On the other hand, sometimes stories come from a place much closer to home. Each of us has our own stories throughout our lives, moments that have shaped us into the person that we are today. Although not every author is interested in writing a memoir or autobiography, examining the important moments in our own lives and the ways that they’ve formed us is a great way to help create that connection between events and character in your own novel.

For example, take a particularly embarrassing moment that you had in middle school where you spilled milk all over the front of your pants in the middle of the cafeteria. How did that moment, and the feelings that it elicited, change your behavior, how you acted, and your perception of yourself and the world as a whole?

There are also the good important moments, like when you got your first job out of school or met your partner or when you and a family member had a really heartfelt moment together. How did those moments change or shape your life? How did your perspective or character change based on that moment?

Writing Prompt: Make a list of the most important character-shaping moments throughout your own life and why those instances changed you. Choose one and write a scene from that moment. As you’re writing the scene, make sure both you and your readers can see the connection between the event and character development.

Make sure that your readers can see a difference in the character (you) before and after this important event or moment. And, if you want to keep it more anonymous, feel free to change up the character names or even embellish the event if there are portions you can’t completely remember. Being good at embellishing is another important writing skill, right?

The post Writing Prompt: Based on a True Story appeared first on Dorrance Publishing Company.

Memoir vs. Autobiography: Know the difference

Writers often make the mistake of using these two terms interchangeably, but they are actually two very different things. An Autobiography is the story of the entirety of one’s life. All of the events one has experienced or remembers from birth to present. Typically these are done chronologically with an emphasis on factual information, but that isn’t required.

A Memoir, however, draws on a select set of stories or anecdotes from your life to support a specific theme or message. This message would either be something the readers are meant to learn from or a statement on the human condition as a whole. So, for example, say you wanted to write about your experiences being a victim of domestic violence. A memoir would involve pulling the specific stories necessary to tell your experience with that part of your life and, ultimately, how you overcame it and the lessons you learned along the way.

Choose Wisely

Which you choose, ultimately, depends in part on both your goals as well as your influential status. So, for example, if you’re writing the book to be a piece of you to leave with family so they have a chronical of your life, an Autobiography would be best. In addition, an Autobiography would also work well if you’re a celebrity or an influential public figure. When you have influence, readers clamor to hear all of the intricate details of your entire life.

However, should neither of those be the case, we’d recommend going with the Memoir format. This style is more about allowing readers to experience and learn from your life and, if you’re hoping to be established as a writer through this book, this is the right way to go. The focus of a Memoir is more to how to allow readers to gain something valuable from your book, which is conducive with building a following.

Choose a Theme

If you choose to write a Memoir, your first step will be choosing a theme. You’ll likely already have something in mind because that’s typically what prompts people to pursue Memoir writing in the first place. But think on the subject in more detail. You may have a traumatic experience or unique upbringing you’d like to share, but ask yourself: How did the experience affect me? How does it still affect me? Did I overcome the adversity I faced? If so, what did I learn from it? If not, why didn’t I? Make sure you’re choosing a subject that involves a conflict or a journey of some sort, otherwise readers won’t be able to gain any insight from your experiences. Think about it, if your book is about how you easily put yourself through grad school, how are readers supposed to relate? What would they learn from that experience?

Organize Your Story

This next step is applicable to both Autobiographies and Memoirs: get organized! Figure out the best order for the story you want to tell. For some, it’s chronological, but for others, their stories work best jumping back and forth in time. You want to create suspense, drama, and reveals–this is part of what makes any story good. Write down all the events that get the readers from point a (the conflict) and point b (learning the lesson) and figure out the most effective order of events.

Be Brutally Honest

You’re not going to like where we’re going with this, but bear with us. Some writers make the mistake of writing a memoir or autobiography that is actually a barely disguised Burn Book. They write the whole novel from the perspective of how blameless they are for every misfortune in their lives and how everything bad about their life is person A and person B’s fault. If you go this route, similar to the girls from Mean Girls, you’re making a big mistake -huge (different movie, but you get it).

Readers want to relate to you as the protagonist of this book and it can be difficult to relate to someone who paints themselves as perfect. In addition, if you make yourself seemingly flawless and blameless, you’ll come across as arrogant. Never be afraid to own up to things you’ve done wrong and paint a flawed picture of yourself. Not only will readers gain a lot more insight from an honest take, but they’ll relate and empathize with your journey a whole lot more.

