Especially for new memoirists: Determine your structure

If you recently started writing your memoir, or plan to begin soon, think about its structure—its framework, its organization.

Structure is important, especially if your memoir is a collection of stories along a specific theme. (Click here to review the definition of memoir. Briefly, it focuses on a segment of your life—a specific theme or time period.)

If you’ve based your memoir on a theme, you’ve probably made a list of stand-alone vignettes that pertain to your theme. You’ve written rough drafts of some of them, and others remain on your to-do list. At this point, you’re working with a collection of loosely related stories.

How will you organize those vignettes—those chapters, those stand-alone accounts—in the best order?

Always keep in mind this desired outcome: You want to hand your readers a coherent, organized, satisfying story.

But sometimes accomplishing that task is easier said than done.

“Most people embarking on writing a memoir are paralyzed by the size of the task,” writes William Zinsser. “What to put in? What to leave out? Where to start? Where to stop? How to shape the story? The past looms over them in a thousand fragments, defying them to impose on it some kind of order. Because of that anxiety, many memoirs linger for years half written, or never written at all.” (How To Write a Memoir; emphasis mine)

Don’t let that happen to you! Make a plan—come up with an arrangement for your stories. Determine the best sequence for them.

Here’s an idea: If you’re writing your memoir about family, group your vignettes according to these topics:

• stories about your sister
• stories about your grandfather
• stories about your cousins
• stories about your grandchildren, etc.

Deciding on your structure can be as easy as that.

Here’s another idea: Choose a poem as your theme and use it to establish your structure.

For example, look at this poem Kathy Pooler wrote. While you read it, take note: Each line could be the topic of a separate chapter.

After the dry cough that lingered,

After that December night of not being able to breathe,

After all those trips to the clinic for chemotherapy,

After the trips to Boston for a stem cell transplant,

After my bald head, covered in hats for each season,

After the nausea, retching and fatigue,

After all those sleepless nights of uncertainty,

After the scans, needle sticks and Neupogen shots…

You held me close and told me I was beautiful and never stopped believing I would recover.

(Kathleen Pooler)

A poem like Kathy’s could provide you with an effective framework (and result in a powerful story).

Here’s yet another idea: Choose a Bible passage as your theme and use its verses as your structure. For example, each of the Beatitudes could serve as the topic of one chapter:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

(Matthew 5:3-10)

Use each Beatitude as a chapter and write stories that illustrate what it means and how to live it out in everyday life.

For example, for the first Beatitude, define “blessed.” Explain what Jesus meant by “poor in spirit.” Then write one or more accounts about your own experience of living a poor-in-spirit life—or about someone else who lived a poor-in-spirit life and served as a role model for you. Define what Jesus meant by “kingdom of heaven” and show what the kingdom of heaven looks like in the lives of those who are poor in spirit. And then, in good memoir form, conclude by explaining how living according to that verse shaped you into a different person.

And then write about the second Beatitude, and so on. If you continue writing, using the rest of those verses as chapter titles, you can write a whole memoir!

A good structure can be your friend, your helper.

“The structure is the framework you write into,

your security blanket,

your assurance that all your hard work

will result in a completed manuscript.”

(Priscilla Long, The Writer’s Portable Mentor; emphasis mine)

And that’s what you want, right?

Dedicate time to coming up with a good structure.

You’ll be pleased with your finished memoir,

and your readers will thank you.

Structuring your memoir: Are your vignettes defying you to organize them?

“Now comes the hard part: how to organize the … thing,” says William Zinsser.

Perhaps that’s where you find yourself today, wondering how to structure—how to arrange—your vignettes into a pleasing order.

Vignettes: Assorted memories written as stand-alone accounts. Essays, each related to your memoir’s theme .

When structured well, your collection of vignettes will tell a complete and satisfying story.

“Most people embarking upon a memoir,” Zinsser continues, “are paralyzed by the size of the task. What to put in? What to leave out? Where to start? Where to stop? How to shape the story? The past looms over them in a thousand fragments, defying them to impose on it some kind of order. Because of that anxiety, many memoirs linger for years half written, or never written at all.” (William Zinsser, How to Write a Memoir; emphasis mine)

Zinsser nailed it. My pile of vignettes has been lingering for too many years. Recently I’ve worked on several old pieces, revising, polishing, and trying to organize them, but stringing them together—finding just the right arrangement for them—is puzzling. Zinsser nailed it again: So far, my vignettes are defying me to impose on them some kind of order. How about you?

Let’s take a closer look at structuring. (Don’t miss Your memoir’s structure: think of it as your helper.)

Structuring is creating a framework for telling your story so it will have maximum impact on your readers.

