Word: memoire
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...careers, his travels and a 55th high school reunion that will probably go into a second self-published book. He carries around a legal pad so that he can jot down ideas for more. Louise DeSalvo, who is the author of Writing as a Way of Healing and teaches memoir writing at New York City's Hunter College, urges her students to note stray thoughts that bubble up from their unconscious minds while they are doing ordinary things like household chores...
Nothing is so mundane that it can't be woven into a memoir. Maureen Murdoch teaches a course titled the Art of the Memoir through the UCLA Extension Writers' Program, one of a dozen course offerings that cover everything from novelistic memoirs to personal essays. "As long as the tale has a universal theme, drama and insight," she stresses, "no incident is too small." Exemplifying these qualities are the stories of Yvette Audet, 66, a Maine widow who writes detailed accounts of her childhood: of rising before dawn on cold mornings to pick potatoes on neighboring farms, of kneeling nightly...
Finding the truth is one of the most difficult hurdles for a memoirist. Gail Hall Howard, 52, writes memoirs and teaches memoir writing at Connecticut's University of Bridgeport. "There isn't just one version of the truth," she maintains. "We remember certain things in different ways, and our understanding changes over time." Everyone sees childhood through grownup eyes. The memoirist's task is to bring back the reality of the child's view filtered through adult perceptions and make that truth into a compelling story...
...achievement of reconstructing the story of your life through memoir writing is often its own reward. But then who is your audience? For many memoirists, figuring out what to do with the finished product can be the biggest challenge...
...Angela's Ashes author Frank McCourt, you'll have to ask some hard questions about your book first. "Publishers decide on the basis that no one reads anymore. So they ask, 'Can we promote this?'" cautions Tristine Rainer, founder of the Center for Autobiographic Studies in Pasadena, Calif. Your memoir is marketable, according to Rainer, if it provides a glimpse into a unique world, reflects the social issues of a larger group or is just great writing. Even if you meet these criteria, convincing a publisher means sending out scores of query letters and bracing for the rejections...