Category: Favorites
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Family Psychology Lessons in Memoirs
The memoir Freeways to Flipflops demonstrates just such a solution applied to the entire family system. Surprisingly, the sophisticated intervention is not administered by a trained family therapist but through the intuitive intelligence and courage of the mother. The family intervention Sonia Marsh administers is as bold and far reaching an example of family systems…
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Show Don’t Tell: Difference Between Fiction and Memoir
However, if we adhere too closely to techniques that work in fiction, we miss important opportunities to help readers understand our authentic, real-life experience. To develop a strong memoir writing voice, consider the differences between fiction and memoir writing. Here are three areas in which the forms differ.
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Memoir as a Hero’s Journey: Character Arc and Homecoming
Heroes often return home at the end of the story. Ulysses famously returns to his home in Ithaca after fighting in the Trojan War, and Dorothy returns home at the end of Wizard of Oz. The return home at the end of an adventure is so important there’s a Greek name for it: Nostoi. With…
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How Should I Begin My Memoir?
When the reader opens the book, you must snare their attention and convince them they are going for an interesting ride. Within the first few paragraphs you need to introduce the protagonist and create a sense of interest and relationship as well as portents of disruption and development.
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Is this the year to write your parent’s memoir?
To counter the reasons to stall, focus on the many reasons to proceed. When you see their lives unfold as a story, you will gain a deeper insight into their humanity. They had hopes, desires, pressures from their parents, and if they were like most people, they defied their parents in ways that may still…
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Memoir Writing as a Form of Therapy
After all this work, I finally found a way that begins to make sense. Rather than speculate who I might be, I simply can review who I really am. Memoirs are a fascinating window into the workings of life, and they are filled with lessons that don’t require any jargon or psychological theory.
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Your character evolves through time – a memoir prompt
By Jerry Waxler Read how our collective interest in turning life into story is changing the world, one story at a time. Look at the sky. Then look again. Nothing changed, and yet everything changed. Ticks of the clock add up and after enough of them, the earth turns again. Day by day, you brush…
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Is it narcissistic to write your memoir?
by Jerry Waxler Read how our collective interest in turning life into story is changing the world, one story at a time. A woman in my workshop wondered if it’s narcissistic to write a memoir. I take such objections seriously, because they can drain away enthusiasm from this project. To help anticipate and refute these…
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