“Don’t be discouraged because there’s a lot of technical work to writing. There is, and you can’t get out of it,” said Ernest Hemingway, advising beginning writer Arnold Samuelson, age 19.
“It’s your
object to convey everything to the reader so that he remembers it not as a
story he had read but something that happened to himself.”
Read that
last part again:
“. . . so
that he remembers it not as a story he had read
but something
that happened to himself.”
You want
readers to experience your story alongside you. That’s how you can make a
difference in their lives. That’s how God can use your story to inspire, heal,
and mentor your readers.
Work hard
to make write that kind of memoir.
Join (or
form) a writing group—a good one. Critique each other’s manuscripts.
Attend
writers’ conferences.
Study the
best writing books available:
- On Writing Well by William Zinsser
- The Writer’s Portable Mentor by Priscilla Long
- Writing the Memoir by Judith Barrington
- The Memoir and the Memoirist by Thomas Larson
- Inventing the Truth: The Art and Craft of Memoir, edited by William Zinsser
- Writing for Story by Jon Franklin
- Handling the Truth by Beth Kephart
- Writing Tools by Roy Peter Clark
To make
your memoir the very best it can be,
you’ll
need to make revisions and edits,
but it
will be worth it in the end.
Remember
Jeff Goins’ words:
“Never,
ever, ever underestimate the power your words can have.”
Pray about
your writing and rewriting.
Ask God to
guide your work
and use
your finished memoir to bless others.
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