Your readers look to you for answers, guidance, and inspiration

 You’re writing your memoir for more than your readers’ entertainment.

 

Your story, like all stories, has layers of significance, and whether or not readers realize it, they’re looking to you for answers and guidance and inspiration.

 

They want to know how you coped with life—

sorrows and joys,

victories and defeats,

despair and hope—

so they can apply your story to their own life’s story.

 

They’re looking for a takeway—that part of your story they will always hold close because it impacted their lives.

 

Be sure your memoir has takeaways—

but more than that: state your takeaways.

Put them into words.

 

Takeaways:

• your insights that readers can apply to their own lives,
• lessons you learned that will guide them in the future,
• a resource for living life well,
• a reason to hope,
• a reason to trust God,
• a better understanding of themselves and their purposes.

 

Train yourself to recognize takeaways in your stories. Dig around and find them because the gems you’ll unearth can be rich treasures for your readers.

 

The other day I was reading John Ogilvie’s devotional, Silent Strength for My Life, and realized it was packed with takeaways.

 

As I sat there reading, I thought of you—those who follow Spiritual Memoirs 101. I asked myself, What stories can people write to illustrate the points Ogilvie is making here?

 

Ogilvie writes about Jesus’ words in Luke 9:23: “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.”

 

To some of your readers, that verse could sound old-fashioned and religious and maybe even irrelevant in today’s world. But Ogilvie brings that verse alive in practical ways for today’s readers, and you can do the same.

 

First, he reminds us of Henry David Thoreau and the familiar saying about “marching to the beat of a different drummer.”

 

Ogilvie writes, “Christians march to the drumbeat of Christ, He’s our ‘different drummer.’ His will, His Kingdom, and His values set the cadences for our life. We belong first and foremost to Him. The one place He will not accept is second place. . . .”

 

Ogilvie then gets specific. While you read the following, ask yourself what stories you can include in your memoir to illustrate his points:

 

• “In what relationships, situations, and responsibilities do we find it most difficult to march with our Drummer?”
• “It’s so easy to tone down or compromise our convictions to maintain popularity. Sometimes our thinking is controlled more by culture than by Christ.”
• “If we were totally committed, what would we do differently today?”
• “Following our Drummer requires times alone with Him so we can receive His marching orders.”
• “When we do [receive His marching orders], we’ll discover the meaning of another . . . metaphor: We find ourselves on ‘a road less traveled.’ But it’s a road that will be traveled with and for the Master.”
• “Listen for the drumbeat.”

 

Which of your past experiences illustrate the above points? Maybe you’ll come up with a personal incident, or perhaps you’ll write about watching another person living through one or more of the above points.

 

Give yourself time to recall your past and find events and experiences and conversations and outcomes that illustrate Ogilvie’s message.

 

Remember:

Readers long to discover takeaways.

They search for universal truths, transforming truths,

spiritual truths, underlying truths, relevant truths.

 

Readers want to find—

sometimes they even ache to find, burn to find—

such truths and takeaways from your memoir

so they can apply them to their own lives.

 

You see, there’s a reason the Bible is full of stories.

People respond to stories on a deep level and,

as a result, stories can be transformative—

they can change hearts and minds and lives.

 

God has given you experiences

that you can turn into stories for others.

 

Pray and ask Him to help you remember your past

and then to find words to put important messages into writing.

Your stories are important.

 

Be good stewards of your experiences and stories.

 

God can use your memoir in ways you might never imagine!

 

Your stories could be life-changing for those who read them.

 

Reading memoirs can make you a stronger writer

 Matilda Butler at Women’s Memoirs encourages memoirists to read lots of memoirs, to “read broadly and think deeply.”

 

I am tempted to add a condition to that.

 

While I agree it’s wise to “read broadly and think deeply,” I say: Read good memoirs, memoirs written by people who understand what a memoir is (and is not), written by people who have a good grasp of what good writing is (and is not).

 

I’ve read several memoirs that have received rave reviews and attention but, in my opinion, they are not stellar. I want to say, “Don’t read them!” However  . . . . 

 

However, Matilda says “Even memoirs that aren’t particularly good can teach lessons,” and I must agree.

 

When reading memoirs, good ones or not-so-good, Matilda has these tips:

 

“You can ask yourself:

 

• What do I like in this book?
• What is off-putting?
• How would I handle the story differently if I were writing this book?
• Is the opening weak?
• What ideas do I have to make the opening stronger?”

