This is the final in a series about how writing and crafting memoir can help us in our journey towards healing. I am not interested so much in the classic idea of writing as catharsis, but more that by crafting a memoir and writing towards publication we might find ourselves able to transcend difficult emotion and put it to rest. This premise is the foundation of a book I am currently writing called INTO BEING: the radical craft of memoir and its power to transform, which will be published by Manchester University Press in 2025.
I am tinkering with some other ideas around memoir and around the book I am writing and seeing if I might be able to invite you, my subscribers, into glimpses of that work in progress by sharing some of these ideas with you and getting your feedback. As we get closer to publication there will be a chance to see exclusive extracts, early assets, even getting your hands on proof copies! So if you’re interested in memoir, please stick around!
Oh, one last thing: I am teaching my very popular course on From Memory to Publication: How to Write a Compelling Memoir Proposal and it starts 5th March. There are two places left, so grab one quick if you’re at that stage of wanting to get an agent or publisher for your work. As I write this we are having some issues with our website, but please get in touch if you are interested and I can give you another way to book.
Throughout this series, I have been exploring memoir as a form of healing – both for the writer and hopefully also for the reader. Not in the obvious cathartic sense of pouring raw feeling onto the page, but with more emphasis on crafting experience and digging deep to find meaning. I have touched on the importance of finding story, of nurturing the reflective voice, and even imagining yourself as a character. But with all this talk of craft in memoir, do we risk stepping too far into the realm of fiction? In getting so caught up in story and writing in a realistic way, might we lose sight of the authentic truth of the events we are exploring? A defining and important quality of memoir, after all, is its nonfiction nature – this actually happened: This is a true story.