How to breakup the story section wise?

[philipmichael]

I really have no vision for how I want to arrange my memoir. I imagined going as chronologically as possible, but of course it also makes sense to organize it based on specific relationships, schools, jobs, physical environments, etc. and these of course exist over time. a mixture of both is probably best. what do you all think?

my personality is a bit scattered, so I know inevitably there will be a lot of tangents and spontaneity in my story telling, so I want to be disciplined and not indulge too often in flashing back and flashing forward or mixing up subjects because I'd like for the reader to experience things in a real progression, and not immediately "give away" what I learned about an experience that radically changed the meaning of it, 6 years later. sort of inject an element of suspense, which perhaps is tricky to execute in a nonfiction genre.

[PinkAmy]

Just get your first draft on paper (computer screen). Write and keep writing without editing or rewriting. That way your creative juices will flow without being stopped by details that can be later addressed in rewrites. You're over-thinking all the details and that won't necessarily make for a better first draft, probably the opposite. You can figure out chapters, sections, characters etc in subsequent drafts.

[philipmichael]

Just get your first draft on paper (computer screen). Write and keep writing without editing or rewriting. That way your creative juices will flow without being stopped by details that can be later addressed in rewrites. You're over-thinking all the details and that won't necessarily make for a better first draft, probably the opposite. You can figure out chapters, sections, characters etc in subsequent drafts.

i guess in a sense im already done with a first rough draft. i have about 200,000 words. i guess my methodology is sort of a blend of simultaneous writing and editing/rewriting. but whatever that hybrid process is, i just need to do the leg work and not think of bigger picture things.

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[PinkAmy]

200,000 k words-- yikes. You've going to have to cut that in half and then cut some out. Mine was originally 96k and I was told to cut 10-20k because of what publishers are looking for.
If I were you, I cut before you worry about sections. If you can get someone to read through and tell you where to cut, that might be of some help, because I know how hard chopping can be. Sometimes as memoirists, we're too close to the story.

[sonyablue]

I really have no vision for how I want to arrange my memoir. I imagined going as chronologically as possible, but of course it also makes sense to organize it based on specific relationships, schools, jobs, physical environments, etc. and these of course exist over time. a mixture of both is probably best. what do you all think?

my personality is a bit scattered, so I know inevitably there will be a lot of tangents and spontaneity in my story telling, so I want to be disciplined and not indulge too often in flashing back and flashing forward or mixing up subjects because I'd like for the reader to experience things in a real progression, and not immediately "give away" what I learned about an experience that radically changed the meaning of it, 6 years later. sort of inject an element of suspense, which perhaps is tricky to execute in a nonfiction genre.

It's hard to really say without knowing what the subject of your book is. What is your memoir about? Some make sense to go chronologically while others make more sense jumping around or being organized by event.

Mine is primarily chronological and it includes some historical context/facts along the way. It's telling the story of a person as much as it is a certain aspect of the city, so it makes sense for it to go in chronological order.

[sonyablue]

Also, I agree with PinkAmy that 200k is way way too long. It might be helpful for you to determine what the main/most important thread or theme of your book is and edit and cut accordingly. If it doesn't directly support the main theme, lose it.

[philipmichael]

I do think my memoir will be long because it is about my entire life. And I have major, disparate themes and events throughout my story. Domestic abuse from childhood, "social political issues" from school years, identity issues throughout, medical health issues toward the later years, etc. I feel like all of them individually could suffice for a short memoir, so together they will inevitably yield something on the longer end of the spectrum. But I will probably pretty easily get it down to 125k.

200k is a bit of a fib. It's a VERY VERY rough draft. A lot of it is unusable at this point.

Regarding the organization. I basically start out with a lot of fluffy, but interesting, childhood memories. I organize them according to the people or group of people they pertain to. But the structure is very "potpourri"-like. A lot of the actual action is a collection of sound bites in a way. The longest scenes are a couple to a few paragraphs. With these chapters, my goal is simply to introduce them to these important people in my life, and any action is simply to demonstrate a quirk about their personalities.

Later on, when I get into some of the more serious events, I do develop them more in depth over an extended time period. But I think part of that is just because they're more recent and more fresh in my mind. In these chapters, I am actually trying to explain exactly "what happened" during these events.