 

Matilda continues,

“Thinking about a memoir,

questioning a memoir,

even rewriting a few paragraphs of a memoir

will make you a stronger writer.”

 

Your memoir needs an outstanding subtitle

Have you noticed that a novel seldom has a subtitle? Subtitles usually belong to the realm of non-fiction—and what a gift someone gave us when he or she invented subtitles. (A subtitle follows a title, and the two are separated by a colon.)

 

Let’s be clear about subtitles: “Your subtitle is not just some front-cover formatting slot to fill,” writes Susan Kendrick.

 

Susan is right. Your memoir’s subtitle has hard work to do. It helps accomplish your title’s goals.

 

A title’s goals are to:

• establish a distinct identity for your memoir,
• catch potential readers’ attention,
• entice them to buy your book,
• read it when they get home,
• and recommend it to their friends.

 

A subtitle sheds light on a book’s title.

 

A subtitle also:

• tells how your book is different from others,
• hints at what a reader will find within the book,
• expands on the title,
• entices readers,
• and might allude to secrets within.

 

Brooke Warner wrote recently, “The most popular trend in memoir . . . is to identify your key theme or themes, and build a simple subtitle around that: A Memoir of Faith, A Memoir of Resilience, A Memoir of Love and Loss.”

 

Brooke says that type of title works “because generally memoir readers are seeking out memoirs based on themes they’re drawn to or exploring in their own lives.”

 

You’ll want to read Brooke’s post, "An Author's Guide to Book Subtitles." In it she includes Eight Key Takeaways for Book Titles.

 

Look at these memoir titles without their subtitles:

 

The Perfect  Storm

Jackie’s Girl

Love, Africa

What Remains

A Long Way Gone

Thin Places

Thirteen Days

Plunder

Little Matches

Falling Awake

 

Did they intrigue you and make you want to buy them? Do you have a good idea what they’re about? Probably not.

 

Now look at them with their subtitles and notice how they reveal the book’s contents:

 

The Perfect  Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea, by Sebastian Junger

Jackie’s Girl: My Life with the Kennedy Family, by Kathy McKeon

Love, Africa: A Memoir of Romance, War and Survival, by Jeffrey Gettelman

What Remains: A Memoir of Fate, Friendship, and Love, by Carole Radziwill

A Long Way Gone:  Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, by Ishmael Beah

Thin Places: A Memoir, by Mary DeMuth

Thirteen Days: A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis, by Robert F. Kennedy

Plunder: A Memoir of Family Property and Nazi Treasure, by Menachem Kaiser

Little Matches: A Memoir of Grief and Light, by Maryanne O’Hara

Falling Awake: An America Woman Gets a Grip on the Whole Changing World One Essay at a Time, by Mary Lou Sanelli

Kisses from Katie: A Story of Relentless Love and Redemption, by Katie David Majors

 

Review the goals of a title (above). Do the subtitles help accomplish those goals? I say yes, except for two.

 

Mary DeMuth’s Thin Places: A Memoir, is still vague. I’d prefer a subtitle that offers better hints about what readers will find within. People acquainted with the definition of “thin places” will have some insight into the book’s contents, but many people don’t know the term. From the back cover, thin places are the “places where the division between this world and the eternal fades. . . . snatches of holy ground . . . where we might just catch a glimpse of eternity.”

 

Also Kisses from Katie’s subtitle doesn’t work well. Readers need to read the back cover to learn that at age nineteen, Katie moved to Uganda and adopted thirteen children.

 

How long or short should a subtitle be? Mary DeMuth’s subtitle is two words, “A Memoir.” Mary Lou Sanelli’s is a whopping sixteen words long. There are no “rules” for how long a good subtitle should be, but it’s best to avoid unnecessary wordiness.

 

Here are tips for crafting a strong title/subtitle: 

• Choose an easy-to-understand title.
• Choose an easy-to-pronounce title.
• Choose an easy-to-remember title.
• Consider the benefits of a short, crisp title.
• Witty can be good—if it really works.
• Even if your title isn’t short, be concise: Does every word need to be there?
• Read your title aloud. How does it sound? (See Priscilla Long’s advice from last week as well as Susan Kendrick’s “What Makes a Good Subtitle and How Long Should it Be?”)
• Beta readers, and others who have helped you with your manuscript, might suggest titles.
• Choose a title that feels just right to you.

 

Finally, let me once again encourage you to read—even study—Susan Kendrick’s post, “What Makes a Good Subtitle and How Long Should it Be?” It’s packed with helpful info, not just subtitle length.

