Writing Memoir: The Practical Guide to Writing and Publishing the Story of Your Life - Softcover

Payne, Jerry

4.4

45 ratings by Goodreads

9780983581482: Writing Memoir: The Practical Guide to Writing and Publishing the Story of Your Life

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0983581487 ISBN 13: 9780983581482

Publisher: Faydelis Press, 2016

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Done properly, memoir is more than just a recitation of facts about a person's life. It's a journey, connecting writer and reader in that shared space where we all experience what it means to be human. In the award-winning "Writing Memoir: The Practical Guide to Writing and Publishing the Story of Your Life," Jerry Payne details, in an easy-to-follow way, how to take the particulars of one's life and weave them into a moving, compelling, page-turning story. Using examples from his own works as well as other works from the masters of the genre, Payne discusses narrative arc, theme, character development, description, dialogue, flow, and voice.Concise, yet comprehensive, "Writing Memoir" also covers essential concerns like how to construct an effective outline, how to avoid common errors of grammar and punctuation, how to go about editing and rewriting, how to view one's book critically and objectively, and the ins and outs of both traditional publishing and self-publishing.

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From the Author:

I'm a ghostwriter. That means I write for other people. (Not everyone knows this. Once, a cab driver in Key West, hearing what I did for a living, excitedly told me that I'd come to the right place because "we've got lots of great ghost stories in this town!") In my career, I've written or edited various business how-to books, medical books, diet and nutrition books, geopolitical books, a gardening book, a book on sunken treasure, and a book on how to quit smoking. Mostly, however, I've written memoirs. I wrote one not long after I started my ghostwriting career and was so drawn to the experience, I soon found myself focusing on them.

Memoirs are special. As I discuss in my book, and as you may discover in the process of writing your memoir, there is something profoundly revelatory in exploring a life to the depth that's required to write about it. I make a case in the very first chapter that any honest memoir does just this. A memoir is an exploration. And each memoir I've worked on has been illuminating in its own unique way. I suppose that's not surprising; every memoir is unique because every life is unique.

It's the exploration that's the key. In the book, I talk about the objectivity and self-awareness true exploration requires. Good memoirs help generate self-awareness,which, in turn, makes good memoirs. Poor memoirs lack this quality. Poor memoirs are often superficial and self-absorbed and egotistical. Unfortunately,there are too many of this kind of memoir. "Here, let me tell you how interesting I am." No, thanks. If that's your idea of a memoir, you're probably not going to get much out of my book. A good memoir won't be about you. It'll be about your reader. That's what exploration does. It uncovers that which links us to the human condition. This book is about that link and, therefore, about your connection to the reader.

From the Back Cover:

Connecting Writer and Reader...

Done properly, memoir is more than just a recitation of facts about a person's life. It's a journey, connecting writer and reader in that shared space where we all experience what it means to be human. In Writing Memoir, Jerry Payne details, in a practical, fun way, how you can take the particulars of your life and weave them into a moving, compelling, page-turning story. Using examples from his own works as well as other works from the masters of the genre, Payne lays out everything you need to know about narrative arc, theme, character development, description, dialogue, flow, and voice.

Concise, yet comprehensive, Writing Memoir also covers essential concerns like how to construct an effective outline, how to avoid common errors of grammar and punctuation, how to go about editing and rewriting, how to view your book critically and objectively, and the ins and outs of both traditional publishing and self-publishing--everything you need to know to write and publish the "story of your life."

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