Tone Inconsistency

wax_and_wick · Dec 5, 2010

I'm writing a memoir that covers my bizarre childhood, most of which I can look back on with humor and a wry sensibility. However, my memoir also has a dark period in my teens. I would just chop the memoir off at age twelve, but I have this feeling that it's not telling the whole story because my teenage problems didn't occur in a vacuum - so I'd give the wrong impression about how things developed. I'm not sure if it's a complete story if I cut that stuff out... especially at the very end (age eighteen) when I visited my father (the source of much craziness during the first twelve years) and had some closure.

The problem is, I'm finding it difficult to be humorous about many subjects from my teenage years... or at least to do so in good taste!

Is change of tone a problem in a memoir? A Girl Named Zippy is funny the whole way through and The Little Prisoner is blandly depressing even when it doesn't need to be.

Should I simply not mention the darker bits to maintain the humorous tone I started out with? Would it be jarring if I tried to keep the humor up during dark events?

alleycat · Dec 5, 2010

Offhand, I would say keep the humor if it comes naturally. If, however, if it's something you have a very hard time being humorous or dryly humorous about, then it probably won't work very well. I can't quite tell if you are mostly concerned that you can't be "flippant" (for lack of a better word) yourself about this period of your life, or whether you're more worried what a reader might think that these subjects shouldn't be treated with any sort of humor and would be put off by them.

Another option would be to alternate the good and the bad throughout the book, or possibly sometimes the good/the nutty/the nuttier. Kind of a good news/bad news approach.

It does sound like you need to continue the time period to the end of your teens.

I read A Girl Named Zippy a few years ago. Besides the story, I remember it had a short prologue that actually seemed to work (not being a big fan of prologues myself).

Captcha · Dec 5, 2010

I agree with alleycat's idea to alternate good and bad, if possible. Were there events in your childhood that led up to the darker parts of your teenage years? Because, honestly, a happy childhood is great for the person having it, but it's maybe not something that's going to hold my attention for long, reading about it. So if there's nothing dark there, maybe your memoir starts later in your life.

That said, I think that dark humour is REALLY effective in memoirs about depressing topics, so I wouldn't advocate that you go totally serious for the second part of the book, if you can help it.

I do think it would be a mistake to have a happy-fluffy first half and a dark-depressing second half, so I think you're right to be looking for some way to reconcile the two.

wax_and_wick · Dec 5, 2010

After reading your replies... I think I should try a bit of dark humor. Thanks!

allycat - it's sort of both... the first time I wrote some of these sections, they were almost didactic. (Ugh!) So, yeah - being flippant didn't come naturally in those parts (and they need to be rewritten anyway). I think I probably can make myself write them in a lighter tone (although not my first or second instinct), but was unsure if it would be a turn-off to readers.

Kate - my childhood before the dark period is actually probably a far bigger selling point for this memoir.

jerrywaxler · Dec 5, 2010

Author responsibility to lead the reader through it

Hi Wax and Wick,

It sounds like your childhood was chaotic (understatement) but to portray that to a reader, you have to take them by the hand and lead them through it in some orderly fashion. It's up to you to create enough structure and continuity that will help the reader stay grounded. In a Girl named Zippy, her life was not chaotic, and her voice was consistent. I just read Debra Gwartney's "Live through this" with out of control kids who went from being good girls to street urchins. Their transformation was massive but the author's (mom's) own voice kept some continuity. Running with Scissors maintained a sort of droll humor throughout.

James Joyce's Portrait of the Artist, while not a memoir, is a good example of a voice evolving through the course of the book. Child at the beginning, sophisticated young adult at the end.

Maybe just try to show the scenes, and let the voice arise naturally from the scenes...

Jerry

Tone Inconsistency

wax_and_wick

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alleycat

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Captcha

wax_and_wick

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jerrywaxler