Must-know info about your memoir’s theme

Are you following Spiritual Memoirs 101 on Facebook?

If not, you’re missing a lot of helps and inspiration!

By definition, a memoir has a theme. A memoir is not an autobiography. A memoir is only a slice of life—a segment of life—related to a specific theme.

Think about themes illustrating universal values or struggles, timeless truths, or quests:

• forgiveness
• compassion
• justice
• integrity
• generosity
• faith
• courage
• respect
• honesty
• receiving and giving grace and mercy
• faithfulness, commitment, keeping promises

For example, you might write a memoir about working as a chef in a fancy Scottish castle, an experience which caused you to discover (or to re-think) how important honesty is.

Or you could write about your life as a set designer in Hollywood and how that taught you the difference between fair-weather friends and true friends.

Another idea: You could write a collection of vignettes based on the same theme as Spiritual Memoirs 101, “Always remember what you’ve seen God do and be sure to tell your kids and grandkids” (Deuteronomy 4:9).

Alternatively, you could slice your life in a different direction and write about a specific time period. My first memoir, Grandma’s Letters from Africa, covers my first four years working in Africa as a journalist-missionary. Within that time period, the book includes universal struggles relating to family and faith.

Strive to include timeless values, struggles, and quests that resonate with a variety of people. And, like Jeff Goins says, a good memoir “always connects the reader’s heart with a deeper truth. . . . Memoir is about something that is bigger than you. It’s about a part of life we can all connect to.”

Your memoir’s theme will convey the message you want readers to take with them. Your theme presents lessons they can apply to their lives.

So, the question is: Do you know your memoir’s theme?

If you’re still writing your memoir and don’t have your theme pinned down yet, don’t worry.

Not yet, anyway.

That’s because—and this is delightful—it’s amazing what we discover, what our stories become, in the process of writing.

While writing, we will probably notice a broad theme. Then, as we continue writing, we recognize more specific themes hidden in those words and chapters. Our stories can take us to places we could never have imagined!

Take note: By the time you finish your first draft of the whole memoir, you should know what its main theme is (and what its secondary themes are).

Dr. John Yeoman says that this way: “. . . Write a story that works. Then stand back from it and ask, ‘what does this story mean?’ And strengthen the latent theme . . . that’s already there.”

Dr. Yeoman also says, “If you can’t sum it up in a proverb, you don’t have a theme.”

Are you looking for proverbs, universal truths you’ve lived?

Wisdom quotes you’ve lived? Bible verses you’ve lived?

The living of them qualifies you to write about them!

Your story is important.

If you’re struggling to find a theme for your memoir, here are a few one-liners and quotes that might give you great ideas:

“If things are tough, remember that every flower that ever bloomed had to go through a whole lot of dirt to get there.” Barbara Johnson

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Edmund Burke

“What if this is a critical moment? What if this very thing, this very decision, is the most important piece of the puzzle comprising my purpose?” Beth Moore

“In the moment, it can be hard to see where God is leading us, but looking back we often see his fingerprints.”  Richard Stearns

“If you live gladly to make others glad in God, life will be hard, risks will be high, and your joy will be full.” John Piper

“. . . Reframe setbacks as opportunities. . . .” Sarah Young

“If you were to think of yourself the way I [God] think of you, how different you would be. . . . If you were to think of yourself as I think of you, how glad, how healthy, how satisfied you would be.” Marie Chapian

“If a person is ever going to do anything worthwhile, there will be times when he must risk everything by his leap in the dark.” Oswald Chambers

“There’s a time to mourn and a time to dance.” Ecclesiastes 3:4

“All around you people will be tiptoeing through life, just to arrive at death safely. But dear children, do not tiptoe. Run, leap, skip, or dance, just don’t tiptoe.” Shane Claiborne

“Adversity is like a strong wind. It tears away from us all but the things that cannot be torn, so that we see ourselves as we really are.” Arthur Golden

“Living a life of faith means never knowing where you are being led. But it does mean loving and knowing the One who is leading.” Oswald Chambers

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid. . . . The Lord your God goes with you.” Deuteronomy 31:6

“Do it trembling if you must, but do it!” Emmet Fox

“Write today’s worries in sand. Chisel yesterday’s victories in stone.” Max Lucado

“What we resist in life is often our biggest opportunity to learn and grow!” Jody Stevenson

“Sometimes your medicine bottle has on it, ‘Shake well before using.’ That is what God has to do with some of His people. He has to shake them well before they are ever usable.” Vance Havner

“I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.” Paul in Philippians 4:12

“Our loving God will turn your mourning into joy, He will comfort you and exchange your sorrow for rejoicing.” Jeremiah 31:13

You’ll find rich material in these links relating to a memoir’s theme:

“Three Rules to Write World-Changing Memoir,” by Jeff Goins

“Better Memoir Writing—Two Tips for Conveying Theme Effectively,” by Denis Ledoux

“Why Your Story Needs a Theme,” by Amanda Patterson

“The power of THEME,” by Dr. John Yeoman

Add richness to your memoir’s chapters by using epigrams

Have you considered including epigrams at the beginning of your memoir’s chapters?

