I didn’t mean you shouldn’t write your memoir until you’ve done all that. But while you’re writing, I hope you’re taking the craft seriously, and learning about it by reading other memoirs, and reading books about how to write it. By the time you get to the point of submitting to agents or publishers, you should be very well acquainted with the genre.

After my tweet, many people asked me for recommendations, so here’s a short list. You can also Google “best memoirs” and find a lot more.

My favorite books about writing memoir:

The Art of Memoir by Mary Karr
Still Writing by Dani Shapiro
Your Life As Story by Tristine Rainer
Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg
Writing the Memoir by Judith Barrington
Inventing the Truth by William Zinsser
Living to Tell the Tale by Jane Taylor McDonnell
Thinking About Memoir by Abigail Thomas
Writing for Story by Jon Franklin
Story by Robert McKee
Follow the Story by James Stewart

A few of my favorite memoirs (there are a lot more):

Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (of course)
Lit by Mary Karr
Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
First They Killed My Father by Loung Ung
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
All Over But the Shoutin’ by Rick Bragg
The Color of Water by James McBride
Wild/em> by Cheryl Strayed
Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman
Marley and Me by John Grogan
Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Wall
Leaving the Saints by Martha Beck

Rachelle Gardner, Literary Agent

The post Resources for Writing Memoir appeared first on Rachelle Gardner.

* * *

Dear Hopeful,

I get several query letters each month that begin with some variation of: “For years, all my friends have been telling me I should write a book.” Maybe it’s because of an amazing incident or an inspiring life journey. Maybe you’re funny or have a way with words. Whatever it is… it causes otherwise totally rational people to begin chanting “You should write a book!”

Even though most people don’t know anything about publishing, it sure is flattering when they say, “You should write a book!” We tend to want to believe them. If we hear it often enough, we start to take it seriously.

The way I see it, the whole “you should write a book” thing makes about as much sense as watching your friend shoot hoops in the driveway, seeing them sink five in a row, and exclaiming, “You should play for the NBA!” In reality, you know nothing about what it takes to play in the NBA. And five baskets does not a Kobe Bryant make.

Since most people have no idea what they’re talking about when saying you should write a book, you’ve come to the right place for information. You asked me for help, so I’m going to tell you exactly what I think you should do. Forgive me if you’ve already taken any of these steps, but here is what I believe you should be doing:

1. Do not pursue publishing. Completely put the idea of “getting published” out of your mind. For now, that’s not your goal. Instead, your goal is to TELL YOUR STORY.

2. Seriously, don’t pursue publishing. This means that for the time being you shouldn’t read books, blogs or websites about getting published. You don’t need to contact industry professionals about getting published, because that’s not your goal — your goal is to tell your story.

3. Read my posts about writing memoir. Here they are: Posts about Memoir.

4. Begin immediately writing down your story. Don’t try to start at the beginning. Simply write down what comes to you, perhaps in “episodes” as you remember them. Try to write something every single day. Write down the stories from your life.

5. Meanwhile, create a reading plan for yourself. Set a goal for the next year or so of reading at least 20 good memoirs and 5 books about writing memoir. I have a blog post in which I said exactly that, and also gave plenty of recommendations for books to read. The post is a couple of years old, so you’ll be able to find many books that are more recent. But here’s the post: Resources for Writing Memoir.

6. Begin to craft your book. After you’ve spent months (or years) writing down the stories of your life and learning about the craft of memoir, you’ll be ready to start putting those stories together and creating a cohesive manuscript — your memoir. That may take many more months. You’ll want to get feedback on it from some readers, perhaps join a critique group, and do as many revisions as necessary to make your memoir shine.

7. NOW think about publishing! When you feel you have a complete and compelling memoir, then begin the process of pursuing publication, which you can learn about from hundreds of books and blogs. Here’s my post that gives a good overview: How to Get Published.

If this sounds like a lot of work and a lot of years — you’re right, it is. If that’s not what you had in mind, then just tell all those people who are saying you should write a book: “Thanks for the idea, but I’ve decided I’d rather keep LIVING my life rather than spending a bunch of time writing about it.”

Hope that helps!

All best,
Rachelle

* * *

Have you ever wanted to write a memoir?

Are you a writer partly because others told you that you should be?

COMMENT: Click to leave a comment!

Watch for the results of last Friday’s joke contest this THURSDAY. And if you need a really good laugh: CLICK HERE. Click to read the jokes that were submitted!

TWEETABLES:

Writing a memoir? DO NOT pursue publishing! (Yet.) Click to Tweet.

What to do when friends are telling you, “You should write a book!” Click to Tweet.

Are you going to bite the bullet and write your memoir? Here are the steps. Click to Tweet.

The post Telling Your Personal Story appeared first on Rachelle Gardner.

