Writing the Memoir: From Truth to Art

A practical guide to the craft, the personal challenges, and ethical dilemmas of writing your true stories.'A warm, thoughtful and most useful book for all who want to write well about their own experiences of life. Judith Barrington understands that memoir, or life writing, takes all the creativity and art of any other writing genre.' - Patti Miller, author of the bestselling Writing Your LifeHave you got a personal story to tell? To write honestly about our lives requires courage, a consideration of ethical questions and the ability to dig down into your deepest layers of understanding.In this lively, thoughtful and encouraging handbook, acclaimed creative writing teacher Judith Barrington provides the tools needed to craft and shape your own stories.As the genre of memoir gains increasing popularity, here is the book you need to get started. There are chapters on telling the truth, creating structure, using fictional techniques, expanding your language skills, developing sensory detail, writing about living people, placing your story in a larger context, getting feedback on your work and steering clear of common pitfalls. Detailed writing exercises are included in every chapter for further practice, and examples are taken from published works to show the reader how experienced writers have handled the memoir.Writing the Memoir will provide invaluable guidance to the author writing for publication, but will also be of use to those who simply want to record stories for family and friends.Judith Barrington is the author of a full-length memoir, Lifesaving, and many shorter memoirs published in anthologies and literary magazines in the USA. She is also the author of two volumes of poetry and has taught creative writing for the past fifteen years at universities and summer writing workshops in America.