There are many reasons to write a memoir. Some of the most common are:
- To let your family, friends and descendants know who you are. Not just the basic facts, but what you think about your life, family, the events of your time and more.
- To help other people deal with their own difficulties by sharing the story of how you overcame personal, financial, professional, spiritual or other troubles.
- To share a wonderful adventure.
- To address your feelings of regret, loss, betrayal, and so on.
- To entertain people with stories of your amusing encounters. You don’t have to be a famous actor or celebrity to write an entertaining book: a house painter who has met and chatted with hundreds or thousands of people over the years may have many interesting stories and insights about the human condition.
- To enlighten your readers with your inside knowledge of a particular business, religion, hobby and so on.
- To preserve a piece of history.
- To draw attention to a significant problem you’d like to see corrected.
- To have fun reliving a particularly significant or enjoyable part of your life.
- To help you understand yourself better.
Your reasons for writing a memoir will do much to shape your manuscript. If, for example, you want people to know who you are, you’ll emphasize your feelings and motivations. But if your primary goal is to offer them a peek into your interesting profession, you’ll concentrate on relating amusing and dramatic anecdotes. If your goal is to preserve a piece of history, for example the life of a farmer in mid-20th century America, you’ll include lots of information about the farming processes of the time, types of seeds and machinery used, the daily life of a farmer, and so on.
Your goals will determine not only what you choose to focus on but how you tell your story. So think a lot about your goals before you begin!
We at Taylor-Fox can help you create your memoir, biography, inspirational book or other book and get it ready for publication. We’ve helped scores of people achieve their goals, and some of their books have landed on bestseller lists. Call us at 818-594-0379.
Nadine Taylor and Barry Fox write, ghostwrite, rewrite and edit books in many genres, including health, business, inspiration/ spirituality and memoirs. Their resume is long and varied but there’s one thing that never changes: They love to work with words, creating books that are clear, compelling and pleasurable to read. If you’re interested in writing a book, editing a book and/or publishing a book, you’ve come to the right place!
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