The memoir is beautifully written, seamlessly weaving Cheryl’s hiking experiences with the events of her past that had led her to the Pacific Crest Trail. She is unflinchingly honest about her pain and her failures; her writing avoids sentimentality, and it never feels like it’s asking for sympathy—things that are often difficult for memoir writers to accomplish.

Cheryl took her hike in the summer of 1995, and her book just released in 2012. When asked in an interview why she had waited so long to write the book, Cheryl said:

“For a number of reasons. It took me years of apprenticing myself to the craft before I could write a book…. I don’t write about something unless I feel a stirring inside of me to do so and it wasn’t until 2008 that I felt that in relation to my experience on the PCT. I think the years between my hike and writing about it made for a better book. I gained perspective that I wouldn’t have had if I’d written about it immediately.”

I love two things about what she said:

1) “Years of apprenticing myself to the craft.”

2) “I gained perspective.”

I believe these two elements are what made this such an excellent memoir. Think about this when considering whether it’s the right time for your memoir.

→ In order to tell your story effectively so that it has the maximum impact, you’ll probably need to spend years apprenticing yourself to the craft; that is, actively studying, learning and improving as a writer.

→ And in order for your story to resonate with deeper truth, you should have enough distance from it that you’ve gained perspective. When you’re still too close to it, you won’t be able to write it well.

Have you ever thought about writing a memoir of a specific episode in your life? Where are you in terms of apprenticing to the craft and gaining distance/perspective?

If you’re interested in the book Wild, here’s a video from the author:

The post When Should You Write Your Memoir? appeared first on Rachelle Gardner.

If you’re writing a novel (fiction), you need a complete manuscript. If you’re writing non-fiction, you need a book proposal plus two or three sample chapters. If you’re writing a memoir, who knows — everybody has a different opinion.

Here’s what is true and will always be true: unpublished fiction authors MUST have a complete novel before trying to get an agent or publisher. No question, no exceptions.

But things are changing in publishing, especially when it comes to non-fiction. In some ways, the standards are higher. It’s more of a risk for a publisher to say “yes” to an unproven author. And in light of this reality, I’m going to make a bold and probably controversial suggestion.

No matter what you’re writing, even if you’re already published, even if it’s non-fiction or memoir:

Consider writing the whole book before you search for a publisher.

Why would I say such a thing? A few reasons:

1. It lowers the risk for the publisher.

Recently I’ve been submitting proposals to publishers with the entire manuscript attached rather than just a few sample chapters. Without exception, editors are telling me how much they appreciate me sending them the entire book. It takes away so much of their risk and guess-work. Even though they’re planning to edit the book, they know exactly what they’re getting. They know for sure that the author can deliver a manuscript that satisfies from beginning to end.

2. It makes the publisher much more confident.

There have been instances when I sent the entire manuscript to an editor, and soon I was told that the editors, the sales people, and the marketing people had all read the manuscript cover-to-cover. When that many people at a publishing house have that “can’t put it down” feeling, it leaves no doubt in their minds about whether they can sell this book. They experienced the book themselves, and they’ve already begun to develop a vision for how they can sell it. Their confidence in the value of the book is high.

3. Consequently, you have a much better chance of selling it.

When several members of the publishing committee all have a strong gut-level “buy in” on your book, they naturally want to try and acquire it. They’re much more likely to put an offer on the table because of the certainty about the product they’re acquiring. This is completely different from the more common scenario — a strong proposal and some killer sample chapters that still leave them waffling a bit as they wonder… will the rest of the book deliver what this proposal says it will? Is this going to be a satisfying reading experience, making people want to recommend the book to their friends?

4. Finishing a book is harder than you think.

One of the things I’ve been learning over the last few years is how very difficult it is to write an entire book when you’re contractually obligated to a deadline, and you’ve never written a complete 60,000-to-100,000 word piece before. You have no idea what it’s going to take until you do it. You may be uber-confident you can deliver the entire thing and have it be awesome, but publishers know this isn’t always the case. The best way to set yourself up for success is to prove to both yourself and your potential publisher that you can do it — by having it already done.

A few notes:

• For unpublished novelists, I am not saying anything different than the standard wisdom that has always been true: don’t try to get an agent or publisher until your novel is complete, edited, revised and polished.
• I am not trying to create a new gospel for publishing. I’m simply putting this idea out there as a suggestion that might help some of you reach success.
• I always prefer memoir-writers have a complete manuscript rather than just a sample. Memoirs are tricky and very difficult to craft from beginning to end, in some ways even harder than a novel. Memoirs usually require not only a complete manuscript, but one that has been worked and reworked multiple times before it’s right.
• This advice isn’t meant to supersede whatever advice your own agent is giving you. Trust your agent!
• You may find that you can get an agent with your non-fiction proposal and sample chapters, but your agent may suggest you write more of the book before submitting to publishers. Be open to discussing this.
• Publishers still buy non-fiction based on a stellar proposal and sample chapters. Just remember, the more you can provide them to raise their level of confidence and emotional buy-in, the stronger your chances.
• If you go to the effort of writing the whole thing and still can’t sell it to a traditional publisher, you’re perfectly positioned to self-publish. So there’s really no downside.

