Memoir Mini-course

Video 1 Transcript

Hi, It’s Cecily Paterson from the Red Lounge for Writers. Welcome to video one of this free Write Your Memoir mini course.

In this video, I’m going to share with you three things that are essential to put into your memoir. 

But first? What’s a memoir?

Here’s my definition: It’s a real life story about something that happened to you, and how it affected you.

 Did you get that? Something that happened, to you, and how it affected you.

So here’s the first essential element of your memoir: something that happened

This is usually the easiest part of the memoir content. Something interesting happened to you and you want to write about it.  Maybe you hiked a long trail, you took a trip to India and ate good food, you spent a week with a film star.

Whatever.

Most of us are pretty clued in on what the events are in our memoir. (If you’re not, definitely watch the third video, by the way.) But most of us have a broad idea of what we’re writing about.

But there’s more, and this is the second essential element of your memoir.

something that happened to you

You, as a person – as a three-dimensional character need to be in that memoir. Yes, the events of your memoir are interesting.

But even more interesting is you, the person, in the middle of those events. You need to be prepared to share yourself, and not just show up in the best possible light. Who are you? What do you want? What are your goals and fears and struggles?

Are you in your memoir, ‘warts and all’?

Finally, that third essential element of your memoir. You can probably see what’s coming here.

something that happened to you, and how it affected you

This part –how it affected you -- is the story within the story. This is the gorgeous bit. The bit people keep reading for.

Sure, the events are interesting. And yes, you as a person in those events, are interesting.

But what’s life-changing, inspiring, intriguing, and powerful about your memoir is what effect those events had on you. How they changed you.

If you’ve got that third element in your memoir, then you’ve got a story worth telling.

Now, think about those three essential elements to your story: what happened, to you, and how it changed you.

Check out the downloadable worksheet on this page.

It’s going to ask you:

What are the events that you want to write about in your memoir?

What part of yourself do you think it’s important to show in your memoir? (What part are you a bit scared to show?)

How did those events change you as a person?

Go print it out and then write some notes. What will you come up with?

Don’t forget to sign up below for the other two videos in the free, Write Your Memoir mini course.

What's next?

There are two more videos in this mini-course.

Video Two focuses on the three mistakes you don’t want to make when you’re writing your memoir.

In Video Three, we look at identifying the real beginning and the end of your story, and the questions to ask to find them out. (You'd be surprised how many people don't know where to begin - or where to end their memoir.)

We'd love you to watch them and get ahead on your memoir writing. They're full of helpful information for you - for free. Just tell us your name and email address so we know where to send them to.