Memoir is a genre of autobiographical writing. It focuses on a particular time in a writer’s life. A memoir often tries to show meaningful moments and experiences. It helps a writer look at the past and make sense of it. According to Nancie Atwell, “We figure out who we are, who we have become, and what it means to us and to the lives of others: a memoir puts the events of life in perspective for the writer and for those who read it.” (Atwell 372). A memoir tends to be somewhat emotional and is concerned with capturing particular scenes or a series of events rather than listing every fact of the writer’s life. It usually includes reflection on the meaning of that particular event or time period (Zuwiya 1).
Writing process steps for Memoir
Brainstorm on paper - use your responses to “Questions for a Memoirist” and your Heart Map as a beginning point. Make a list of all the events you can remember from your life that are important to you. These may be positive (good) or negative (bad).
Talk to family members to get ideas and help you remember events you may have forgotten from when you were smaller.
Review your brainstorming list. Select an event or series of events that is most interesting to you now. This will be the subject of your memoir.
Brainstorm again- focus on your subject. Use your writer's notebook. Try to recall as much detail as possible. This includes names, places, descriptions, conversations, things, feelings, etc. Try to include all the detail that can help make this an interesting piece of writing. Work on this stage for a few days.
Draft 1- Begin writing your memoir. Write your first draft quickly to get all your ideas down. Don’t worry about editing at this stage but use what you know about spelling, punctuation, etc.
Read your draft - Make revisions and edit. You are getting this piece ready to share. Make it the best writing you can do on your own.
Share - You will have two conferences for this piece. You will share your draft with a family member and with a peer.
Draft 2, Revise- Make changes to improve your writing based on your conference notes.
Edit- Your score for Conventions of Writing will come from the work you do here. Pay attention to spelling, punctuation and grammar.
Teacher Conference- Pass your work in to Ms. Doyle. She will read your piece and arrange to meet with you to celebrate your work and make suggestions for improvement.
Final Draft- Make your final revisions and pass in your paper as "Memoir, Final".
Be sure to keep your purpose, “So what?”, in mind as you work on revising your memoir.