I guess it feels like the first half of my book will be like a scrapbook of memories, and the second half will be like a season of the TV show "24" with like a very developed more "play by play" approach. Just describing it right now, it actually sounds like it could be enjoyable for the reader having that mixture. But I guess I have a permanent instinct that I must be doing this wrong.

[sonyablue]

I do think my memoir will be long because it is about my entire life. And I have major, disparate themes and events throughout my story. Domestic abuse from childhood, "social political issues" from school years, identity issues throughout, medical health issues toward the later years, etc. I feel like all of them individually could suffice for a short memoir, so together they will inevitably yield something on the longer end of the spectrum. But I will probably pretty easily get it down to 125k.

200k is a bit of a fib. It's a VERY VERY rough draft. A lot of it is unusable at this point.

Regarding the organization. I basically start out with a lot of fluffy, but interesting, childhood memories. I organize them according to the people or group of people they pertain to. But the structure is very "potpourri"-like. A lot of the actual action is a collection of sound bites in a way. The longest scenes are a couple to a few paragraphs. With these chapters, my goal is simply to introduce them to these important people in my life, and any action is simply to demonstrate a quirk about their personalities.

Later on, when I get into some of the more serious events, I do develop them more in depth over an extended time period. But I think part of that is just because they're more recent and more fresh in my mind. In these chapters, I am actually trying to explain exactly "what happened" during these events.

I guess it feels like the first half of my book will be like a scrapbook of memories, and the second half will be like a season of the TV show "24" with like a very developed more "play by play" approach. Just describing it right now, it actually sounds like it could be enjoyable for the reader having that mixture. But I guess I have a permanent instinct that I must be doing this wrong.

I guess here's my real question: why are people going to want to read your book? What is going to make them say "Hey, I want to read that"? What do you hope that your readers will take away from your book - after they've finished and put it down, what are the things they will think about?

That's what I mean - what is the overarching theme, the common thread?

[E. S. Lark]

No offense, but you'll have to cut out enough to get your memoir under the 120k mark. 200k is way too much to ask a beta reader or an agent to read, especially when you're new. I understand it's a guesstimate and the word count may change, but really work on tightening.

If a scene doesn't really add to the plot/theme, get rid of it. Don't over explain and treat it like a work of fiction. I love reading memoirs. However, the ones I've read have always kept on track, had good pacing and didn't overdo it.

To cut down the word count, try and following.

Use conjunctions (that is = that's) etc.
Remove all forms of passive voice
Remove -ly words (lovely, gently, quietly)
Use a combination of short punchy sentences and longer ones for description.
Use he said and she said. Once the scene opens up, you don't need many dialogue tags at all.

As far as sections are concerned, it really does depend on what the memoir's about. I wrote mine in chronological order and usually broke up my chapters based off of location/time of day.

[philipmichael]

No offense, but you'll have to cut out enough to get your memoir under the 120k mark. 200k is way too much to ask a beta reader or an agent to read, especially when you're new. I understand it's a guesstimate and the word count may change, but really work on tightening.

If a scene doesn't really add to the plot/theme, get rid of it. Don't over explain and treat it like a work of fiction. I love reading memoirs. However, the ones I've read have always kept on track, had good pacing and didn't overdo it.

To cut down the word count, try and following.

Use conjunctions (that is = that's) etc.
Remove all forms of passive voice
Remove -ly words (lovely, gently, quietly)
Use a combination of short punchy sentences and longer ones for description.
Use he said and she said. Once the scene opens up, you don't need many dialogue tags at all.

As far as sections are concerned, it really does depend on what the memoir's about. I wrote mine in chronological order and usually broke up my chapters based off of location/time of day.

thanks for the tips. i should be able to get it down significantly.

[Flexi]

It is probably hard to comment to comment without reading an outline of the plot, but it sounds more like an autobiogrpahy rather than a memoir and there may be enough content there for several books as opposed to trying to cram it into one. Maybe you could focus on just one aspect in the first memoir eg the childhood abuse and look at others such as the medical issues in later memoirs? Just a thought as most memoirs I've read have some coherent theme or plot and aren't disparate..