As I am getting ready to write my monthly newsletter and I was thinking about what I was going to write about, I was struck with one of the differences between memoir and life story writing is the subject of current events.
A memoir is about a select a moment in time. It gives your reader a breath of information of what your life was like in the window and gives historical information to round out that event. As an example if I was writing about high school in the 60′s I could write about all the news events that happened during that time. I might be lucky to find an event that would hook up to a current event. I might be talking about the space race and how we watched out televisions glued to see what was happening. I could write about what NASA’s place is today in our group speak conscience and how that is different. But really that would be a leap and might not really move the story forward.
In Life Story writing I can write about what it was like to be a teenager in the ’60′s and I could write about all the current evens then and today. It gives me the ability to discuss my feelings about the war in Vietnam and the current wars and how those are so very different. I can write about watching a football game for the NFC Championship in the same place Katrina Victims were standing looking for help. I can write about my feelings watching the Telethon for Haiti and Farm Aid so many years ago. I can write about who generous the American people are and how they have always cared about suffering around the world. And in a life story I can examine my feelings about it all.
People always mix the to genres and they really are different. My feelings my not be interesting to the world at large but they are important to my family. My feelings can be part of a memoir but it is the event that compels someone to read it.
As I get ready to write my monthly free newsletter to help people write their life story I am really struck how different these two genres are. If you want to subscribe to my newsletter just send me an email to Hella@lifestorytriggers.com and you will be added to the mailing list. The next one will be sent out next Monday. And if you want to read the last five years of newsletters you need to buy my book Remembering…life story triggers and memory essays click on to the order-your-copy-of-Remembering. You then can decide which you want to write.
