#1 Memoirs Aren’t Autobiographies

A memoir isn’t someone’s entire life story. It focuses on one era or phase of someone’s life and all the events and feelings that surround it. It can be a great way to share how an event or situation impacted you and how you grew from it.

#2 Memoirs Aren’t Meant To Re-hash The Past, But To Bring Valuable Lessons For The Present & Future

Memoirs focus on things that happened in the past, but it’s not for idle musings or gossip. Instead, it’s meant to appreciate the experiences someone had during a certain time in their life. If you ignore the past, the future is very dark. It is only by exploring things that happened in the past that you can learn from it and plan better for the future.

#3 Memoirs Welcome Everyone

Even if a memoir’s target audience might be someone specific, anyone can enjoy and learn from it. As we are all currently living on this earth, we can gain something from anyone’s story. Memoirs are a gift to people who read them. We may not be able to relate or agree with everything written in it, but there’s always something to take away from reading about someone’s experiences.

#4 Memoirs Help Preserve The Author’s Experience

It’s a cool thought that your written experiences will survive you a century from now. Fifty years down the line, someone could pick it up and experience some parts of your life through their own lens and learn something new from it. If you think a part of your journey could really benefit others, maybe a memoir is something you could write.

#5 A memoir is considered to be “creative nonfiction”

Since a memoir is neither fiction nor a full biography, it’s really in its own category. The author creatively tells a story about their real lived experiences. We all see things through our own lens, so it can be really interesting to view the world through someone’s eyes by reading their work. It’s also important to note that names will be changed and certain locations altered or made vague to protect the identity of people mentioned in the story.

Thank you so much for reading today.

Do you enjoy memoirs? Have you written one, or will you?