Use Fiction Writing Techniques

This is solely for Memoir writers- start thinking like a fiction writer. The goal of your book is to create a compelling story with a specific theme or message that readers can receive. To do this effectively, you’ll need to think of yourself not as yourself, but as the protagonist of a story. Show details rather than tell them, create scenes in a visual and sensory way that readers can experience rather than simply hear about. Use direct and indirect dialogue, character arc, point of view, setups/payoffs, etc., the way a fiction writer would in order to tell a compelling tale that will hook readers in. Your life is no longer your life now, your life is a story. What does that story say?

The post Genre Spotlight: Autobiography/Memoir appeared first on Dorrance Publishing Company.

To keep with that theme, we’re putting the spotlight on Dorrance author, Jared Maxwell, who penned the book Unsung: Memories of an Infantryman.

This autobiography highlights the life of Jared Maxwell, a U.S. Army infantryman, who lived through the darkness of war during a time when the country was focused on Iraq. Maxwell was one of the few who had to live in what was known as the Valley of Death, located in the Korengal Valley in Afghanistan.

Maxwell takes a different approach to describing his experience. He does so in a poetic memoir that touches on the brutality, cruelty, and ruthlessness of war – the aspects that many do not want to hear about.

His memoir brings to light the painful moments that are associated with war, including the graphic memories of wounded and dying comrades. Maxwell eloquently offers his perspective on the war—both hidden and unhidden, such as posttraumatic stress syndrome.

This cathartic memoir provides readers with a chance to view these experiences through the eyes of Maxwell: to see not only the horrors of war but also the touching relationships and life-long bonds that are formed between men in combat. Furthermore, Maxwell articulates in a beautiful manner the topics of death: “We found it, we create it, we endured it, and we braved it.”

The overarching message of Unsung is finding your way back from experiences that have brought you from the lowest of lows, from the brink of death and insanity.

Unsung is Maxwell’s first book. You can get a copy of your own from the Dorrance Bookstore.

Copyright Dorrance Publishing, 2017

The post Dorrance Book Spotlight: Unsung appeared first on Dorrance Publishing Company.

Though an autobiography is an account of a person’s life as written by that person, this genre of writing isn’t much different from fiction.

Let us explain.

When writing a fiction novel, you’re using your imagination to weave a series of connected events that will keep the readers interested and invested in your story. There are characters and plot twists that work together to bring your story to life.

Even though an autobiography is based on factual information about your life, the idea behind the writing doesn’t really divert from fiction. Your autobiography should be treated like any other good story that includes interesting characters and a common theme that holds the story together. So what do you need to do before you start your autobiography?

Here are three tips.

Map it out.

It’s your life. You’ve lived it, and nobody knows it better than you. So take some time to reflect on the timeline of your life. This exercise will help you pinpoint pivotal events, people or situations that changed the course of your life, and recall important dates and other bits of information that you want to include. Your timeline is the structure in which you will write your autobiography. To begin, write everything down. No detail is too small at this point in the planning process. Once you’ve written down all of the information about your life that you might possibly want to include, you can then start weeding out details that might not add any depth to your book. Remember, your autobiography doesn’t have to start at your birth. It’s perfectly appropriate to begin right before the start of the main events you’re describing. It’s also worth noting that your autobiography can include your family history and ancestry as well. This information could add some substance and context to the other details in your book.

Pinpoint the best.

Our lives are full of stories both small and large. However, not every story is worth incorporating into your autobiography. It’s your job to weigh the importance of each story you want to include. If you’re stumped on how to vet your stories, here are a few ideas to get you started:

• Childhood ­– Your younger years are basically the foundation on which your life was built. Though as we said you don’t have to start at birth, you should consider incorporating some tidbits from your childhood, because these younger years pave the way for our entire lives.

• Pivotal moment – There will likely be a point in time that changes the entire landscape of our lives. Whether it’s a career realization, finding your soulmate or embarking on a life-changing journey, you’ll want to talk about that pivotal moment that played a major role in shaping you into the person that you are today.

Be yourself.

When writing your autobiography, be sure to write in your own voice. Authenticity and infusing your own personality into your writing will make your stories more amusing and your life lessons more meaningful. Your autobiography is essentially a portal into your life. Open your heart to your readers and let your prose be clear. Use normal phrases and try not to pollute your writing with large vocabulary words. Write like you’re talking to a friend. Be revealing, let your guard down and tell your story.

Copyright Dorrance Publishing, 2017

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