Help Writing Memoir Archives -

WRITING BASICS: ELEMENTS OF CRAFT IN A NUTSHELL

November 9th, 2024Sarah Lovett0 Comments

It’s always handy to have writing basics at your fingertips in a nutshell: Viewpoint – The perspective you choose and use to tell your story. In the simplest terms the choices are 1st person (I), 2nd person (you, rarely used), limited 3rd person (he, she, as in a central character or protagonist), and 3rd person omniscient (sometimes defined as a godlike viewpoint, shifting between and encompassing the viewpoints of multiple characters). Viewpoint a.k.a. POV. Summary – The efficient and active accounting of story events that otherwise are not rendered fully in a scene. Story-telling with the emphasis on the telling versus the …

A Page a Day: Tiny Habits that Get & Keep You Writing Your Stories with Ease & Joy

March 12th, 2021Sarah Lovett0 Comments

zen garden refelction to demonstrate the power of ease

Embarrassing confession: I’ve been putting off writing this post on “Accountability.” Yikes. It feels good to put my failure out there–wait, let’s drop the “F” word “failure.” (We all struggle with resistance.) And let’s drop that “A” word right now, too, deal? This post is about reaching your desired outcomes (or call them goals or aspirations) with joy and ease, no failure, no shame. Action prompts Next confession: I’ve been working on using B.J. Fogg’s Tiny Habits! This confession is awesome because his system is great and makes change so easy. It also reinforces discoveries I’ve made over the years …

Wants, Whys, Lies,& Ghosts: Use these vital story elements to reveal your characters!

February 25th, 2021Sarah Lovett0 Comments

What do characters want?! Spend an hour with other writers or take a writing class and you will hear this advice: Figure out what your protagonist wants! Variations phrased as questions include: What does your hero desire? What does he yearn for? What does she lust for? What is her story goal? Easy Peasy Sounds easy enough, right? Your intelligence operative wants to stop an imminent terrorist attack. Your detective wants to solve the crime. Your au pair wants to fall in love. Your corporate V.P. wants to finally earn the damn promotion! Your archaeologist wants to dig up the treasure after decades of searching! Want something? …

Action-Tracking Outline: Best Writing Tool Ever

December 29th, 2020Sarah Lovett0 Comments

Not your grandmother’s outline Today’s post focuses on what I call the action-tracking outline, an outlining/tracking tool that might change the way you think about the “O” word. I’ve published seven novels with the big houses and I’m the author of two upcoming novels in their final stages of revision and polish–and this tool is one of the best in my writer’s toolbox. Yes, I’m talking the “O” word We’ve all heard the debate about ‘pantzers’ and ‘outliners’ and you can find many wise bloggers waxing on pros and cons of one or the other or both. That’s not what …

Your Characters’ Desires Drive Your Story

July 19th, 2019Sarah Lovett2 Comments

Whether you are writing a novel or a memoir, the most important question you must answer is, What do my characters want? You’ll begin with your primary characters–your protagonist and major antagonist–and work from there to other characters. Little Big “Wants” If “what they want” seems like an easy question to answer in your stories, think again. Sure, a detective in a crime story wants to catch the bad guy and close the case. The lonely widower wants to find love. The superhero wants to save the world or at least her corner of it. Those goals (aka desires aka …

The Beta Review Process

May 21st, 2019Cynde Christie0 Comments

When you complete your first draft and your substantive edit, the next step in the book writing process is the beta review process. What is a beta review? This process involves having a number of people read your manuscript in its draft form. At which point they provide the author and editor with very specific feedback on what worked and what did not work in the manuscript. In short, as I tell my authors, the beta readers find the holes that we can longer see. Preparing for the Beta Review To begin this process, I ask my author to choose …

Writing & Revising Your Novel or Memoir in 2019: 7 Must-Know Tips (Part 1)

January 7th, 2019Sarah Lovett0 Comments

If writing & revising your book tops your 2019 to-do list, here are 7 must-know tips to help you write your best novel or memoir. 1.Write your 1st draft quickly, ideally within 3 to 6 months. Key to this process of drafting is to refrain from editing your 1st draft! Writing draft 1 without editing?! I can hear some of you writers howling with anticipated pain and frustration! But trust me (or at least listen with an open mind) when I say your best novel will probably be born from a quick 1st draft. Note, when I say probably, that’s because there are no rules when it …

Coaching Questions to Keep You and Your Story and Your Life on Course

September 28th, 2018Sarah Lovett0 Comments

As a writing coach and mentor, I work with writers to become conscious of their writing process, to become accountable to their writing spirit, and to identify and deal with resistance so it does not stop them from writing. I encourage my clients to name, clarify, and hone their goals. I also ask them to identify the meaning they attach to reaching those goals. I ask myself those same questions. When we understand what we want and why we want it, and answer truthfully, we don’t lose our way. We can use what we know to stay on course for …

How do I Organize my Chapters in Nonfiction and Memoir?

September 1st, 2018Cynde Christie0 Comments

First, you have a great idea for a nonfiction book or memoir. You’ve done the research, compiled the notes, or lived the life you want to share with your readers. Now what? Your chapters are in rough draft form, (hopefully you have been working with an editor so they are not too rough), but how do you know the best way to present this information to a reader so that they will get the most out of what you are trying to impart? How do you make the story or non fiction study flow? Do you start at the beginning …

Writing a Memoir: Write the Journey

October 1st, 2017Sarah Lovett3 Comments

You’ve logged the miles and now it’s time to write the journey. Writing a memoir is your opportunity to share a transformational story or collection of stories from your life’s journey. You’ve logged the miles, and, along the way, you’ve faced challenges, taken risks, failed, given up, risked again; until, finally, you emerged transformed in some way. You’ve reached a crest where you can see 365 degrees around you, and you pick out the faint trail of your passage all the way back to your beginning. You know you have a story to share with others. Where do you begin? Begin at the …