Back in September, I traveled to Tennessee to attend the 2016 Tribe Conference, a writing conference run by my friend Jeff Goins.
All of the speakers were amazing and shared so much wisdom on writing. I filled up an entire notebook with everything I learned, but I particularly loved Marion Roach Smith’s talk.
She illustrated all of her writing advice with stories, recounting her experiences writing for The New York Times and NPR and her struggle to pen a memoir about her mother’s battle with Alzheimer’s Disease.
Marion is a powerful storyteller. I lost my own grandmother to Alzheimer’s, and Marion’s words drew me in and resonated with me.
Afterward, even though I previously didn’t have any intention of writing a memoir, I hurried to the book table to meet Marion and buy a copy of her guide to memoir writing, The Memoir Project (Amazon affiliate link). She was kind and encouraging and wrote in my book, “Tell your tale and write on.”
I dove into The Memoir Project on the flight home, and since then I’ve kept coming back to it for tips on how to improve my writing.
Don’t let the title fool you. This book isn’t just for memoirists.
Telling compelling stories adds another dimension to our writing. This fascinating Infographic shows how the human brain is hardwired to respond to storytelling differently than other forms of writing.
If you’re writing an article about Alzheimer’s, you could just quote studies and statistics. Or you could go one step further by including the stories of Alzheimer’s sufferers. The second method will impact your reader more than any study or stat could.
Whether you’re a blogger or any other kind of nonfiction writer, you can use the techniques of memoirists to connect with your readers on a deeper level.
In today’s post, I’m sharing eight storytelling tips that I learned from The Memoir Project.
