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Knowing your story and telling your story are different things
I’ve been a published author since 2010, writing first as a ghostwriter then as a Young Adult author followed by women’s fiction, and finally, memoir. While all of my books have proven challenging at points, none were more so than my memoir. It was both difficult to write and to share with the world because unlike my other work, it chronicled a dark period in my life and I was inviting others to comment on it.
The process isn’t for the faint of heart.
Most writers exploring memoir initially worry about the same thing: can I be sued? While this is a common concern, it’s also one that holds writers back from writing the story they need to tell. Others have written more extensively and knowledgeably on this topic than me, but I will say, that you shouldn’t worry about legal issues until the final pages are drafted if you want to actually finish writing your story.
So what’s the magic formula for writing memoir? Number one is putting time and space between the events and the act of writing so that there is clarity and perspective. Writing too close to something doesn’t allow the bigger picture to shine through, and with memoir, perspective — both past and present — is vital.
