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Memoir Exercise

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Memoir Exercise

By Rory C. Keel 

If you write memoir, here’s one exercise that will jog your memory and help you start your writing.

Answer each of the following questions in one paragraph or less.

1. Describe the story the world you grew up in told you that you should become?

What message did your parents, class, society or environment in which you grew up suggest you should be?

2. What was the story of who you should become that you told yourself?

 

What dream did you have for yourself?

3. What is the story life has told you now, of who you are?

Where are you at in life at this stage?

Now compare your answers to all three questions, is who you are today, the same as what you were told you would be?

Using these questions, you can build a framework to develop the story of your life.

Roryckeel.com

Beginning, Middle and End – WHAT A RIDE!

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A story has a beginning, middle and an end.

Make a brief outline answering these questions to create a story skeleton to build upon.

  1. The Beginning: What event happens to person, that creates a problem or a need?
  2. The Middle: What struggle does the character face in solving the problem or the need?
  3. The End: How is this person changed and what have they learned as a result of the struggle?

This is where the story is made. Imagine the process like a roller coaster. The reader’s attention is captured by the alluring promises made by the title and then they are locked into their seat at the beginning of the ride. Tension builds as the chain’s click-clack pulls them higher into the problem, and then drops them into the middle of the story where there’s no turning back. The reader struggles back and forth, and then up and down along with the characters to solve the problem. The ride then comes to an end where there is resolution showing a change created by the struggle.

Rory C. Keel

roryckeel.com