An epigram is a concise saying that illuminates or summarizes the important message in a chapter.

An epigram's value is this: it helps make your story relatable and memorable for your readers. 

It can be a proverb, a quotation, or something clever. Or perhaps a Bible verse or a line from a song or poem.

It can be an adage, a maxim, a witticism, a precept, a pithy saying, or a prayer.

You can find materials for epigrams all around you. The supply is almost limitless.

If you’re like me, you’ve saved poems and quotations everywhere—in journals, in filing cabinets, in computer documents—and you’ve underlined passages in books, you’ve highlighted verses in your Bible, and you’ve memorized song lyrics.

They caught your attention because they have a special meaning for you, and that means some of them could make powerful epigrams for your memoir’s chapters.

Here are a few ideas to get you thinking:

“A dog is a man’s best friend.” (English proverb)  

"Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better." (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.) 

"Lord, send someone else to do it!" (Moses, Exodus 14:13) 

“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do.” (Eleanor Roosevelt)

“When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don’t throw away the ticket and jump off. You sit still and trust the engineer.” (Corrie Ten Boom)

“The Bible is … a thin place through which the presence of God breaks into this world and bursts with unpredictable consequences into our lives.…” (Chris Webb, The Fire of the Word)

“’Tis good to give a stranger a meal, or a night’s lodging … and give courage to a companion.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

“When elephants fight, the grass gets hurt.” (East African Proverb)

“One person is thin porridge; two or three people are a handful of stiff cooked cornmeal.” (East African Proverb)

“Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” (Chinese proverb)

“A man of knowledge uses words with restraint.… Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, and discerning if he holds his tongue.” (Proverbs 17:27-28)

“A fool and his money are soon parted.” (English proverb)

“Our life is too short for pettiness, angry words, wounded feelings, crushed souls. Perhaps the measure of life is not in its length, but in its love.” (John Burroughs)

“At times God will seem like an unkind friend, but He is not; He will appear like an unnatural father, but He is not; He will appear like an unjust judge, but He is not.… Not even the smallest detail of life happens unless God’s will is behind it. Therefore, you can rest in complete confidence in Him.” (Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest)

“No man is an island, entire of itself.…” (John Donne) 

"God does not give us overcoming life—He gives us life as we overcome. The strain of life is what builds our strength.... Overcome your own timidity and take the first step." (Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest)

"Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. He who goes out weeping … will return with songs of joy." (Psalm 126:5–6)

“The test of courage comes when we are in the minority; the test of tolerance comes when we are in the majority.” (Ralph W. Sockman)

"You have never been this way before." (Joshua 3:4)

“Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.” (Abraham Lincoln)

"From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded." (Luke 12:48) 

"We have the idea that God is going to do some exceptional thing, that He is preparing and fitting us for some extraordinary thing by and by, but as we go on in grace we find that God is glorifying Himself here and now, in the present minute." (Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest)

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.)

 “Sometimes faith is the absence of fear. Other times faith may be choosing to believe God even when your heart is melting with fear. Perhaps, then, faith is tested by what we do with fear, not whether or not we have it.” (Beth Moore, Breaking Free)

“… A single candle can both defy and define the darkness.” (Anne Frank)

 “He will respond to the prayer of the destitute; he will not despise their plea. Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise the Lord.” (Psalm 102:17-18)

“Gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.”( G.K. Chesterton)

“People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.” (Elisabeth Kubler-Ross)

“We are not meant to be seen as God’s perfect, bright-shining examples, but to be seen as the everyday essence of ordinary life exhibiting the miracle of His grace.” (Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest)

“Humility is the most difficult of all virtues to achieve; nothing dies harder than the desire to think well of oneself.” (T.S. Eliot)

“God is already working on Plan B even as Plan A lies in shambles around your feet.” (John Claypool)

“Courage is contagious. When a brave young man takes a stand, the spines of others are stiffened.” (Billy Graham)

“It’s not so much that we’re afraid of change … but it’s that in between place that we fear. It’s like being between trapezes. It’s Linus when his blanket is in the dryer. There’s nothing to hold onto.” (Marilyn Ferguson)

“The will of God is never exactly what you expect it to be. It may seem to be worse, but in the end it’s going to be a lot better and a lot bigger.” (Elisabeth Elliot)

“Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little.” (Edmund Burke)

“… I can honestly say that out of the deepest pain has come the strongest conviction of the presence of God and the love of God.” (Elizabeth Elliot)

“There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm.” (Willa Cather)

“The flower that blooms in adversity is the rarest and most beautiful of all.” (Walt Disney)

What are some of your favorite sayings? 

Leave them in the comments section below. 

Who knows? One of them 

might be exactly what someone else is looking for!