Think about it the reader doesn’t want to be sad throughout the story they’d never make it through the memoir. Keeping people laughing throughout your memoir is the best way to keep them reading right up to the last word.īringing a lighter side to dark events that happened in your life makes people feel more at ease. The secret to keeping readers’ attention is value and character, but first, you need the hook, the promise that causes them to read the next paragraph, and then the paragraph after that until you’ve won them over and they stay. If your birth coincided with dramatic world events, start your story with your birth, but if something momentous happened in your life at another point in time, start with it and draw the reader into your story with a vivid scene describing the event. Start with a strong character (most likely yourself) and a compelling situation that creates momentum and energy. Once you’ve finished the first draft, you can go back and write the perfect opening. You don’t have to write in chronological order the best thing to do is write the part that inspires you the most. The hardest part of writing is the opening as soon as you sit down to write, the perfect introduction can become elusive.įor this reason, most people will write the opening last. The beginning is your ‘calling card’, and its role is to compel your audience to continue reading. Your aim with the beginning is to intrigue your audience sufficiently that they want to find out more–a writer needs to make the first paragraph the best.
Moving the ending to the beginning can increase the power of your opening paragraphs. And to make an end is to make a beginning. ‘What we call the beginning is often the end. Eliot advocated beginning a story at the end. If you open with the ending, you are in good company. You may start at the beginning, somewhere in between or at the end.
#Writing a memoir how to#
How To Start A MemoirĪs the writer, it’s up to you to decide where to drop your readers into your story. If you are writing a memoir or life story, you may think you have to start with your birth and progress chronologically to the present.īut you don’t have to adhere to this structure.
In my memoir writing workshops, a question participants often ask me is: ‘Where should I start my story? At my birth? An important milestone? A momentous occasion?’ The beginning of a story is an essential part because it captures your readers’ imagination and keeps them reading.
0 kommentar(er)
