It is undeniable that the memoir genre is flooding the nonfiction market and due to its democratic nature, readers are spoilt for choice on whether to dive into fascinating travel stories, gut-wrenching slave and abuse stories, empathetic survival stories or ordinary love and heartbreak stories. Despite the conflicting views as to the origin of the memoir- whether it’s a revolutionary form of an autobiography or the wilds of the personal essay, one fact is certainly true. Our time is “the age of the memoir” and this genre is here to stay.
The term memoir comes from the French word memoire to mean memory or reminiscence. Generally, memoir means a collection of memories about moments or events written by an individual.
As a literary genre, a memoir can be defined as a short or long form of creative nonfiction in which the narrator recounts a direct experience of a particular event or set of events including his thoughts and feelings that had a transformative impact on her/him. A writer of a memoir is known as a memoirist.
There are five important characteristics to note in the literal definition of a memoir.
- Form
- Creative Nonfiction
- Short or Long
- A particular event or set of events
- Transformative
Having originated as a form of autobiography, it is easy to confuse a memoir and an autobiography. Despite the fact that the two are used interchangeably, they are distinct from one another. An autobiography is a chronological account of a person’s entire life while a memoir is about a particular point in life. It is like a slice of a person’s life.
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So now let’s move on to the characteristics I was talking about. The first characteristic is the form a memoir takes. A memoir is considered to be the most democratic genre because of how it can take many forms. A memoir can be written as prose or poetry. As prose, it can be a story, essay, screenplay or a play. For instance, a significant percentage of travel and culinary memoirs are usually in the form of memoir essays. A good example is the short story memoir There’s No Recipe for Growing Up by Scaachi Koul.
When writing it in a particular form, say for instance a memoir story, all the elements of a story apply. The same goes for all the other forms.
The second characteristic is that a memoir is creative nonfiction. The word creative here does not mean creation but rather with how it’s written. That is when writing your memoir, employ creative techniques such as humour, imagery, satire among others to make your story engaging to your audience. In doing so, do not cook up events or characters that were not there. A memoir is not a fictional story. It is about a true life experience. The moment you start making things up, your memoir turns from nonfiction to fiction.
The third characteristic of a memoir is that it can either be a Short or Long memoir: A short memoir can be written as a short story or essay while a long one can be the length of a novel. It can also be written and published in volumes (one book containing a series of memoirs). Good examples are Maya Angelou’s memoir ‘I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings’ and Gore Vidal’s Palimpsest.
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The fourth characteristic of a memoir is that it recounts a particular event or set of events: this is one of the most important characteristics of a memoir. It is what distinguishes it from an autobiography.
Then the last characteristic is that a memoir should be transformative. A memoir should show a character overcome an obstacle and change in some way. When writing it, it’s a chance to reflect on your experience and ask fundamental questions like; why was a certain year such a difficult year? What is my biggest regret? What has caused me to have this new outlook on life? How has this experience changed me? How has it made me the person I am today? Not only must it show an impact in the memoirist’s life but it must be fulfilling to your audience because you’re connecting with real people who have actually been through what you’ve been through and they want to learn how you come out stronger in the end so that they can too.
In order for your memoir to be transformative, it should employ the 1st person narrative. This is so as to be able to give your audience an intimate experience of your life. You are telling it from a certain point in your life where events have already happened but described as if they’re unfolding so it only makes sense to do it the 1st person narrative. You make the readers feel like they are there with you when such and such an experience is happening to you. It would feel less personal when written in the third person narrative.
However, this does not mean that a memoirist cannot employ any other point of view. The third person point of view has been used successively by some memoirists although this requires extra creativity. For instance, in The Men in My Country by Marilyn Abildskov, she uses the third person point of view (POV) to recall a memory of herself as though it is another person in action. Here is an excerpt from the passage-
“One night he is supposed to call at 6 p.m. which he does, but she doesn’t get the message until an hour later when she is immersed in a class…When she calls him at seven…”
When writing this particular scene, the memoirist wants us to sense how she feels about being that woman she’s remembering as if that woman is a different person from her. But note that except for this particular scene, the rest of the memoir by Marilyn is written in the 1st person POV.
Now if you carefully consider the characteristics I’ve discussed hereinabove, they concern about the formality of a memoir as a genre. In other words, the outward ingredients one would use to evaluate whether it’s a memoir or an autobiography.
So next we shall discuss the narrative or the story in the memoir itself. The narrative in the memoir is equally important as the formality of the memoir itself.
When writing a memoir, similar to any other written piece, the narrative in a memoir must have a beginning, middle and end. Before you begin your intended memoir, ask yourself this question first: Is the particular account of your life so interesting and relevant that if put on paper, people would read it? In other words, does it have a sense of purpose? If it is, then go ahead.
It is advisable to cut to the chase when beginning your memoir. Do not write chronologically the way you do fiction stories because people are not interested in other details that do not relate to your experience. Doing so renders your memoir dull. From the first paragraph, they want to know what you are writing about. A good illustration is what Ashley Ford did in her short memoir The Year I Grew Wildly While Men Looked On. In the memoir, she narrates her experience of undergoing puberty early in a society where men sexualize children’s bodies. Her first paragraph introduces us to the conflict already. She narrates how at the age of 13 she was fatherless and in need of love but her body had developed early and often she was a distraction to adult men which made her feel at odds with her body.
