The Memoir Revolution

Tag: Author Interview

September 10, 2019

Lifelong learning: tips for memoir writers

Author Interview, Memoirs

Author Interview, Les Arbuckle, Memoirs, Saigon kids, Vietnam

After all the living to acquire our experiences, at some point we look back and wonder how to tell that story. And that starts up a new story, the experience of being a writer in adulthood requires lifelong learning.

Written by

Jerry Waxler
May 27, 2018

Author Interview: Memoir into Fiction

Memoirs

Author Interview, Catch a Dream Catch a Dream, Fiction, interview, memoir, spirituality, Wendy Brown

The novel Catch a Dream describes such an intense, extraordinary life experience. It surprises me that most of it really happened and that you started writing it as a memoir. Tell me more about the events that you actually lived through.

Written by

Jerry Waxler
September 7, 2012

George Orwell and Memoirs: How Literature Changes Lives

Andrea Chalupa, Author Interview

Andrea Chalupa, Animal Farm, Author Interview, history, Joseph Stalin, Kiev, memoir, nonfiction, Orwell, Ukraine

As I sort out the whole situation, I feel like I am listening to a gigantic concert which weaves the three books, the one by George Orwell, which exposes Stalin’s cruelty, a second by Chalupa’s grandfather which puts a human face on the millions of refugees, and a third by the granddaughter, a book about…

Written by

Jerry Waxler
February 28, 2012

Interview With The Man Who Couldn’t Eat, Part 2

Author Interview, Jon Reiner

Author Interview, chronic illness, Crohn’s Disease, food, hospitals, hunger, intestines, Jon Reiner, Man Who Couldn’t Eat, memoir, radical honesty

When I understood what event would comprise the end of the story, I also acknowledged that the event marked the one-year anniversary from the inciting incident at the beginning of the story. The narrative would encompass the natural closure of a 12-month calendar, and I felt that it therefore demanded an appropriate measure of closure…

Written by

Jerry Waxler
July 11, 2011

A Memoir Author Comments on His Beginning and End

David W. Berner

Author Interview, craft, David W. Berner, memoir, motivation, structure

I hope the reader would finish the book with the belief that although our past may be gone through the passage of time, it has left an indelible mark, a branding on all of us. And we should not dismiss it even when it’s painful or troubling; we should embrace it, use it to our…

Written by

Jerry Waxler
June 28, 2011

On Writing a Memoir: Interview with Author David W. Berner

David W. Berner, midlife crisis

Author Interview, David W. Berner, memoir, mentor, motivation, tenacity

David W. Berner changed directions in mid-life, and became a teacher. Then he wrote a memoir “Accidental Lessons” about how his second chance gave him a deeper appreciation for life than his first. The book is an important one for anyone who is attempting to reinvent themselves in order to keep up with changes in…

Written by

Jerry Waxler
March 8, 2011

Character Development of a Novel’s Hero

Judi Hendricks

Author Interview, character arc, creativity, fact, Fiction, Judi Hendricks

You both went from incomplete people to much more aware and fulfilled people by working in the bakery. As a reader, I love this inner arc, which shows your character’s personal development. This is one of the reasons I read memoirs, to see how people grow, and I’m glad you reflected that part of your…

Written by

Jerry Waxler
February 18, 2011

A Novelist Plays at the Border of Fact and Fiction

Author Interview, Judi Hendricks

Author Interview, creativity, fact, Fiction, Judi Hendricks

I’ve always said my career as a novelist began in a bakery, which seems appropriate, because the longer I practice both writing and baking the more similarities I see between them. Bread is a process–slow, arduous, messy, unpredictable. You can say all the same things about a book. Bread is composed of distinct ingredients, that…

Written by

Jerry Waxler
February 14, 2011

A novelist comes alive in a memoir, or is it the other way around?

Rick Skwiot

Author Interview, endings, essay, Journaling, memoir, Mexico, Rick Skwiot

Life is struggle, for everyone, and those who have the inner resources and high spirits to fight on in the face of great adversity are those we most admire. Like you, I want to hear their stories, not the stories of quitters, pessimists and whiners. The protagonists don’t have to succeed in reaching their goals,…

Written by

Jerry Waxler
February 4, 2011

A Memoirist Talks About the Backstory of His Memoir

Author Interview, Rick Skwiot

Author Interview, backstory, essay, expatriate, Journaling, memoir, Mexico, Rick Skwiot, structure

I don’t think I consciously crafted a self-portrait here. I was just trying to report on this guy who went to Mexico and found himself, and how that came about. For most any memoirist, there are two first-person characters: the author/narrator who is writing it and the historical character who experienced the events in the…

Written by

Jerry Waxler