"Structure is a selection of events from the character's life stories that is composed into a strategic sequence to arouse specific emotions and to express a specific view of life." (Robert McKee, Story; emphasis mine)

Finding that strategic sequence—that’s my quest. Yours too.

OK then, what are your choices for assembling your vignettes into a strategic sequence?

Perhaps the most obvious choice would be arranging them chronologically. See my previous blog post, “Where are you from” and your memoir’s structure.

Assembling your vignettes chronologically, however, might not be the best way to tell your story. For example, you could organize them by themes. If you choose a non-chronological structure, be sure to read Your personal timeline will help your memoir’s readers.

I found a helpful blog post written by PJ Reece entitled How to Create a Story Structure to Die For.

PJ writes fiction and screenplays, but her technique works for memoir, too. Jon Franklin presents a similar structure idea in Writing for Story: Craft Secrets of Dramatic Nonfiction by a Two-Time Pulitzer Prize Winner.

Over the past twenty years, PJ has discovered that “a conventional story is actually Two Stories. In the gap between the two lies the Heart of the Story.” And “in that dark heart of the story, the hero will experience a death.”

“Death” can be defined in various ways: failure, despair, loss, disappointment, betrayal, or an obstacle, among others. “…Failure and disappointment are integral” to stories, PJ says. “Loss and disenchantment are central to a good story.”

“Story One comprises all the action leading to the hero’s disillusionment,” she explains.

Story One is about a person’s desire for something: a life-long dream, an expectation, a goal—but a complication throws up a roadblock. It can be something internal or external, and it makes fulfilling the dream seem impossible. It’s an obstacle that threatens the hope of achieving the goal. PJ describes it as “.… the chain of events that brings a hero to his knees.” (This unresolved problem supplies the all-important tension and suspense that keep readers reading to discover the problem’s resolution.)

The Heart of the Story comes next. It lies “between the failure and redemption.…” PJ describes it as the “death of the old belief system accompanied by insights into one’s higher nature.” This is where the person recognizes his hopes and expectations were unrealistic. Maybe his dreams were misguided. The time has come to challenge his assumptions. It’s where, PJ says, “most protagonists would straightaway fall into the dark heart of the story and wake-up to the facts of life.”

Story Two is about the resolution. Story Two is the new person that emerges on the other side. He has recognized his delusions and misconceptions and has made corrections. He has dealt with his failure or loss. He knows himself better. He sees his life and his place the world more accurately than before. The process was painful, but he has come out a better man, a stronger, more mature man. He now pursues the right dreams and goals in the right way.

Jon Franklin calls that progression “the odyssey from complication to resolution.”

A story that works, says Franklin, “will consist of a real person who is confronted with a significant problem, who struggles diligently to solve that problem, and who ultimately succeeds—and in doing so becomes a different character.”  (Writing for Story)

So, PJ and Franklin have shed light on the bigger picture when it comes to structuring our memoirs, but the day comes when you must pin down a specific order for your vignettes. 

If you want to arrange them according to theme  (rather than chronologically), William Zinsser suggests that once you’ve written a number of vignettes, “spread them on the floor. (The floor is often a writer’s best friend.) Read them through and see what they tell you and what patterns emerge. They will tell you what your memoir is about and what it’s not about. They will tell you what’s primary and what’s secondary, what’s interesting and what’s not, what’s emotional, what’s important, what’s funny, what’s unusual, what’s worth pursuing and expanding. You’ll begin to glimpse your story’s narrative shape and the road you want to take. Then all you have to do is put the pieces together.” (How to Write a Memoir)

You might be saying, “Yeah, right, all I have to do it put the pieces together. Easier said than done.”

If you struggle to find the structure, “you must rely on blind faith that sooner or later it will appear,” says Judith Barrington. “You may need and enjoy the freedom of relative formlessness for a while—but not forever.”

And even when you think you’ve discovered the right structure, “You must be willing to adapt it, revise it, tinker with it, or entirely rethink it.” (Judith Barrington, Writing the Memoir)

“Entirely rethink it.” That’s a good point. Maybe you’re like me: My vignettes don’t fit into just one memoir. I am dividing my stories into two or three memoirs, each with its own theme and message.

Related posts:

Your Memoir’s structure: think of it as a helper

“Where are youfrom?” and your memoir’s structure

Your finished memoir: how do you envision it? 

Your homes: their roles in your life’s story

Recently you’ve been dreaming about your finished memoir, its title, and its cover. I hope this is fun for you!

You’re also thinking about your memoir’s structure, its framework: how you arrange the order of your chapters. How can you organize them in a way that will appeal most to your readers?

