Personal Memoirs

Someone once asked me, “What is the difference between writing an autobiography and writing your memoirs?” I said, “Autobiographies aim to give a complete history of a person’s life in as much detail as possible, a complete survey of that person’s universe. Memoirs are more like skipping from one star to another, from one shining, vivid moment to another.”

Personal is the key word here. These memoirs are personal both because they focus on one person and because that person makes all the decisions about what to recount. I often tell my clients that they have two advantages in writing personal memoirs. First, the story, the characters and the settings do not need to be invented or imagined.  Secondly, the narrative reflects the writer’s own particular way of speaking, not the literary voice of some famous author.

Personal memoirs may also focus on a defined period in a person’s life, for example, experiences in the military or in the Peace Corps. A book of memoirs may be as small as 24 pages or as large as several volumes.

Photographs, documents, maps, letters and genealogies are often included in personal memoirs.