Soul Tracker is a captivating book following a doctor’s investigation of life’s energy written by Nicholas Crabtree with MGC.
If you’re considering writing a memoir, a vital question to ask yourself is, “Why do I want to tell this story?” If the primary reason is, “Because the world needs to know it!”—this is a good time to step back and reconsider your motives, particularly if you hope to draw a wide audience to your book.
But wait. You have a great story to tell. Everyone should know it, right?
Perhaps. But not because the story is great. (Even if it is.) Instead, the reason to turn your great story into a memoir is to demonstrate how YOUR transformation can inform the READER’S transformation.
Specifically, this means your memoir should:
- Have a starting point and an endpoint. Unlike autobiography, memoir is not about the author’s life from birth until the present moment. Rather, a memoir discusses something specific that changed the author. This, in turn, opens up possibilities for readers to experience their own transformations. It’s important to note that this might be trauma related (much of a memoir is), but that’s not always the case. The story of how you went from living paycheck-to-paycheck to running a successful business provides motivation for aspiring entrepreneurs. The story of how you rescued and learned to train a stray dog, then went on to become a professional canine behaviorist, could inspire others who want to follow this or a similar path.
- Show what you learned. This is a moment for demonstrating what happened and what you learned from it. You’ve heard the age-old writing advice: show, don’t tell. The key is to highlight your transformation in specific, emotion-packed scenes. For example, if you’re a recovering alcoholic, don’t simply tell readers that you’ve learned to stop drinking. Instead, paint a picture. Maybe you’re at a party, everyone is drinking alcohol, and for the first time ever, you select a soda instead. How did that act make you feel? By showing the reader your transformation, you provide inspiration for readers to undergo their own transformations (whether sobriety or something else).
- Be relatable. This doesn’t mean every reader has to experience what you did. Let’s say you want to write about your experience summiting Mount Everest. Not every reader will do that, of course. What’s important is not that readers share your specific experience, but rather that they understand its transformational properties. What did this experience teach you that others can apply to their own experiences? How to be a better planner? What does it take to persevere? How, when, and where to ask for help?
- Avoid preachiness. Even if your story contains valuable lessons, it’s not your job, as an author, to lecture the reading public. Rather, your story can serve as a caring, definitive example of what’s possible. Again, this goes back to showing, not telling. When readers experience specific, vivid emotions alongside you, they’re more likely to feel empathy for your experience and draw inspiration from it, rather than tuning it out (which, in the reading world, means deciding not to continue reading your book).
Are you ready to share your story and help others, but you’re not sure to start? Please get in touch. Our team of professional ghostwriters and editors can help shape your story into a memoir that has the potential to change lives—starting with your own!