What do you think? Have you heard this advice before? Are you willing to write a whole book before trying to sell it? Is it worth it?

The post Should You Write the Whole Book? appeared first on Rachelle Gardner.

I’ve heard you talk about how difficult it is to sell a “personal story of overcoming adversity.” You’ve mentioned you won’t consider this kind of memoir unless the author has a significant platform and the story has built-in marketing potential and an obvious media hook. Would this include being a cancer survivor (two completely separate cancers) at age 45? While there are a lot of survivor books in the market, I have not found many with a Christian perspective.

Just wondering…
A Survivor

***

Dear Survivor,

Congratulations on beating cancer not once, but twice. What an amazing story you must have.

I’m sad to say that your story is exactly what I’m talking about when I specified a personal story of overcoming adversity. I have no doubt your story is inspirational, God-glorifying, and amazing. And obviously, it’s something that defines your life. So it’s difficult for me to reduce this to a business decision, but in the end, that’s what it is.

As I’m sure you know, at any given time there are over 5 million Americans living with cancer. Every one of them is living an incredible story, so this is not to reduce the importance of yours, only to say that many people choose to write their survival stories in book form, and only a tiny fraction will be published. Many of those are Christians, and there have been quite a few survivor-memoirs with the Christian worldview. So unless you’re already famous in some way, or your story has some kind of angle that readers will see as unique or incredible, and your memoir is absolutely beautiful and amazing it the writing, the chances of publication are slim. Most bestselling memoirs of the personal-adversity type either give the topic a humorous spin, are authored by a celebrity, or are written in such a way that readers find compelling in a “can’t put it down” way.

Selling a memoir is also easier if you’ve established a platform. Has there been significant media coverage of your story? Are you out on the speaking circuit sharing your story with others? Do you have 1,000 hits a day on your blog? These are the kinds of things that can help.

When I mention “platform” and “media hook” as applied to memoirs, I’m referring to stories like Bethany Hamilton’s, the girl whose story of overcoming adversity had media attention from the beginning and later became the book and movie Soul Surfer. Or the story of Aron Ralston, whose “personal story of overcoming adversity” also had huge media attention from the very beginning and later became the book Between a Rock and a Hard Place and the movie “127 Hours.”

There have been some recent notable cancer memoirs, such as Kelly Corrigan’s The Middle Place, and you may wonder how they managed to get published. Most, like Kelly, are far-above-average writers and had a significant platform prior to publication. (Kelly was already a professional writer in addition to running a large non-profit website for family and friends of women with cancer.)

If you’ve got a platform and you’ve studied the craft of memoir and you believe you’ve got what it takes, by all means send out your query. If you end up unable to find an agent or publisher, then I suggest telling your story through blogging or self-publishing.

I wish I had better news for you!

© 2011 Rachelle Gardner, Literary Agent

The post Memoirs of Overcoming Adversity appeared first on Rachelle Gardner.

Great questions! I think memoir requires the most out of a writer, because it’s non-fiction, so platform matters. But it’s also story-driven and the writing is the most important aspect, so it requires the level of attention to the art and craft of writing that fiction does.

I don’t think there’s a hard and fast rule about whether to query with sample chapters or a complete manuscript. With a first-timer, I always prefer to read the whole thing before I make a decision whether to take it on. At the very least, I want to read three or four chapters, and perhaps rough versions or outlines of the remaining chapters.

I DO recommend finishing the manuscript before you query. Like with a first novel, you are going to discover so much in the writing process. I believe your book will morph and evolve throughout the writing, and so those first few chapters, though written, will not actually be complete until you’ve finished the book. A memoir is a work of art much more than the typical non-fiction book.

Think of it like a sculpture, such as The Thinker by Auguste Rodin. Perhaps he could have sculpted the feet and those muscular legs, and shown somebody his work to see if they wanted to buy it. They would certainly have been impressed with his ability to render a set of feet and legs. But they couldn’t possibly understand the piece—the feel, the mood, the statement it makes—without seeing the entire sculpture in its complete form. That’s how I see memoir. It’s a whole that can’t truly be understood in pieces.

As far as length, popular memoirs range quite a bit from about 60,000 words to 120,000 or more. If you’re a new author, I’d recommend staying on the shorter side, perhaps around the 75,000 word mark. The important thing is that your length fits your book. Write as much as it takes to tell the story, and no more. (Helpful, huh?)

Rather than focusing on the fiction/non-fiction aspect of a memoir, read books specifically about writing memoir. I like Your Life as Story by Tristine Ranier, but there are many others.

Anyone else with insights about memoir, feel free to chime in!
Rachelle Gardner, Christian literary agent, WordServe Literary Group, Colorado.

The post Memoir Guidelines appeared first on Rachelle Gardner.