The 5 Important Parts of a Successful Memoir & Why You Need Them, a Definitive Guide for Memoir Writers

By Carolyn V. Hamilton

In this definitive guide on how to write a memoir, Carolyn V. Hamilton begins by explaining a concept every memoir writer must understand: The difference between memoir and autobiography.

The steps and tips and and information she shares in this book are the same ones she has developed specifically for her memoir clients and and students.

Chapters include an explanation of the rules of “story-telling” and how they apply to memoir, and an explanation of the writing concept “Show, don’t tell.”

Principles of writing dialogue and scene construction are also covered, and real examples from published stories will help you understand the concepts presented.

Hamilton defines the The SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT PART of your memoir and includes journal-like work pages to help you master this kind of writing.

Included at the end is an additional BONUS: “3 Ways to Begin to Write Your Memoir.”

"The 5 Important Parts of a Successful Memoir & Why You Need Them" is a fast, to-the-point, no-nonsense book that will give you the confidence to begin writing with ease. Once you implement what you discover here, you will no longer worry about how to write effectively, and you will have a strong plan for how to structure your story.

"I was expecting a more textbook feel but was pleasantly surprised by how conversational it was! I especially enjoyed the seven part story exercise. I learned that I do have a rudimentary structure that I can develop easily with the guidance you offered in five steps." - Heather Monroe-Kiefer

• Language: English
• Publisher: Carolyn V. Hamilton
• Release date: Jul 4, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463732182

Carolyn V. Hamilton

My first creative writing class was in my junior year in high school. I loved it so much (thank you, Miss Dearborn) that I repeated it in my senior year.Forty years passed before I wrote any more short stories, poetry, or fiction.In the meantime, I wrote just about every kind of advertising copy you can imagine: brochures, traditional print ads, speeches, radio & television commercials, direct mail letters, white papers and news releases.From 1999 to 2001 I served in the U.S. Peace Corps in Suriname, South America. My assignment was “rural community development.” To tell the truth, I had a lot of down time in the village, where I laid happily in my hammock and read a lot of novels. Finally it struck me: why not write one?Ever since I’d met the editor of Romantic Times on a cruise to Bermuda, I’d thought about writing a romance. After all, what could be easier? I thought.I plunged into writing my eco-adventure romance, Hard Amazon Rain.Little did I know that romance is perhaps the toughest genre to write. Those romance readers have real strong ideas about what they want and what they don’t want in their stories!In Suriname, I was intrigued by the story of Elisabeth Samson, the first black woman in the country in the 18th century to get legal permission from the Dutch to marry white. I started out to tell her story in third person, but along the way this “voice” emerged. I have no idea where it came from.Elisabeth Samson, Forbidden Bride was published by a small press in 2004. It subsequently created a furor in Suriname, where I was publicly accused of “stealing (their) black culture”.....and that’s a whole different story for another time.By that time I was hooked on writing books. I’ve learned a lot along the way, book/tape/seminar/conference junkie that I am.Where do I get my story ideas?I’ve been blessed in my life with jobs and adventures that have taken me to many countries in the world and led me to meet a lot of interesting people. I take two or three of them, put them in a bottle, shake it up, and ask myself, “What if?”I’m sure you’ve also found yourself on occasion in a situation where you thought, “You just can’t make this stuff up!”For the record, I was born and raised in Seattle, Washington--hence the “webbed” feet-- and spent most of my adult life and career in Las Vegas, Nevada.In Los Angeles in the 60s I got an A.A. degree in Commercial Art from Los Angeles Trade Technical College, and began my career as a Graphic Designer in the world of “Mad Men.” In the 80s I finished a B.A. degree in Liberal Arts at Antioch Seattle.Among other things, I’ve been a secretary, sold radio time, owned an ad agency, won a bunch of awards for both advertising and community service, and am a Vintage Playboy Bunny.Besides writing fiction, I have an internet magazine for women over 50 doing fun things: www.adventuress-travel-magazine.comEnough about me....what do you like to read?You can e-mail me any time at [e-mail]’d love to hear from you.

Book preview

The 5 Important Parts

of a Successful Memoir

& Why You Need Them

A Definitive Guide for Memoir Writers

Copyright 2020 Swift House Press - Carolyn V. Hamilton

Published by Carolyn V. Hamilton at Smashwords

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Cover design by Swift House Press

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What they’re saying about

The 5 Important Parts of a Successful Memoir & Why You Need Them

I was expecting a more textbook feel but was pleasantly surprised by how conversational it was! I especially enjoyed the seven part story exercise. I learned that I do have a rudimentary structure that I can develop easily with the guidance you offered in five steps. - Heather Monroe-Kiefer

I recommend this useful guide to anyone who wants to write a memoir. - John Woodcox

This book is well written and will be helpful to memoirists. And the dialogue examples are wonderful. - Patti McMann

This definitive guide for memoir writers should be on the bookshelf of anyone who is thinking about writing a memoir or who has already begun the memoir-writing process. It will help you organize your stories so you can write a memoir that readers will find inspiring and hard to put down. – Georgina Nunez, author of Bearer of Family Secrets & Suspicions, Roads & Redemption, and (soon-to-be-pubished) High Heels & Heroin.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

Chapter 1 - The difference between memoir and autobiography

Chapter 2 – The rules of story-telling.

Chapter 3 - The STORY part of your memoir

Chapter 4 - The DESCRIPTIONs in your memoir

Chapter 5 - The DIALOGUE in your memoir

Chapter 6 - The SCENES in your story

Chapter 7 – The SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT PART of your memoir

BONUS – 3 Ways to Begin to Write Your Memoir

AFTERWORD

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

BOOKS by CAROLYN V. HAMILTON

Introduction

I am Carolyn V. Hamilton and I am a success coach for memoir writers. My first memoir covering a 3-year period in my life—which by the way took me 38 years to write—is called Coming To Las Vegas, The True Tale of Sex, Drugs and Sin City in the 70s. My second memoir, covering a 32-year period of my life, HELP! I Married an Alien A Comedian – A memoir of life in the circus lane of marriage to a stand-up comedian has just been published.

What I do is help aspiring memoir writers like you to share their stories of adventure, adversity, personal challenges, trauma and redemption. My private coaching program called Memoir to Legacy.

The steps I am going to teach you in this book I developed specifically for my memoir clients and and students.

Once you implement what you’re going to read here, you will have the confidence to begin writing with ease. You will no longer worry about how to write effectively, and you’ll have a strong plan