![]() ![]() Or it can take a person down from a height and back up again. The space traveled in the story can run through deep emotional territory, maybe even some dark and sinister lands, and out into freedom and safety. As much as any story is a journey, well-written memoirs are a chronicle of one’s emotional journey through a challenging, dangerous, destructive, or otherwise difficult period of their lives. They are selective and thematically driven. They are a slice of a person’s life, focused as much on the writer's emotional reaction to a situation as they are about the facts of the situation. Memoirs, in turn, are built around a definable arc that typically encompasses a particular time or event in a person’s life. They focus on the accurate details with little attention to emotion and theme. A biography is an entire life story, rich in factual detail, plumbing the depths and details of the author’s achievements and dealings, with a fastidious attention to the correct chronology and timeline of the person’s life and events. Biographies are a comprehensive telling of a life story. Story structure is one of the main features that differentiates memoirs from biographies. ![]() So, I believe, the proper story structure is vital to the commercial success of your memoir. ![]() This allows publishers to promote them through the same channels they use to break out the best-selling fiction. Publishers call these stories that have a larger appeal commercial memoirs because they have a broad appeal. Those who can turn their lifetime experiences into a closely woven narrative that keeps readers turning the pages have a potential for a wider success among a wider audience of readers. Readers expectations have been nurtured and satisfied through a wide range of stories told by people from every conceivable walk of life. They read for the excitement of some kind of transformation, of a victory, of romance, or a family relationship rekindled, of escape, a breakthrough, or a business success. They know something is not only going to happen, but they expect it to occur in certain patterns. Readers have expectations when it comes to the stories they read. One thing they all have in common is that the author lives through a series of events that produced some type of transformation over time. Today we have memoirs in so many different categories: coming of age, sickness, near death, school experiences, sexual experiences, spiritual experiences, career achievement, business, adventure, and politics are among the most popular. It allows authors to shape their experiences into a narrative that fits their life. The memoir is a flexible storytelling form. This story structure is embedded in our culture and our thinking and raises readers expectations concerning the stories they enjoy. (Or it could be vice versa, film has refined a structure that’s become commonplace in novels). Why does a memoir have to live up to the storytelling found in fiction, you’re wondering? Isn’t a memoir what actually happened to you and novels are made up stories? While you’re correct on both counts, contemporary fiction has defined the structure of the story that is seen today in both films and books. If there are a couple of good reasons for working with a personal memoir ghostwriter, the previous statement says it all. In speaking with literary agents and editors who deal every day with selling and publishing memoirs, one comment stands out to me: Memoirs have to be as well-written and a page-turner as the best fiction. If you’re not writing a celebrity memoir then I’d like to give you a few ideas on what it takes to write a memoir that has a wide enough appeal to attract a royalty paying publisher.Īs memoirs continue to increase in popularity, the publishing standards for personal stories have risen appreciably. The only people who don’t have problems selling their personal stories are celebrities. But if your story is constructed and written to appeal to a broad audience, it is possible to find success. Publishing a personal story with a traditional publisher is challenging. They want to know that if they hire someone like myself, would they be able to get their work published. They know writing their personal story is difficult, so that’s why they reach out to me, a personal memoir ghostwriter. I talk to people every week who want to write a memoir.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |