Openings
This is your opportunity to grab the reader’s attention, so pull out the stops and work on an opening sentence and subsequent paragraph that shimmers. But remember once you have written in a quick burst, you can always return later and craft and polish the opening until you are satisfied it is the best it can be.
Be specific in your writing. A writer needs to have an eye for detail and a talent for description. Look for it in daily life, think hard about the particular features of your life and experience in the past including: historical specificity, homes and buildings, clothing and fashion and design, how things look and feel, your taste in music and the lyrics of songs, your reading programme and much loved books, descriptions of landscape, the workplace and the work itself, kitchens and domesticity, recipes and food, gardens and gardening, how a person looked, dressed, stood, reacted…
Descriptions and technical details must be authentic and accurate. Mistakes, sloppiness, vagueness will jar a reader out of his or her temporary enjoyment and acceptance of the story as reality.
To avoid making mistakes writers are also careful researchers. Please refer to the appropriate texts and use Google, as you write and edit, to check details, such as spellings, dates, people, books, poems, songs, events, phenomena, media reports, psychological and scientific concepts/ findings/reports/studies…. The Internet is an invaluable tool.
Revision and redrafting are essential components of writing. It comes with the job description. You need to think of editing as an interrogation of your text at a minute level, every word, every punctuation mark, every phrase, sentence, explanation, description demands your attention. This is your opportunity to make a great draft the very best finished text it can be. And a writer can always do one more revision. Then at some point the writer has to stop revising and decide the writing is finished.
It is important to remember the reader as you write. We can never assume your reader knows your background, your personal story. You know it very well of course but the reader doesn’t. They don’t know the particular configuration of your family tree, unless you explain it. When you do make sure to sketch in the required information lightly, carefully and with flair. The last thing you want to do is overwhelm or bore the reader with a mass of undigested family genealogy.
‘Show don't tell,’ or ‘recreate don’t lecture’ is a piece of advice that is repeated over and over in writing courses and it is critical to a writer’s success. When we recreate an event by writing a richly descriptive account, or scene we are allowing the reader to interpret our meaning as opposed to telling them our meaning. Recognising that writing memoir is a delicate balancing act between the two, that explanation is necessary to set-up, contextualise or summarise a section of your story the trick is to find the right balance to hold the reader’s interest.
Avoid common, or overused words. We can do better than falling back on words like ‘beautiful,’ ‘amazing,’ ‘interesting,’ ‘pretty.’ Work on creating an impression of beauty, or prettiness… Think to yourself. What do I mean by ‘interesting?’ Also beware of repeating outstanding, unusual words. There is always another word and we can stretch ourselves to find it. This is where the Thesaurus or the dictionary can help you out.
Try not to use clichés or at least think hard before doing so. Attempt to come up with something fresh. Sayings however can be entirely appropriate because they give a flavour of the period, or people you are referring to and can provoke interesting writing such as ‘the road not travelled,’ or ‘the road to Hell is paved with good intentions’… They work best if they arise naturally out of the context of the writing.
Write what you like to read. Think about the memoirs and biographies you enjoy and the style. Do you enjoy humour, irony, description, a rattling yarn, philosophical reflection, action and adventure, psychoanalytic enquiry…?
Use exclamation marks sparingly. They might be acceptable in the more informal language of email and text messaging but they don’t feature in well-crafted memoir. Instead the exclamation mark is suggested in the text.
Use surprise and irony. Lightly.
Less is more. Avoid repetition, exaggerated sentimentality and melodrama. Try being suggestive instead. This allows the reader to read between the lines and draw their own conclusions. Sometimes when writing about a hugely significant, or traumatic event, we can, understandably, slip into emotional or overwritten description. Once you have a draft, work on paring down and simplifying the writing, seeking always the essence of the experience. It is helpful to read how the great writers handle such events.
Typing and word processing skills are crucial for a writer because presentation matters. Be consistent with fonts and spacing and don’t forget page numbering.
On being professional writers. It is important to be fastidious with proofing and presentation and to follow general grammar rules. Remember to render numerals from one to twenty in words i.e. one, two, three… twenty and numerals (21, 22, 23) thereafter, except for multiples of ten. Twenty, thirty, forty… a hundred. Decades have no apostrophe i.e. 1920s… 1990s. Use brackets and exclamation marks sparingly with care and deliberation. Dashes should be used occasionally too — and please note that hyphens - are used to join words. Try and use the comma more and the semicolon less often. We are aiming for a clean text. Punctuation marks are potentially disruptive, apart from commas which are beautiful because they do such a fine job of holding an intricate sentence together and they do it quietly. If you feel that grammar rules and punctuation are not your strongpoint then you and your writing may benefit from the input of a professional editor. Good presentation says you take your work seriously. You value the material. If you have taken the time to craft a good story, then it deserves to look professional too.
A Final Observation
Whatever rules or tips you read about writing you will always be able to find an example in a published work that ignores the rule. Sometimes the violation is glaring and spoils the reading experience. Other times it may actually help the story. Usually this occurs when the writer is already an excellent wordsmith and deliberately, with specific purpose, ignores the rule or tip confident in their own style and voice.
