7 Parts to a Memorable Memoir

A memorable memoir goes beyond simply recounting events; it explores the emotional journey, universal themes, and the author’s unique voice and perspective. It resonates with readers by articulating something about being human and using personal experiences to demonstrate universal truths.

Here’s a more detailed look at what makes a memoir memorable:

Compelling Story. It all starts here. A memoir needs a good story to tell, one that’s powerful and irresistible, one that earns admiration, respect, or attention; one that the reader feels like he or she is there and is going through what the people in the memoir are going through.

But it’s more than just retelling events and the feelings that go with those events. It should explore themes and experiences that resonate with readers. Maybe it’s facing and overcoming challenges, like surviving a marriage to a psychopath and getting the law changed so what befell you can never happen to anyone else ever again. Maybe it’s journey of transformation, like falling prey to the violence of the neighborhood and learning late in life that your brother, who escaped the streets, was on the right path.

The overall narrative, and the details within it, have to be compelling, or nobody will read it because nobody will care.

Character Development. The best memoirs are character-driven, exploring the author’s personality and growth. Although memoirs are non-fiction, they still have to follow the rules of storytelling, which include a clear structure, an engaging plot, emotional impact, and relatable characters. The characters’ developments need to be clear, engaging, and emotional. They also have to have a clearly defined beginning, middle, and end.

According to KN Literary Arts, a character-driven memoir shows vulnerability—that is, a character is shown to be less than perfect. In the stories I’ve worked on, the brother didn’t realize that the neighborhood’s violence wasn’t right for him, and business leaders didn’t know how successfully navigate through the pandemic.

Vivid Descriptions. Memoirs should use evocative and sensory details to bring the story to life and transport the reader to the author’s world and experiences. It is critical to “show, don’t tell,” so I’ve spent a lot of time asking clients to further describe something so I can feel like I’m there and then write it so you’ll feel like you’re there. 

For example, a client lost everything in the Palisades Fire. I had to ask him to relive the sights, sounds, and smells of that fateful January day. He described how he saw the fire coming over the ridge, how the embers flew past and sparked other fires, how his grandsons were choked by the smoke when they rode a scooter into the fire zone, and how desolate and empty the streets were when they finally evacuated.

He told a story of how privately hired firefighters stood by and did nothing while buildings they weren’t hired to protect burned to the ground, and how angry he got when retelling that tale.

Without these details, no one can truly feel like they were there.

Theme and Message. A memoir should have a central theme or message that provides focus and meaning, helping readers understand the author’s journey and the lessons learned. It should reflect on the author’s experiences and the meaning they took from them. Ideally, the memoir explores universal themes that resonate with a target audience.

Maybe it’s about overcoming evil people and inspiring people to never give up. Maybe it’s about the horrifying actions people took to protect their jobs instead of taking necessary steps to protect the foster kids they were supposed to be protecting. Maybe it’s realizing that you don’t have to give into the temptations that are right in front of you. 

Regardless, when the reader starts the memoir, the reader should know what they’re going to learn. When the reader finishes the memoir, the reader should know what they learned. And those should be the same.

Honesty and Authenticity. Memoirs should be honest and authentic, allowing readers to connect with the author’s vulnerabilities and imperfections. There is nothing better in a memoir than seeing a protagonist being an ingloriously flawed human and then being heroically human.

Never was that more clear than the story of the woman who married a psychopath. All her friends knew, and both her kids knew, but she was the last to know, and it caused all kinds of grief and PTSD. She went on to heroic efforts: getting the $1.4 million debt erased and getting the law changed so it can’t ever happen again.

Emotional Depth. A memoir should evoke emotions in the reader, bringing them closer to the author’s experiences. The highest praise I can think of is when somebody reads the memoir I’ve ghostwritten and later tells the author, “I cried when I read it.” As a ghostwriter, my job is to merely describe what happened and what the protagonist felt. I’m not trying to manipulate the reader with my choice of words, so if the reader feels, then I’ve done my job.

Unique Voice. The author’s voice should be distinctive and engaging, reflecting their personality and style. A ghostwriter needs to step into someone else’s shoes and write that memoir in their client’s words, voice and tone. The worst thing a ghostwriter can do is submit the writing and have the person say, “That doesn’t sound like me at all. That sounds like you.” 

Not every ghostwriter can do that. Some come into the situation thinking they know better. They think they understand the subject matter, the target audience or the right words better than the client. That is not a ghostwriter you want to work with.

I once had clients Julian J. Dominguez and Melinda Murphy present me with a manuscript in which they wanted me to organize and title the chapters. The end result, “A Culture of Fear: An Inside Look at Los Angeles County’s Department of Children & Family Services,” received online raves such as: “a must-read. … candid and remarkable – every attorney general should read this.”

Julian and Melinda like what I did so much, they put my name on the cover, which wasn’t in the original contract. They did that on their own.

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