Best Ways to Write a Memoir in 2023

A memoir is a self-written historical account that is reality-based and is written from personal experiences and knowledge. Memoir is about sharing your stories that have happened in the past and one wishes to share them with others.

It requires a lot of research and a way to depict and portray the beauty of the events. However, a memoir is more than an autobiography. It is a collection of historical events. The writer shares their life-changing moments or some events from which they have learned something that can be shared with others.

There are some best ways to write a memoir, which should be followed by a memoirist to write a better memoir. But most importantly, a memoirist should be true to himself/herself before writing a memoir as it is real-life based and a writer should be honest while writing a memoir.

The best memoirist is the one who knows how to portray reality in a way people would love to read it and would want to know about it more. There’s no particular word limit but one can follow a novel like a word limit i.e., 60,000 to 80,000 words.

It shouldn’t exceed that much that it becomes different or boring for anyone to read it, and shouldn’t be less than 2,000. If you are writing a short memoir, then try to make it crisper and more interesting as it has fewer words. The minimum word limit varies from 2,000 to 5,000.

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Memoir can be funny, sad, life-changing and something which a person will always remember and want others to know and sometimes learn something from it.

It can be difficult to write a memoir, it is not always as easy as it seems to talk about some events randomly to get your readers or audience to relate or understand the emotion attached to the memoir. So, emotions are very important to be shown in any type of writing and particularly memoir because it is real-life based.

A memoir requires a proper way of portraying the events decently and interestingly which makes it attractive and easy for others to read and understand the memoir.

As memoir is truth-based and has emotions with it, it makes it easy to connect with the audience in a better way if followed in the right way. A memoirist should focus a lot on writing about the emotions connected with a particular story. There’s no strict format that has to be followed to write a memoir.

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But, the Best Ways to Write a Memoir should be in ABC Format Where:

• A is the starting of a memoir
• B is the body of a memoir
• C is the conclusion

In memoir format, you should follow the CABC format. There should be two conclusions where the second conclusion is about what you hope to be in the future and not where you are today. This can be one of the best ways to write a memoir.

The reason for that is starting with your story and giving a hint of what it is about, this can attract more audience members in knowing more about you and your story. It can help in engaging more people’s interests.

Sometimes people misunderstand between memoir and autobiography. The main difference between them is that an autobiography depicts the whole life of the author whereas a memoir tells about some incidents from the life of the writer.

People easily mistake a memoir for an autobiography but they both are different. The only similarity is that they both are written by a writer about themselves.

The tips that should be followed while writing a memoir are:

1. Truth-Based

A memoir is based on a real incident, it shouldn’t be fictional. A person should write about an authentic event that either happened with him/her or someone they know or have an acquaintance with.

No reel stories cannot be a part of a memoir. It can be compiled with different scenarios and situations. They can be historical or ironic. One of the reasons for that can be if you want your audience to connect better, give them the truth and real emotion.

The Reason Why you Should Write the Truth is –

• Fascinating – Real stories fascinate people more than fictional ones as they attract people more than unreal stories.

• Emotions – Real stories naturally have emotions connected to them that make people feel more and they tend to show more interest in reading it.

This is the reason why writing a real and honest story is one of the best ways to write a memoir.

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2.  Theme 

There should be a theme followed while writing a memoir, like romantic, thrilling, sad, happy, scary, or anything which makes a base for the story. Because everyone has a different genre preference, different stories and emotions can be added later but a specific base should be mentioned, it makes it easy for a reader to be more interested in the memoir.

It is not a compulsion to follow a particular theme but it is better to make it theme-based as it makes it easier for a writer and the reader too to understand. Theme-based memoir gives a better understanding and also gives depth to your writing while mentioning events.

3. Understandable Language

Writing a memoir is not as easy as telling stories verbally, so to make it more attractive, the main thing which should be followed is to write it simply so that maximum people can understand and connect better to the story.

Language is the most important thing here, using a higher vocabulary is good but making it understandable for different people is more important.

• Easy for the Reader – The readers are of many types and everyone has a different preference but a writer should focus on being honest and real and make their writing easy to understand for almost everyone.
• Easy to Write – A memoir is something that is truth-based and no unnecessary things are to be mentioned in a memoir. So, using simple language makes it easy for a writer to maintain the authenticity of the writing.
• No Assumptions – Using easy language makes it easy for the audience to understand the actual story and not make any assumptions about the stories.

4. Interesting Writing

The way of portraying a memoir should be interesting and not boring because it always helps in engaging more people to read anything if it is written in an interesting way than a bland way. Like starting with particular words, which get more attention. Like adding funny words or jokes.

• Adding Short Funny Stories – Adding short stories makes it more interesting in knowing what happens next and funny and short stories can be added anywhere in the memoir.
• Writing about a Particular Character – A writer should know to portray a character who adds up in making things more funny and interesting for a reader.

5. Moral

Try to make sure that there’s a moral at the end of your story/stories. It’s not a compulsion as it’s a memoir that is real-life based but then ending it on a positive note and adding a moral to it can be a good way of presenting your story.

