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Mar 4, 2024 · A memoir example is an example of a published book that chronicles the author’s personal experiences, offering insights into their life’s pivotal moments, emotions, and lessons learned. Unlike autobiographies, which may aim to document each phase of a person’s life, memoirs tend to focus on a specific theme, period, or series of events ...
- The Autobiographical Memoir
- The “Experience” Memoir
- The “Event” Memoir
- The “Themed” Memoir
- The Family Memoir
- The Childhood Memoir
- The Travel Memoir
- The Celebrity Memoir
The autobiographical memoir — a retelling of one’s life, from beginning to present times — is probably the standard format that jumps to most people’s minds when they think of this genre. At first glance, it might seem like a straightforward recount of your past. However, don’t be deceived! As you’ll be able to tell from the examples below, this ty...
One of the most popular memoirs that you’ll find on bookshelves, this type focuses on a specific experience that the author has undergone. Typically, this experience involves a sort of struggle, such as a bitter divorce, illness, or perhaps a clash with addiction. Regardless of the situation, the writer overcomes it to share lessons learned from th...
Similar to the “experience” memoir, the “event” memoir centers on a single significant event in the author’s life. However, while the former might cover a period of years or even decades, the “event” memoir zeroes in on a clearly defined period of time — for instance, a two-month walk in the woods, or a three-week mountain climb, as you’ll see belo...
When you look back on your own timeline, is there a strong theme that defines your life or ties it all together? That’s the premise on which a “themed” memoir is based. In such a memoir, the author provides a retrospective of their past through the lens of one topic. If you’re looking to write this type of memoir, it goes without saying that you’ll...
In a family memoir, the author is a mirror that re-focuses the light on their family members — ranging from glimpses into the dysfunctional dynamics of a broken family to heartfelt family tributes.
A subset of the autobiographical memoir, the childhood memoir primarily focuses (spoiler alert!) on the author’s childhood years. Most childhood memoirs cover a range of 5 - 18 years of age, though this can differ depending on the story.
What happens when you put an author on a plane? Words fly! Just kidding. While that’s perhaps not literally how the travel memoir subgenre was founded, being on the move certainly has something to do with it. Travel memoirs have been written for as long as people could traverse land — which is to say, a long time — but the modern travel narrative d...
The celebrity memoir is just that: a memoir published by a celebrity. Though many celebrity memoirs are admittedly ghostwritten, the best ones give us an honest and authentic look at the “real person” behind the public figure. Note that we define “celebrity” broadly here as anyone who is (or has been) in the public spotlight. This includes: 1. Poli...
- Yvonne Shiau
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- I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou. This is a classic memoir example – one that captures childhood, pain, and longing in all its nuanced forms.
- The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls. Resilience and redemption co-star in this bestseller about Jeanette Walls’ life.
- The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom. An evangelist and survivor of Hitler’s concentration camps, the life of Corrie Ten Boom stands among the best memoir examples.
- The Puma Years by Laura Coleman. This story stands out among memoir examples for its personal look at the illegal pet trade industry, the impact of deforestation, and the bond between humans and animals.
Jun 26, 2019 · 1. The Woman Warrior. Maxine Hong Kingston. Alfred A. Knopf, 1976. This book is more than four decades old, but I can’t think of another memoir quite like it that has been published since.
Jan 29, 2024 · 1. Structure. Since autobiographies tell the comprehensive story of one’s life, they are more or less chronological. writing a memoir, however, involves carefully curating a list of personal experiences to serve a larger idea or story, such as grief, coming-of-age, and self-discovery.
1. Figure out who you’re writing for. 2. Narrow down your memoir’s focus. 3. Distill the story into a logline. 4. Choose the key moments to share. 5. Don’t skimp on the details and dialogue. 6. Portray yourself honestly. 🎒Turn your personal life stories into a successful memoir in 6 steps! Click to tweet! 1. Figure out who you’re writing for.
Jun 10, 2019 · Brothers of the Gun: A Memoir of the Syrian War by Marwan Hisham and Molly Crabapple. “A bracingly immediate memoir by a young man coming of age during the Syrian war, an intimate lens on the century’s bloodiest conflict, and a profound meditation on kinship, home, and freedom.”.
