The Memoir Transformed: From Monotonic to Mesmerizing
If you are writing a memoir and your story lacks sparkle, it may not be your content, it could be your structure.
Many nonfiction writers are unfamiliar with narrative arc (also known as story arc)—a life-sustaining element of effective fiction. Without it, a story lacks shape. If you are writing a memoir or any work of nonfiction, don’t make the mistake of thinking the narrative arc doesn’t apply to you.
Exactly what is narrative arc? Simply put, it is the structure of a story. In Aristotle’s work, Poetics, he describes a “whole” story as having a three-act structure with a “beginning and middle and end.” Without a story arc, a memoir is reduced to a string of chronologically organized vignettes that risk losing the reader’s interest. Avoid this at all cost.
The German novelist, Gustav Freytag, expounded upon story structure in his famous pyramid originally designed for tragedies that has since been applied to just about every literary genre. It starts with exposition (setting the scene), followed by an inciting incident causing rising action, which then builds to a climax that subsides into falling action and ultimately a resolution (ending).
In order to write a captivating memoir, the scenes must be organized in a coherent fashion with a narrative structure that rises to a climax. How do you go about doing that? First, define your story from the multitude of life stories and scenes you have to draw upon. Not sure if your nonfiction story falls into the memoir or autobiography category? Click here for more information.
Your story should begin by setting the scene (era, location, political or other climate), introducing yourself (memoir subject), and establishing your goals with ensuing action scenes. Then, present the inciting incident (what I call the initial hook) that creates a conflict and instigates further action. Each scene/action should lead to another. From the beginning of the book to the ending, the reader should experience the character’s triumphs and failures (think rising action ascending to the climax) as they come to understand the challenges the character faces.
Find the climax scene to your story and from there build a transition to the falling action scenes, ultimately leading to the resolution and story ending. Readers will lose interest in a book that doesn’t promise and then deliver on a payoff for reading to the very end. So be sure to give them a “take-away”—the nugget they gain or learn from reading your book.
By applying the pointers in this post, your memoir is sure to hook your readers and keep them turning the pages.
