Sample Memoirs – Writers have long struggled with the question of how to begin a memoir. And the truth is, there’s no better way to start a memoir.
The primary goal is to leave readers wanting more. It can be done in many ways, shocking or minimal, humorous or dramatic, lyrical or simple.
Sample Memoirs
While there’s no one best way to start a memoir, you can always think of a start by making readers:
Choosing A Title For Your Autobiography — Pictures And Stories
Humans are curious by nature. So if you start a memoir with a vague statement, there’s a good chance people will keep reading. They want to solve the mystery.
• “I was sitting in a taxi wondering if I was overdressed for the evening when I looked out the window and saw Mom rummaging through the bin.” – The Glass Castle, by Janet Walls. We wonder why Mom went dumpster diving and how Jeanette will react.
• “To leave the earth, you must go to the ends of the earth.” –
, by astronaut Scott Kelly. We wonder why he goes to the ends of the earth instead of strapping himself into a rocket ship and blowing it up.
Autobiography: Chapman University Undergraduate Application Essay Sample 1274 Words Gradesfixer
• “Missouri is a state of stolen names, given to bring the world a little closer; Versailles, Rome, Cairo, New London, Athens, Carthage, Alexandria, Lebanon, Cuba, Japan, Sante Fe, Cleveland, Canton, California, Caledonia. , New Caledonia, Mexico, Louisiana, Paris, our home.” –
By George Hodgman. I wonder what the author has to do with all of this and how this intriguing list of city names would fit into his life.
, by Andrea Jarrell. We don’t know who Susanna is, why Andrea was killed, and we wonder what’s going on.
• “Vagabond, uprooted and displaced. Wanderer in both body and mind. This is what I became after I left China for the West. It was fifteen years of transition, change, forgetting and adaptation.” –
The Memoirs Of Richard Nixon
Making humor into first lines is a challenge because you have less opportunity to frame the joke. But it’s worth the effort if the humor matches your memories.
Readers who laugh at the opening lines will keep turning the pages looking for more humor.
• “When I was nine years old, I wrote a vow of celibacy on a piece of paper and ate it.” –
• “I was born in a house with my two hands tied. Sorry. This is incorrect: I got that from my official Senate website. We really need to change this.” –
What Is A Memoir? Ideas And Examples │blurb Blog
• “For the past year, when I decided to write this book, people asked me how I had time and why I decided to write it. Truth is, last June I was driving through a tunnel while on the phone with my agent and my cell service was spotty. I said. “I just got a great IKEA table for my breakfast.” My agent thought I said that. “I have a great idea for my new book.”
We want to see ourselves in the characters we read about; It makes us feel closer to them.
That’s why it’s so powerful to begin a memoir by recounting something—from their own lives—that many of your readers have said, seen, or done.
• “I have a box where I keep all the holidays and birthdays because my friends and family send me cards. They are monuments, symbols of love and wisdom, and there is a part of me that can’t bear to throw them away.” –
How To Write An Autobiography: 7 Key Steps
• “A year ago, I was riding the train from the suburbs of Portland to downtown on a sunny afternoon when a pair of hazel eyes peered into the corner of my book and promptly disappeared. A minute later, the eyes appeared for a second and disappeared again, and I realized that the little girl sitting in the hall was playing peekaboo with me.” –
• “The only bread I’ve known since childhood was store-bought, machine-made, sliced, plastic-wrapped, and white. My mother insisted that my two souls and I eat part of our dinner on puffed bread spread with blue-capped margarine. “Eat bread and butter, and then you play,” he used to say like a raw vegetable. ‘The bark is the same. It’s good for your teeth.” –
Readers love to be worried, scared, and scared. Notice how the three openings of the memoirs below draw attention, making the reader worry that something sinister is about to follow:
• “I’m standing in my corridor. It’s early in the morning, maybe five o’clock. I’m wearing a white lace nightgown. The high beam, fluorescent light blinds me. “Your hands in the air!” shouts a man’s voice, aggressive but emotionless. … I raise my trembling hands and my eyes slowly adjust to the light. –
How To Write A Memoir Synopsis
Molly game. The true story of the 26-year-old woman behind the world’s most exclusive, high-stakes underground poker game
• “About two years ago I bought euthanasia medicine online from China. You can get it that way or you can go to Mexico or Peru and get it from a vet for free. Apparently you’re told to put down a sick horse and they’ll sell you as much as you want. Then you drink it in your hotel room in Lima and let your family take care of shipping the rest of your stuff home or smuggle it back in your luggage for later use. –
• “Alpha Company was brilliant that day. One hundred weary men marched through the jungle with sixty pounds. The rest of the battalion, about four hundred strong, pulled up behind us in a long, ragged column. We had five hundred meters to go to reach our destination, a landing zone called Albany. , where we can relax.
People like to feel superior to others. Watching from a safe distance when people get themselves into trouble.
Free Essay Sample On The Liar’s Club Memoir
• “The international baggage claim at Brussels airport is huge and unwieldy, with several carousels spinning endlessly. I ran from one to the other, desperately trying to find my black suitcase. “Because it was filled with drug money, I was more concerned than usual about lost luggage.”
• “Joey Coyle had an accident. He was high all night and coming off meth always made him feel depressed and confused. When he started, the drug gave him so much energy that his lungs and brain struggled to keep up. He felt that way at night. When he slept, usually during the day. .’ “Finders are keepers. The Story of the Man Who Found $1 Million by Mark Bowden.
Strange as it may sound, we get a thrill out of seeing people circumnavigate the drainage and then go down. So those eyes roll.
As much as we enjoy feeling superior to others, we also like to sympathize with them. Notice how the openings below invite you to stand in solidarity with the writers because you know their plight is dire and not of their own making.
The Best Memoirs Of All Time, As Chosen By Our Readers
• “Dad first knew me, behind glass on a routine visit to the prison, when a tearful Ma lifted up her shirt to reveal her pregnant belly.” –
• “On a cold evening in Paris in late October 1985, I realized for the first time that the struggle against the disorder in my mind that had preoccupied me for months would have a fatal outcome.”
• “I don’t know if I was born an alcoholic, but I was definitely born restless.” I picked up drinking later in life after years of drinking to relieve stress and anxiety and avoid panic attacks. –
No matter how you start your memoir, if you can engage your readers from the start, you’re more than halfway there.
Tiny Memoir Contest For Students: Write A 100 Word Personal Narrative
Create a catchy opening, make sure it fits your theme, and you’ve solved the problem of starting a memoir. For more information on the topic, see How to Write a Memo.
There are different types of memos including celebrity memos, political memos and sports memos. Click on the links below for more examples of how to start a specific type of memoir you write.
If you’re going to write about the brave men who save us, check out How to Start a Military Memoir
Don’t worry too much about it and definitely don’t let it stop you from writing. It’s perfectly legitimate and sometimes a very good idea to start writing your memoir in sections where you figure out how to put it together in the middle, at the end, or later.
How To Outline Your Memoir [step By Step Guide]
The point is to write, and keep writing. Often, as you enter your writing, the background of your memories emerges, then intensifies, and a definite beginning becomes apparent.
We are Barry Fox and Nadine Taylor, professional ghostwriters and authors with a long list of satisfied clients and editors at major publishing houses.
For more information, call us at 818-917-5362 or use the contact form below to send us a message. We want to talk to you about you
Famous memoirs, memoirs faucet, memoirs toilet, apricot memoirs, amazon memoirs, personal memoirs, memoirs sink, memoirs, lifetime memoirs, best memoirs, kohler memoirs, top memoirs
Post a Comment for "Sample Memoirs"