As it can be motivating to any of the readers and someone can learn something from your knowledge and experiences. This is one of the most important and best ways to write a memoir.

6. Positive Ending

It is not always possible to end every story or situation in a positive way but it is always a good idea to come up strong after every fall i.e. showing positivity towards any hard situation. Showing gratitude and handling situations more calmly and sharing stories about how life can be managed in a better way is a good way of writing a memoir.

7. Funny Stories 

Even if your memoir has serious things to tell about, adding some hilarious experiences to it adds up. It makes it interesting for the readers.

Addressing fun incidents can be cheerful and can be helpful if the story is too emotional or saddening. It is not a compulsion but can be a good idea. Making things funny is always an add-on in any situation.

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8. Emotions 

You should write a memoir with your emotions involved in it as it helps in connecting with the reader in a better way. A reader should feel and accordingly imagine how things have been mentioned in a memoir, which is only possible when the writer has put his/her emotions in it.

A writer should make sure how to portray his/her emotions in a memoir to attract and connect with more people.

9. Think as a Reader –

To write a memoir, one should think in a way that how would you prefer reading something, and then add interesting points or a way of presenting things differently.

A writer needs to think like different audiences, everyone has a different taste. A writer has to think about how he can combine all the different flavors in one memoir according to the taste of different people.

10. Details 

A writer should make sure to mention the details about each and everything in the scene so that it can be easily imagined by the readers as it makes it interesting to read something which can be imagined easily.

Nowadays, people prefer watching videos more than reading because it is easy to connect with the colors, images, hear the languages, see the gestures whereas reading requires time and patience.

To attract the attention of the audience, the writer has to mention the details so that the person reading it can imagine everything the way the writer has experienced it.

11. Elaboration Limit

To make your story interesting, giving details is a good idea but elaborating the right parts of the story is more important than elaborating each and everything in the memoir.

Sometimes extra details can make a story boring and that should be avoided. It distracts readers from relating to the main story. But sometimes distractions are only important to create suspense about a few things.

12. Write with a Free and Positive Mind

A restless mind might do wonders with ample thoughts but a free and positive mind can do things more precisely which is required in writing. Keeping positive thoughts can help anyone do or achieve anything that they want.

So, writing a memoir with a fresh mind and positive thinking is important and can be beneficial for the writer as well as the reader as the positivity depicts through the words used. This is one of the most important and best ways to write a memoir.

13. Write Regularly 

Writing a memoir is not a one-day thing, and if you want to be a successful memoirist, then writing your memoir every day is important.

A memoir is not a short book or just a storybook. It is a compilation of real-life events that should be depicted in a way that the readers can imagine and relate to the situation, which is only possible when the writer spends his/her time on the memoir efficiently.

Frequently Asked Questions:

1. What POV is a memoir written in?

A memoir is written in first person present tense from an author’s point of view. Memoir is about writing your own story by stating yourself as the main character in the story and so it is always written from the first-person point of view.

2. Can a memoir be fictional?

No, a memoir cannot be fictional. If you wish to write something fictional then writing a novel will be a better option. A memoir precisely stands for writing something about yourself, your own real-life story, and not something fictional.

3. What can be the theme of a memoir?

Since a memoir is about one’s own stories, the theme is based on what part you wish to tell about. It can have different emotions attached to it like something scary, thrilling, serious, happy, or anything which has ever happened that is worth sharing.

Most importantly the worth of sharing any incident depends upon how you share it, the author should focus on making sure that the readers are engaged in reading the story just like he/she is engaged in writing and sharing it. The excitement shouldn’t be killed in between.

4. What should be followed while writing a memoir?

Most importantly, a memoir should be truth-based and not fictional because it is not a memoir if it is not real. Then, the most important thing an author should indulge in a memoir is adding emotions to a memoir, it makes it more attractive than anything else. Honesty and emotions make a great memoir.

5. Who should write a memoir?

Anyone can write a memoir, anyone who wants to tell about the incidents of life to people through a book can write a memoir. The right way of writing a memoir should be followed but it can be done by anyone even if they are not professional writers.

6. Can a person be sued for writing a memoir?

No, until or unless you have violated any law by using abusive language or any sexual content which cannot be publicly shown to the audience. Otherwise, you cannot be sued for writing a memoir.

7. Can a person write multiple memoirs?

Yes, a person who writes memoirs is called a memoirist. And if a person wants to be a memoirist, then he/she has to write multiple memoirs.

8. Are an autobiography and a memoir the same?

No, an autobiography depicts the whole life of an author whereas a memoir is a collection of different stories about oneself.

Conclusion

If you wish to write a memoir, then you should try writing it by following these easy tips. Including these points can be beneficial in writing a memoir.

Invest your time and efforts to achieve what you wish to from writing because it is not a day process, writing is a practice and needs a lot of patience and consistency. So, start today to make your dreams and future great.