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.

Hometown: Phoenixville, PA

Book Title: In and Out of Uniform

Genre: Memoir

Dorrance Publishing (DP): Describe your book in 10 words or less.

Lisa Kirk (LK): Inspiring, healing, hopeful, recourse, courageous, liberating, must-read, heart-wrenching.

DP: What made you want to write your book?

LK: I have been through so much in my military career and I wanted to inspire those who had faced the same challenges that I had faced in the book.

DP: How long did it take you to write your book?

LK: It took me about a year to write my book.

DP: How do you choose the names of your characters?

LK: The names of the characters are protected as I didn’t want to give out their actual names based off the story in the book. My family is easy to figure out, but in the military, those who know me will probably know who those individuals are.

DP: What do you do when you have writer’s block?   

LK: I love to listen to spa music or classical music when I get the writer’s block.

DP: What was your favorite chapter (or part) to write and why?

LK: My favorite chapter would have to be Chapter 5: Opportunities. I have accomplished a lot in my career and it is a positive chapter for the readers.

DP: If you were stuck on an island and had to have one person from each category with you, who would they be and why:

a. One character from your book:

LK: My mommy because she is the best.

b. One fictional character:

LK: John Wick because he is a protector.

c. One famous person (living or dead):

LK: Janis Joplin because we would serenade the island with amazing music.

DP: Besides writing, what are your other interests?

LK: I love playing guitar, playing hand pan, and working out. I’m also an artist who loves to do sip-n-paints and giving paintings to others.

DP: Do you keep a journal?

LK: I don’t keep a journal. Cognitive Process Thinking is a form of therapy that I went through in the military that helped me write my trauma out and process it in a certain amount of time. I used these stories in my book to help others.

DP: How did you celebrate the publishing of your book?

LK: I haven’t celebrated my book because I am humble. I seriously want to inspire and keep praying this book will continue to touch and heal those who have dealt with the same similarities that I had.

DP: If your book was made into a movie, who would play the main characters?

LK: I would love to play myself in the movie, but if I cannot be the main character then I would like Regina Davis. I cannot think of any other characters at this time because it would simply be an honor for my book to become a movie.

DP: What did you enjoy most about working with Dorrance Publishing?

LK: Dorrance kept me well-informed throughout the whole process.

DP: Five favorite books of all time?

LK: I am not an avid reader since I am a busy woman.

DP: One sentence of advice for other writers:

LK: Be honest, be strong, and believe.

Are you ready to publish your book? Contact us today!

The post Author Spotlight: Lisa Kirk appeared first on Dorrance Publishing Company.

1) Honesty

Believe it or not, painting yourself as the unabashed hero of your own story will make you very unlikeable to readers. They know you’re the author, so they’ll be going into reading your book with the thought that perhaps your story could be a little biased. You’ll want to cut off that thought as quickly as possible if you want your story to feel believable to your readers. In addition, people have a much easier time empathizing with people who can admit their mistakes and learn from them. As much as you may be tempted to do otherwise, do not embellish or alter the facts to try to make yourself appear more likable. You’ll be robbing your readers of the chance to learn from you and, trust us, they won’t thank you for it.

2) Include more than just your story

Although a memoir focuses on a specific portion of your life that affected or changed you in a way readers could learn from- it’s not all about you. If your memoir feels like a bad first date where the person can’t shut up about themselves, your readers are going to fake an emergency to escape your ego. Instead of solely focusing on how you were feeling from moment to moment during this time of your life, make sure you’re also including the motivations of the people around you. If those people are still part of your life (once you’ve got your Outline done), interview them about the specific scenes in which they’re included. Perhaps they remember things differently than you, this may either help jog your memory or allow you to include a present voice that would give your memoir an interesting layer.

Make sure you remember that, ultimately, your readers want to learn from your experience- that’s why they’re reading your book. So instead of focusing on yourself, focus on what lessons you can impart to your readers.

3) Write In-Scene

As we’ve stated previously, you’ll need to employ the techniques of fiction writers to tell your story effectively. If people wanted a distant third-person narrative of your life, they would be looking for your autobiography (which you’d likely only write if you were a celebrity or for a family legacy). Memoir readers want a scene-by-scene close account of your story. They want specific dialogue, flashbacks, character arcs, emotion, etc. If this isn’t your strong suit, it may be prudent to take some Fiction Workshop classes to brush up on your scene writing or to work with a Writing Coach. Fiction writing may hold no interest for you, but brushing up on basic scene-writing technique is crucial for writing a memoir that will hold your reader’s interest.

4) Clear Character Motivation

Going along with our second point, make sure you understand every character’s motivation clearly when you go into writing the story. You don’t have to include the motivation of each character in every scene, but having that awareness will allow you to write them as real well-rounded characters rather than simply secondary characters in your story. The more real everyone feels, the more believable your story is and the more your readers will engage and learn from it. If you no longer speak to some of the people that appear during the period of your life in which your story takes place, try to imagine what their motivation may have been. If you paint some of the characters as simply “being a jerk”, not only is that not motivation but that character (and you by extension) will feel less real to your readers.

5) Did your ending happen yet?

Before you go into writing your memoir, consider whether you’re ready to write it yet. How does your story end? What did you learn from this period of your life? Does it feel well-rounded and complete when you outline it? Readers can smell a revenge book from a mile away and, trust us, they have absolutely no interest in reading one. If you’re still in the thick of healing or overcoming from the period of your life in which you’re focusing, perhaps your story isn’t finished yet. And, if you go into writing it when it’s not finished, your voice will feel biased and memoir readers won’t be as engaged with your work.

The post Writing For Your Audience: Memoir 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.