We’ve considered several options for your structure:

• Chronological
• Theme
• Flashback
• “Where I’m From”

Today I’ll offer another option: Your homes. I got this idea while reading Diana Trautwein’s Trip Down Memory Lane at her blog, DRGT / Just Wondering, at http://drgtjustwondering.blogspot.com.

Recently Diana and her husband drove by the four homes they’ve lived in during their 45 years of marriage. The experience brought back a flood of memories for Diana, some of which she wrote about in her post. You’ll enjoy her Trip Down Memory Lane and photos of those lovely homes at http://drgtjustwondering.blogspot.com/2011/06/trip-down-memory-lane.html.

Diana’s story got me thinking about structure: You could arrange your memoir into divisions according to your homes and the events that happened while living in them.

If you’ve stayed put most of your life, this framework won’t offer much excitement for you or your readers, but for those who have moved a few times, this could be an interesting choice for structuring your memoirs.

Similar to the structure in Wednesday’s blog post, a Table of Contents would look like this:

Part 1: Our Home at 1489 Blueberry Lane

          Chapter 1’s title

          Chapter 2’s title

          Chapter 3’s title

          Chapter 4’s title

Part 2: Our Home at 815 Washington Street

          Chapter 5’s title

          Chapter 6’s title

          Chapter 7’s title

          Chapter 8’s title

          Chapter 9’s title

And so on.

Think about it. Give it a try. Maybe it will work well for you.

Be sure to include photos, and don’t forget addresses! Decades from now your great-grandchildren might like to drive by your old homes!

“Where Are You From?” and your memoir’s structure

I have a new idea and I’m eager to share it with you!

It started with last Wednesday’s intriguing exercise, “Where Are You From?” (or “Where I’m From” ). If you haven’t read that, here’s a link. You don’t want to miss it—it’s good.  http://spiritualmemoirs101.blogspot.com/2011/08/where-are-you-from.html

You can write your own “Where I’m From” as stand-alone piece, or—here’s my new idea: You could:

• write it chronologically,
• divide it into segments, and
• use each as an introduction to a set of chapters that took place during that block of time.

Confusing? Here’s an example.

I’ve written my “Where I’m From” chronologically, starting with my earliest memories—around age three. The first page or so covers up to age eight. That segment of my essay (excerpt below) could serve as an introduction to a division in my book.

Here’s what I mean. The page introducing Part One would look something like this:

Part One:

My First Eight Years

I am from Jerry and Kay, children of the Great Depression, accustomed to hard work and sacrifice and doing without.

I am from Jerry and Kay who came of age during World War II, patriotic young people who looked death—and life—in the face. Young adults committed to frugality and honorable conduct and self-discipline.

I am from grasshoppers in sun-baked grasses.

I am from the Inland Empire’s deep-freeze blizzard of 1950 the day my baby brother was born.

I am from a Zenith black-and-white TV with an Indian-silhouetted test pattern.…

I am from “The B. I. B. L. E. Yes that’s the book for me.…” and “Eensy Weensy Spider” and “I’m a Little Tea Pot.”

I’m from the annual Scottish Picnic, all dressed up in my tartan kilt, ruffly white blouse, and bonnet.

I am from “two jerks of a little dead mousie’s tail.”

I am from rustling wheat fields and unrelenting August sun and powdery Palouse soil and pie cherries from my grandparents’ backyard tree.…

I am from lilacs and hollyhocks and daisies.…

Following that segment of “Where I’m From,” readers could find chapters pertaining to that period of my life.

This portion of a Table of Contents would look like this:

Part 1: My First Eight Years

          Chapter 1’s title

          Chapter 2’s title

          Chapter 3’s title

          Chapter 4’s title

At age eight, my family moved across the state and everything changed.

Here, then, I could use segment two (excerpt below) of my “Where I’m From” as an introduction to the second division in my book.

Part Two:

Mist and Moss and  Salt-sea Air 

I am from a Mayflower moving van, transported to mist and moss and salt-sea air.

I am from untamed blackberry vines and emerald grass and mountains reaching heaven.

I am from foghorns and ferryboats and salmon sizzling over driftwood-and-seaweed beachfires.…

The Table of Contents would then look like this:

Part 1: My First Eight Years

          Chapter 1’s title

          Chapter 2’s title

          Chapter 3’s title

          Chapter 4’s title

          Chapter 5’s title

Part 2: Mist and Moss and Salt-sea Air

          Chapter 6’s title

          Chapter 7’s title

          Chapter 8’s title

          Chapter 9’s title

And so on.

I’m intrigued with the idea, are you?

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Related posts:

Where are you from? http://spiritualmemoirs101.blogspot.com/2011/08/where-are-you-from.html

Your memoir’s structure  http://spiritualmemoirs101.blogspot.com/2011/09/your-memoirs-structure-think-of-it-as.html