Helen Luxton has won a copy of Something Missing and Pickle to Pie. Her name was drawn after my workshop last week on Life/Memoir Writing at the Hastings Library.
Over twenty writers attended, all with fascinating projects. On a table, near the books for sale, was a list. It stated that if you subscribe to my website http://www.glenicewhitting.com you had a chance of winning a copy of my latest novel, Something Missing. I felt that a copy of Pickle to Pie would also be helpful to Helen.
Life Writing
Life writing is considered an all-encompassing term. This genre involves the recording of personal memories and experiences. Life writing includes not just biography and autobiography but also Memoir
Autobiography is ‘I’ writing (writing the self)_It is ‘mystory‘
Memoir (from the Latin, meaning memory) is a subclass of autobiography. It is an autobiographical account of someone’s life. However, the focus is on the events a person remembers rather than the self. (The writer remembers passages of dialogue from the past)_it is ‘ourstory’
Biography is writing her/his story_it is ‘theirstory‘.
Below is an outline about what we managed to cover in a brief time.
Life Writing/Memoir Workshop 31/7/2018
Hastings library
Every family has fascinating stories and even secrets. The stories of ordinary family life must be told. Finding the best way to tell these stories can be a fascinating journey and the chance to create a valuable resource for your descendants. However we all want to write an account that is memorable, engaging and not boring.
What about the family’s murky secrets? Don’t shy away from these stories. They can be healing to you and helpful to the reader as they provide the opportunity of insights: such as a marriage taking its last breaths, the death of a child etc
How can we do justice to intriguing ancestors?
Should my story turn into fiction? How much dramatising is acceptable?
Who is my reader? What kind of publication is appropriate?
Self publishing where I pay for everything myself?
Self publishing: using Busybird or Lou Lou. (you still pay)
Small press publisher. They pay, but what about Marketing?
Traditional Big Publisher: such a Pan McMillan etc. Pitch it to them on Fridays and Mondays.
Do I need a professional editor? —Yes, Yes, Yes:
I had an American editor to check for any mistakes for the American section of Something Missing. She said a campervan was called a pullalong camper. An English editor provided by MadeGlobal Publishing asked What is a Doona? I changed it to continental quilt.
Structure: Make a W.A.I.N (Where Am I Now? —
Write the first draft without any thought. Knock that writing citic off your shoulder: lose control. Forget about grammar, spelling and being nice and polite.
Take Risks
Free writing: Don’t stop writing for at least 15 mins. Write anything that comes into your head. Get messy, and leave it for the adult writer to clean up later when revising your book.
Join a Writer’s Group & the Victorian Writers in the Wheelers Centre in Melbourne
Read everything you can lay your hands on. Hazel Edward’s has written a very good book titled ‘Non Boring’ Family History’. This is a practical guide for those wanting to shape their family research into a readable family history.
Happy Writing and have FUN
Writers and their stories 