Back to Basics: Do you know where you’re going with your memoir?

 

Your memoir’s ending should be its most powerful part so even while you’re writing your book’s middle parts, begin planning its ending.

 

It might seem strange to work on your conclusion before finishing the main body, but think of this:

 

“If you don’t know where you’re going,

you might not get there.”

Yogi Berra

 

You don’t want that to happen!

 

Here’s what I recommend: Throughout your writing, know approximately where you’re going and build toward that ending. Doing so will help you stay on message and more likely bring everything full circle.

 

Having said that, though, I need to warn you:

 

Many, if not most, stories can take a direction

writers might not have envisioned

at the outset.

 

Don’t worry if that happens to you.

 

After you’ve drafted the bulk of your memoir, your overall message and conclusion might be different than you originally envisioned, but that’s okay.

It’s better to focus on where you think you’ll end up,

rather than to drift, directionless.

 

Here’s a helpful perspective: You probably won’t pin down the perfected version of your ending until you’ve written all your chapters and have identified and refined the conclusions and resources you hope readers will take away from your story.

 

For now, as a general guide for you, get out a piece of paper and answer the following:

• The reason I’m writing my memoir is ________.
• What do I want readers to think as a result of reading my story?
• What do I want people to feel when they’ve finished reading it?
• How do I want them to live because they read my story?
• The most important message I want readers to take away from my memoir is _________.

Keep such points in mind while you write. Then conclude your book in a way that people will long remember it, learn from it, grow from it.

 

Memoirs are so much more than entertainment.

 

Your story matters.

Memoirs guide, influence, encourage,

inspire, motivate, and empower.

They can bring healing.

They can turn lives around.

Memoirs can even save lives.

 

“Write what should not be forgotten.” 

(Isabel Allende)

 

Send me your Christmas stories, Part 2

WooHooo! I’ve already received a Christmas story from one of you dear followers of SM 101, and I’m excited to read stories others will submit. How’s your story coming along?

Remember, I need to receive your stories by December 10 and I’ll pick one or more to publish here. See below for submission details.

If you missed last week’s post, Click on Send me your Christmas stories. It contains tips on character development, emotion, sensory details, and your vignette’s opening.

Today we’ll look at the importance of

• sense of place, and
• endings.

Your story’s sense of place: Establishing a sense of place will draw readers into your story.

“To achieve intimacy with your reader,” says Danielle Lazarin, “you have to say to them: here is your key to the apartment, here is the school, there’s a set of trees that perfectly frame the river, that’s where your friends live, your sister’s down that road.”

How do you do that? You include sensory details. What do readers need to see, touch, taste, smell, and hear?

If you invite readers into your “place,” whether indoors or out, whether in a big city or a rural spot far from any town, readers will:

• feel they’re experiencing your story with you,
• get to know you, feel connected to you,
• feel grounded in your story,
• discover the mood, atmosphere, and emotions of that place and time,
• and, in the end, take away important lessons for their own lives. 

You’ll enjoy these words by L.L. Barkat: “. . . A writer must have passions and a sense of place. . . . The words of a region, a philosophy, a passion . . .  come with their own sounds and rhythms and fragrances.”

Make time to think deeply

and describe the culture that exists in the town or business

or church or family in your story.

Pin down the words and philosophy

and passion and rhythms and fragrances

that belong to your story.

Click on these additional posts about creating a sense of place for your story:

Your memoir needs a sense of place

The importance of place in your memoir (This one includes a Christmas setting from my new memoir, Please, God, Don’t Make Me Go: A Foot-Dragger’s Memoir.)

Your story’s ending: Pay attention to your vignette’s conclusion. A weak ending can make a story fall short of its potential impact, but a strong one makes a memoir shine.

That means you need to put a lot of work into crafting it.

Remember this: You just cannot write an ending that gushes, “And they all lived happily ever after.” No, you must not!

Give your vignette’s ending muscle.

Impact. Pizzazz.

Or turn it into a melody. 

Or a prayer.

For the benefit of your readers—and yourself—make time to discover the core, the heart, the soul of your story and highlight that in your ending.

Your goal is to write a satisfying, compelling conclusion that gives readers wisdom, compassion, courage, faith, hope, and inspiration for living.

You want to maximize the power of your vignette’s ending.

Ask yourself: 

• How do I want readers to feel after reading my story?
• How do I want them to think as a result of reading my story?
• What do I want them to do and how do I want them to live because they read my Christmas story?

The beauty of your story will shine brightest at its ending.

Click on this link for help in crafting your conclusion: The beauty of memoir: Your vignettes’ strong endings. 

Be sure to look over and apply the important writing tips from last week’s post (click on Send me your Christmas stories). When you’ve edited and polished and proofread your Christmas story, submit it for consideration. I’ll be happy to edit it before publication.

Please submit a vignette that

• has not been published before, or
• is a story you published in the past and own the copyright.

Aim at writing 1000 words or less in a Word document sent as an attachment to LindaKThomasAuthor [at] gmail [dot] com. (Replace [at] with @ and replace [dot] with a period, scrunch everything together, and your email should reach me.) Please write “Christmas vignette for SM 101” in the subject line so I’ll know it’s not spam. Thanks.

Also please include a short author bio along with links to your website, blog, Facebook Page, and other social media.

Happy Christmas writing!