creativity
Make them memorable
The first line of any memoir should
grasp the reader’s attention. The trick
to writing the first line is often to
finalise it towards the end of the first
draft, when it’s become clear to you
what that hook is. Memorable ones
give us a clue to the rest of the story:
“A few months after my twenty-first
birthday, a stranger called to give me
the news.”
Dreams from My Father by Barack
Obama
“When my mother was angry with
me, which was often, she said,
‘The Devil led us to the wrong crib.’”
Why be Happy When You Could be
Normal? by Jeanette WintersonExercise 1
Draft an initial page of text on a pivotal
moment of your life, which will create
a focus and material on which to build.Put yourself at the centre
Keep in mind that you are the most
important person in your memoir, this
is your story and all the memories you
utilise must relate to your story in
some way. It is useful to remember this
when you are writing, because it will
help you work out what to keep in and
what to leave out.“I was three or perhaps four years old
when I realised that I had been born
into the wrong body and should really
be a girl.”
Conundrum by Jan Morris
“I met Pablo Picasso in May 1943,
during the German Occupation of
France. I was twenty-one and I felt
already that painting was my
whole life.”
Life with Picasso by Françoise GilotExercise 4
Draft your personal ‘back story’ in
note form. This will help you evaluate
key aspects that illuminate the other
characters – a childhood friend, a
teacher, a grandparent – that could
feature in your memoir, the specific
details of which had an influence on
you and on which you can build the
telling of your story.Exercise 2
Focusing entirely on yourself, draft
a word portrait of how you remember
yourself at that time. This is utterly
subjective and will be different to how
others remember you or the event, but
it’s your starting point for your story.Flicking through photos is
a great way to find your
starting point – is there an
event which jumps out as
the start of something or
a change in direction?Photog
rap
hy^ AnnieSprattFind time to write
whenever you can
and be prepared
to edit drafts.Find common ground
While everyone’s life is unique and
some are exceptional, there are many
aspects of life that are universal. We
all feel happy, sad, angry or lonely at
times. Few of us spend our days, as
Proust did, in a cork-lined room but
are the sum of our relationships and
experiences, defined by some if not all
of them. However, we all experience
times of disappointment, grief or
wonder; these are points of reference
that will resonate with readers, even
if it’s our individual experiences that
create the stories. ‘I know how you
feel,’ we might say to a friend sharing
a story about some experience, and
although the circumstances are
different, and specific to each of us, it
is the universality of our feelings that
enables the reader to identify with us.
It’s this which will engage the reader.Exercise 3
Draft six different first lines. This can
help to find an initial starting point that
can guide the emphasis of your story.