Thanks to someone's link on here, I have been reading articles on memoir writing by Marion Roach - https://marionroach.com/twenty-top-tips-for-writing-memoir/
She is firmly of the belief that
What do you think of this?
I agree a memoir should be about something - a theme or character development or ?
but I wonder whether memoir really has different requirements to a fiction novel (apart from truth).
Though we may learn something from good fiction, I would think much of modern fiction doesn't have this goal of proving an argument or teaching a lesson, rather of entertainment. Am I wrong? Certainly in all the how-to books and articles I've read on fiction writing, proving an argument or lesson has not been given as a requirement.
So, do you think memoir really has this requirement, and if so, why? Why can't it be written in the same way as a fiction novel, with the main aim to entertain?
Let's take an example from the far end of the scale - a romance novel or an erotic novel - written and read for light entertainment. If a memoir was written that read just like a romance or erotic novel and it entertained the reader, would there be something wrong with that?
Do people only read memoir expecting some great revelation, rather than just a good story? Do people expect more from a memoir than fiction?
(Most of the memoirs I've read have been both less entertaining than fiction and nothing learnt)
She is firmly of the belief that
and that everything you write about must help 'prove' that argument. Elsewhere I think she calls it a lesson and her examples make me think of children's stories have a moral.Every piece of non-fiction is an argument. ...your argument is what you know after something you’ve been through – say, that peace can be found in your own backyard, or that meditation really does slow down that monkey mind of yours, or that grief is a process that must be gone through slowly, or else you are destined to stay in it forever.
What do you think of this?
I agree a memoir should be about something - a theme or character development or ?
but I wonder whether memoir really has different requirements to a fiction novel (apart from truth).
Though we may learn something from good fiction, I would think much of modern fiction doesn't have this goal of proving an argument or teaching a lesson, rather of entertainment. Am I wrong? Certainly in all the how-to books and articles I've read on fiction writing, proving an argument or lesson has not been given as a requirement.
So, do you think memoir really has this requirement, and if so, why? Why can't it be written in the same way as a fiction novel, with the main aim to entertain?
Let's take an example from the far end of the scale - a romance novel or an erotic novel - written and read for light entertainment. If a memoir was written that read just like a romance or erotic novel and it entertained the reader, would there be something wrong with that?
Do people only read memoir expecting some great revelation, rather than just a good story? Do people expect more from a memoir than fiction?
(Most of the memoirs I've read have been both less entertaining than fiction and nothing learnt)