Secondly, don’t just state facts. It is not a data report. Let your personality show. Write it in such a way that your audience can feel like they are in your shoes. Get them to feel your frustration, anger, happiness, despair and even regret. A good example is a memoir poem titled ‘The Blue Darter’ by Keven Bellows. It’s about a poet whose loving husband is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and how she struggles to copes with it. In the poem, she lays bare her frustrations, anger and despair by writing how she had searched unsuccessfully for true love and when she’s finally got it Alzheimer is robbing her of it.
Also throughout, your memoir (start, middle and end) the theme must remain the same. Even when ending it, don’t conclude by writing ‘The End”. Just wrap up the story and include what you learnt from your experience.
Sometimes, there can be fallibility of memory. Since it is a memory, you are bound to forget some details. For instance, you may not remember the exact dates, exact words spoken in a dialogue e.t.c. if such should happen, you can give an approximate date. If it’s a dialogue and you’ve forgotten the exact words, you can recreate it as long as the message in it remains true. Just don’t exaggerate. Just because you have forgotten some details does not mean it is the end of the world. Do not allow your memoir to die like that. A writer was once questioned about the truthfulness of his memoir and this is what he had to say. “It is not a statistical report. As it is mostly written from memory, I will not vouch for every statement being absolutely factual but they’re true to life as it was lived at the time.” What the writer means here is that a memoir is how one remembers a particular point in his/her life with a few errors being present on matters so trivial that they that do not alternate the true story and its message to the targeted audience.
NEVER ever write a false memoir or fabricate stories or compose characters. For memoirists who’ve done this, it has never ended well when the truth was discovered. The best example is James Frey the author of A Million Little Pieces published in 2003. He wrote a gritty story about himself as a 23-year-old struggling alcoholic and drug abuser and how he copes with rehabilitation. It was first published a memoir and widely sold and even a film adaptation intended. However, three years later, it was discovered that Frey had fabricated many of the events in the book. The Publisher had to refund every customer that had bought the book. The book was also changed from a memoir to a semi-fictional novel.
Sometimes you can be undecided on whether to write a memoir or an autobiography. Unless you’re a person in the public eye, it is highly advisable that you write a memoir instead of an autobiography. Say if today, Malia Obama and I published autobiographies, nobody would give a damn about mine except for my family and friends.
Another important issue is how to title your Memoir: A memoir can have just a title only or a title and a subtitle. For example, The Bite of Mango by Mariatu Kamara and Susan McClelland or The Settler’s Cookbook: Tales of Love, Migration and Food by Yasmin Alibhai-Brown. You can also indicate that it is a memoir but it is not a must. For example Unbowed: A Memoir by Wangari Maathai.
When choosing a title for your memoir, do it strategically. Consider it a marketing opportunity. Consider the following titles-How I dealt with a crippling Disease and How You Can Too; A Story of Losing a Spouse; ‘Memories of Me. Would these titles be marketable?
In addition, a title is not about you the memoirist. It’s what piques the interest of the reader. A memoir’s title must not only evoke a thought of your reader but also his/her feelings. If Maya Angelou had titled her memoir Journey of a Black Girl in a White Society such a title would evoke thoughts about racism but not enlist the empathy of a reader. But titling it I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings not only paints a picture but feelings too like suffering and lack of freedom when you imagine a bird in a cage unable to fly away so it’s only left with the option of singing.
After learning all these, doesn’t the memoir genre just wanna make you get started on writing one? I mean memories are beautiful even if they’re tragic. Plus, you already have a plot, why not just share it with us, with the world?
Here are a few suggested memoirs for your reading.
Short Memoirs
- The Year I Grew Wildly While Men Looked On by Ashley C. Ford
- Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin (one of the most interesting classic short memoirs)
- There’s No Recipe for Growing Up by Scaachi Koul
- How I Found Poetry in Childhood Prayer by Kaveh Akbar
- My Dad Tried to Kill Me with an Alligator by Harrison Scott Key
- Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
- To Scratch, Claw, or Grope Clumsily or Frantically by Roxane Gay
Long (Novel) Memoirs
By African Authors
- One Day I Will Write About This Place by Binyavanga Wainaina
- Eyebags and Dimples by Bonnie Henna
- Unbowed: A Memoir by Wangari Maathai
- The Bite of Mango by Mariatu Kamara and Susan McClelland
- Color Me yellow: Searching for My Family Truth by Thuli Nhlapo
- This Child Will Be Great: Memoir of a Remarkable Life by Africa’s First Woman President by Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
- Hardly Working: A Travel Memoir of Sorts by Zukiswa Wanner
- My Men by Malika Mokeddem
- Once We Were Sisters: A Memoir by Sheila Kohler
- Return to Childhood: The Memoir of a Modern Moroccan Woman by Leila Abouzeid
- The Settler’s Cookbook: Tales of Love, Migration and Food by Yasmin Alibhai-Brown
- The House at Sugar Beach by Helen Cooper
By Other Authors
- I Know Why a Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
- A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
- Homage to Catalonia: Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell
- Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen
- I am a Secret Service Agent: My Life Spent Protecting the President by Dan Emmett
