. When we write a personal narrative we find new meanings and, at the same time, we discover connections with our foremost selves. I think all writing constitutes an effort to establish our own meaningfulness, even in the midst of sadness and disappointment. In fact, writing sometimes seems to me to be the only way to give shape to life, to complete the process which is merely begun by living."

She also defines the genre of “crisis memoir”. Her advice to reflect on the difference between HONESTY and CONFESSION as well as the difference between INTEGRITY and SELF-EXPOSURE. In McDonnell’s words, self-revelation without self-reflection is merely self-exposure. McDonnell also notes that a memoirist has no obligation to tell all when telling all is hurtful to others or one’s self.
Her advice is a needful antidote to a generation of writers who value showing above reflection and critical analysis. However, the best memoirs, as McDonnell reminds us, bear witness to the universal as privately experienced.

Too many memoirs have the indelible mark of the influence of talk and reality TV shows.

Finally, her book includes practical exercises in each chapter to start you writing.

[Patricia N. McLaughlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

McDonnell offers some excellent advice for novice and experienced writers of memoir, plus plenty of helpful exercises at the end of each chapter. The book also includes an insightful Foreword by Vivian Gornick and a superb, annotated list of recommended reading for further study of the memoir genre. Great title, too!

[Annette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thought-provoking topics and useful exercises at the end of each chapter.

[Vicky · Rating 2 out of 5]

I "read" this for class. I don't have anything against this memoir-writing guide but it wasn't intended for me, like, a lot of things mentioned re: scene, summary are things covered with better detail in Janet Burroway's textbook for fiction, and I didn't find it interesting to read about overcoming the inner critic, facing possible lawsuits for using real-life people in your stories, looking through old documents as research, etc. This guide mentions "crisis memoirs" a bit. It was hard to pay attention; I skipped all the example passages.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good writing book for anyone wishing (or willing) to push through trauma to get to the core of our unsettling human condition. Memoir, when it's good, isn't about the author's events, but about how that person made it through and more importantly, how that relates to the reader. This book can help that happen. Not an easy process, but well worth the time.

[Taryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit controversial in some of her stances on what she considers okay in nonfiction (magnified by her choice of Vivian Gornick as foreword author), but McDonnell has some great insights and advice about how to jump-start a memoir.

[Devin Vanderpool · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a textbook for my memoir class. I like the exercises in this book but I think the other book I read for this class was more well written. It was still great to read to get better with memoirs.

[Nita]

Yet another writing book I skimmed and do not remember at all.

[Elaine Shuman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sections of the book were very helpful to me.

[Alison]

Another useful memoir craft book.