Dr Deborah Shepard, 2020 ©
This is your opportunity to grab the reader’s attention, so pull out the stops and work on an opening sentence and subsequent paragraph that shimmers. But remember once you have written in a quick burst, you can always return later and craft and polish the opening until you are satisfied it is the best it can be.
Be specific in your writing. A writer needs to have an eye for detail and a talent for description. Look for it in daily life, think hard about the particular features of your life and experience in the past including: historical specificity, homes and buildings, clothing and fashion and design, how things look and feel, your taste in music and the lyrics of songs, your reading programme and much loved books, descriptions of landscape, the workplace and the work itself, kitchens and domesticity, recipes and food, gardens and gardening, how a person looked, dressed, stood, reacted…
Descriptions and technical details must be authentic and accurate. Mistakes, sloppiness, vagueness will jar a reader out of his or her temporary enjoyment and acceptance of the story as reality.
To avoid making mistakes writers are also careful researchers. Please refer to the appropriate texts and use Google, as you write and edit, to check details, such as spellings, dates, people, books, poems, songs, events, phenomena, media reports, psychological and scientific concepts/ findings/reports/studies…. The Internet is an invaluable tool.
Revision and redrafting are essential components of writing. It comes with the job description. You need to think of editing as an interrogation of your text at a minute level, every word, every punctuation mark, every phrase, sentence, explanation, description demands your attention. This is your opportunity to make a great draft the very best finished text it can be. And a writer can always do one more revision. Then at some point the writer has to stop revising and decide the writing is finished.
It is important to remember the reader as you write. We can never assume your reader knows your background, your personal story. You know it very well of course but the reader doesn’t. They don’t know the particular configuration of your family tree, unless you explain it. When you do make sure to sketch in the required information lightly, carefully and with flair. The last thing you want to do is overwhelm or bore the reader with a mass of undigested family genealogy.
‘Show don't tell,’ or ‘recreate don’t lecture’ is a piece of advice that is repeated over and over in writing courses and it is critical to a writer’s success. When we recreate an event by writing a richly descriptive account, or scene we are allowing the reader to interpret our meaning as opposed to telling them our meaning. Recognising that writing memoir is a delicate balancing act between the two, that explanation is necessary to set-up, contextualise or summarise a section of your story the trick is to find the right balance to hold the reader’s interest.
Avoid common, or overused words. We can do better than falling back on words like ‘beautiful,’ ‘amazing,’ ‘interesting,’ ‘pretty.’ Work on creating an impression of beauty, or prettiness… Think to yourself. What do I mean by ‘interesting?’ Also beware of repeating outstanding, unusual words. There is always another word and we can stretch ourselves to find it. This is where the Thesaurus or the dictionary can help you out.
Try not to use clichés or at least think hard before doing so. Attempt to come up with something fresh. Sayings however can be entirely appropriate because they give a flavour of the period, or people you are referring to and can provoke interesting writing such as ‘the road not travelled,’ or ‘the road to Hell is paved with good intentions’… They work best if they arise naturally out of the context of the writing.
Write what you like to read. Think about the memoirs and biographies you enjoy and the style. Do you enjoy humour, irony, description, a rattling yarn, philosophical reflection, action and adventure, psychoanalytic enquiry…?
Use exclamation marks sparingly. They might be acceptable in the more informal language of email and text messaging but they don’t feature in well-crafted memoir. Instead the exclamation mark is suggested in the text.
Use surprise and irony. Lightly.
Less is more. Avoid repetition, exaggerated sentimentality and melodrama. Try being suggestive instead. This allows the reader to read between the lines and draw their own conclusions. Sometimes when writing about a hugely significant, or traumatic event, we can, understandably, slip into emotional or overwritten description. Once you have a draft, work on paring down and simplifying the writing, seeking always the essence of the experience. It is helpful to read how the great writers handle such events.
Typing and word processing skills are crucial for a writer because presentation matters. Be consistent with fonts and spacing and don’t forget page numbering.
On being professional writers. It is important to be fastidious with proofing and presentation and to follow general grammar rules. Remember to render numerals from one to twenty in words i.e. one, two, three… twenty and numerals (21, 22, 23) thereafter, except for multiples of ten. Twenty, thirty, forty… a hundred. Decades have no apostrophe i.e. 1920s… 1990s. Use brackets and exclamation marks sparingly with care and deliberation. Dashes should be used occasionally too — and please note that hyphens - are used to join words. Try and use the comma more and the semicolon less often. We are aiming for a clean text. Punctuation marks are potentially disruptive, apart from commas which are beautiful because they do such a fine job of holding an intricate sentence together and they do it quietly. If you feel that grammar rules and punctuation are not your strongpoint then you and your writing may benefit from the input of a professional editor. Good presentation says you take your work seriously. You value the material. If you have taken the time to craft a good story, then it deserves to look professional too.
A Final Observation
Whatever rules or tips you read about writing you will always be able to find an example in a published work that ignores the rule. Sometimes the violation is glaring and spoils the reading experience. Other times it may actually help the story. Usually this occurs when the writer is already an excellent wordsmith and deliberately, with specific purpose, ignores the rule or tip confident in their own style and voice.
Dr Deborah Shepard, 2020 ©