Literary forms are by no means the only ones produced and cultivated in the long evolution of literature. You might add a long list of other types very much in vogue at one time or another or still enjoying an unbroken popularity. They include fables, epigrams, memoirs and literary biographies.
If you have lived long enough serving fellow human beings, you will want to leave your legacy. Even if you are not a professional writer, you will wonder how to achieve a small measure of immortality before you depart from this planet. Some of us want to write our life story, but this is a daunting task.
For instance, you may not know where to begin or what to include or what not to mention in your autobiography. To get over the problem you can write a memoir. To get inspiration, you may have to read Anthony Hamilton’s ‘Memoirs of the Comte de Gramont.’
Hard work
You may have heard of Jeannette Walls, a poor little girl who lived in the mountains of West Virginia. By dint of hard work, she got rid of her poverty and moved to New York City and became a gossip columnist. Eventually, her poor parents also moved to the big city, but they could not find a house to live in. One day while Walls was on her way to a party, she saw her mother rummaging a garbage bin for something to eat. Walls was terrified to see her mother in such a state and felt rather guilty of not looking after her mother. She has included the incident in her memoirs titled ‘The Glass Castle.’
Writing a memoir is no child’s play. A professional writer can write his memoir quite easily. Although Walls was a columnist, she struggled to complete her memoir for 20 years. At one stage, she threw away the manuscript. She was 44 when she finally managed to complete her memoir aptly titled ‘The Glass Castle.’ It remained in the New York Times bestseller list for three years. Two million copies were sold and the book has been translated into 23 languages.
When you write your memoir, you will realise the gravity of human problems. Never think that misfortunes affect only you. They affect almost everyone. Only a few readers will be interested in your autobiography unless it happens to be written by a leading personality such as Barack Obama. Therefore, lesser mortals need not worry about writing autobiographies. Instead they can concentrate on writing memoirs. When you write your memoir, it will give you a new perspective and vision. Even if your memoir does not sell, you will be mentally satisfied for writing it.
To write a memoir, you need not necessarily be born in indigent circumstances. Even a person who has led a comfortable life can write his memoir. You may not have eccentric or rich parents, but you will definitely remember some of their unwise decisions.
Your mother may be a woman who is ready to consult astrologers for the slightest problem she encounters. Your father may be someone who had a poor memory. You might remember how he went to a nearby city with his wife and returned home alone. Such incidents can go into your memoir. People would like to read such stories.
Believe it or not, you do not write a memoir for publication. If you think it contains too much of juicy details unfit for readers, keep your memoir in your locker. Otherwise get it published. Before writing your memoir, think of the average man or woman in your community.
Take a fictional character – Raju – who led a miserable life as a child. He could not attend school regularly as he had no proper clothes or shoes. He had nothing to eat at home so he visited other houses to get a morsel of food. Somehow he completes his education and gets a job. He gets married and becomes a father of two daughters. He grows old and dies. All such information can go into a memoir.
According to a rough estimate, more and more people are leading boring lives. Some of them even do not make an attempt to find out why they are living. If such a person decides to write a memoir, it will sell like hot cakes. It will also be an eye-opener to millions of readers who do not understand the meaning or purpose of life.
When you write a memoir, you virtually hand over your past life to readers who are complete strangers. If you honestly share your experiences, they will take a cue from them. If you do not leave your experiences in a memoir, you will die with them. Memoir writing will help you to come to a fresh understanding of life. Novelist Stephen King has said, “I write to find out what I think.” If you do not write down your personal experiences, you will not understand their significance. Connect your experiences together and then you will see a certain pattern.
Different categories
Memoirs fall into different categories. For instance, you can write a memoir about your childhood, the places you have visited, or the strange people you have met. The celebrated Indian author Kushwant Singh wrote a memoir about the women he was in love with.
Although he claimed it was a work of fiction, it reads like a personal memoir. Elizabeth Gilbert wrote a memoir titled ‘Eat, Pray, Love.’ Lorna Kelly’s memoir ‘The Camel Knows the Way’ chronicled her time with Mother Teresa.
In a way, everyone has a story to include in their memoir.
The salient factor in writing a memoir is that you do not have to be a professional writer. On the other hand, you do not need a publisher if you are writing a memoir for your own satisfaction.
I knew of a 92-year-old man who wrote a memoir, but he never showed it to anyone. He said he did not mind anyone reading it after his death. Some time ago, I had the opportunity to translate a memoir written by a leading cinnamon trader. In his memoir, he had discussed how he started his business from scraps and became a successful entrepreneur. Some of the autobiographies written by local people are in fact memoirs. They probably do not know the difference between autobiographies and memoirs.
A long time ago an English newspaper carried the memoirs of C. Suntheralingam in instalments. They were highly readable as he wrote about his political life and other experiences. If you feel that you have a story to tell, the best way is to write a memoir.
Leave the writing of biographies to professional writers. There are many people who write memoirs for their own satisfaction.
If you are looking for a topic to write a memoir, there are many choices. You can write a memoir about the books you have read, the strange people you have met, or the jobs you have done. You can use flashbacks without writing your story chronologically.
Remember that you have a writing muscle which has to be exercised regularly.
Select a time convenient for you to write your memoir. Tell your story without worrying about the niceties of the language. After writing your memoir, read it several times and polish it. If you wish to be a writer, writing memoirs is the first step.
