It is a life story written down on a paper. Before writing a memoir of your own, do a research of yourself. Everyone has family photo albums and/or videos.

1. HOW TO WRITE A MEMOIR
ESSAY.
Tips on writing a personal story.

2. WHAT IS A
MEMOIR?
It is a life story written down on a
paper.
Before writing a memoir of your own,
do a research of yourself.
Everyone has family photo albums
and/or videos.

3. IN THE PROCESS
OF RESEARCH…
People surrounding you do have
something to tell about you too, to
describe you as a person, a friend, a son
or a daughter, a brother or a sister, a
mother or a father maybe etc. you may
come up with a questionary.

4. MORE STRAIGHTFORWARD…
• Memoir essay has a life experience as
its focus.
• Your life experience speaks for you
representing you as an author to the
audience.

5. HONESTY IS THE KEY…
• It is about honesty otherwise it will not
be you and memoir is not going to be
yours.
• Some memoirs do serve for their owner
to be praised to the skies but those
ones, which are frank even though if
there is nothing to boast about are of
the highest value.

6. REVEAL YOURSELF…
• Your reader must feel what kind of
person you are while reading your
memoir essay.
• If you tend to be atrocious, show it
honestly or if you have a good sense of
humor – do not hesitate to tell a joke or
two so your spirit permeated the work.

7. EDITING…
• Pay extra attention to editing of your
essay.
• Re-read it a few times.
• check on words choice so there were no
repetitions, poor vocabulary.
• Check on grammar, bad grammar will
speak of you as of an uneducated.

8. ABOUT OTHERS…
• Memoir essay contains a thesis statement
just like any other type of an essay.
• You do not need to try to be a writer when
you write about a family of your own.
Just stay yourself .
• You are your product. A transaction
between you and the experience you
remember and emotions you experienced
is crucial in memoirs.
• Mentioning your family members, you
need to show the pages they are
mentioned on to them. This is what a
courtesy requires so there was no a bad
surprise for them when and if it goes in
print.
• A family might have a trait (-s) it would
not want it to be revealed because of the
fact to be rather unpleasant but overall it
would feel nice to leave a trace in the
history besides it is unlikely of you to do
that from malice.

9. MAKE STATEMENTS…
• Once a memory is chosen, decide on
how to present it.
• Decide on the order your presentation
is going to flow.
• Make it alive.
• Make it clear. State why it is important
for you.

10. TO CONCLUDE…
• There is Dutch school of painters where
a painting is within a panting. For
example, you see a person sitting next
to a wall on the panting and there is a
painting on this wall the person is
sitting next to. The same with memoir,
your life is a painting and memoir is
another painting hanging on the wall.