 

Have fun crafting your memoir’s perfect subtitle!

 

Your memoir’s title, Part 3: The art part

 

There’s an art to fashioning a book title that’s just right.

 

The pros don’t all agree on the “rules” for creating a strong, compelling title, and some tell us to break the rules anyway. But we all recognize when a title does not work, so if you hope to market your memoir, put extra effort into choosing your title.

 

Since that takes time, don’t wait until you’re finished writing your manuscript before working on your memoir’s title. Try out a few working titles (temporary, unofficial titles) before finalizing your choice.

 

Notice your working title’s melody, its sound, its rhythm.

 

Lynn Seraffin says, “The ‘rhythm’ of a title has to do with rise and fall of words, the number of syllables and the strong/weak accents within them. . . . ”

 

In Priscilla Long’s delightful book, The Writer’s Portable Mentor, she explains that “Sounds have frequency. Sound travels in waves that come at more frequent or less frequent intervals. The shorter the wave, the higher the frequency. Eek! is a high-frequency sound. The longer the wave, the lower the frequency. Blue is a low-frequency sound.

           

“… [T]hink of high-frequency vowels as high-energy vowels. Pie in the sky! Let’s get high! Dream on! Scream!....

 

“Low-frequency vowels are low-energy vowels. They bring us down. We have the blues…. We are lonely. We feel moody….”

 

In her book, Priscilla gives us a list of the lowest frequency vowels:

long o (boo)

long o (bone)

short o (book)

 

Here’s Priscilla’s list of the highest frequency vowels:

long e (bee)

long a (bay)

long i (buy)

 

When choosing your memoir’s title, ask yourself if you want a high-energy title or a low-energy one, and choose words accordingly.

 

In working on my second memoir, I played around with titles. My first working title was Tattered and Breathless and Full of Tales because years ago I stumbled upon Janet Chester Bly’s poem, “Breathless Tales.” It captured, so succinctly and in such a delightful way, the quirky life I’ve lived—so different from what I’d always dreamed I would live. Here is her poem:

  

Breathless Tales

 

I would rather clutch my invitation

and wait my turn in party clothes

prim and proper

safe and clean.

But a pulsing hand keeps driving me

over peaks

ravines

and spidered brambles.

So, I will pant up to the

pearled knocker

tattered

breathless

and full of tales!

~ Janet Chester Bly (Many thanks to Janet for permission to use "Breathless Tales" in both Please, God, Don’t Make Me Go: A Foot-Dragger’s Memoir and Grandma's Letters from Africa.)

 

Although that first working title, Tattered and Breathless and Full of Tales, was a direct quote from Janet’s poem, it wasn’t a problem—I didn’t need to ask her if I could use it—because I knew I’d use it only temporarily.

 

My second working title was Scruffy and Winded and Full of Tales. “Scruffy” instead of Janet’s “tattered,” and “winded” instead of her “breathless.” But that was still too much like her wording.

 

My third working title was Winded and Wrinkled and Brimming with Tales. It was probably different enough from Janet’s words.

 

And I liked the rhythm of that third working title. See for yourself—read these two titles aloud:

 

Scruffy and Winded and Full of Tales

Winded and Wrinkled and Brimming with Tales

 

The rhythm needs the two-syllable “brimming” instead of the one-syllable “full,” don’t you agree?

 

In that working title, I also liked the repetition of the short “i” sound (assonance). 

 

I also liked the repetition of two-syllable words: winded, wrinkled, and brimming.

 

On Priscilla Long’s frequency scale from low to high (which I did not include above), the short “i” sound is right up there next to the highest frequency sounds, and that seemed to be a good fit for my memoir’s contents. (I encourage you to buy Priscilla’s The Writer’s Portable Mentor. It’s a gem!)

 

In the end, I chose a different title—Please, God, Don’t Make Me Go: A Foot-Dragger’s Memoir—but that’s a story for another day.

 

What about your working title?

Do you want low-frequency vowel sounds

or high-frequency?

Read it aloud. Does it have a good rhythm?

A pace, a beat, a cadence?

 

Then ask yourself Lynn's suggestions:

 

“Does it feel too long? Too short?

Is there a musical quality

that makes it pleasant to say?

Does it feel like it should have ended

a few syllables earlier?”

 

How can you make your working title better? 

Keep tweaking it until you’ve crafted your permanent title

—your winning title!