Hey guys..... I've just got to chapter six of my book ( memoirs) and I have noticed as my mood changes, so does my style.
I noticed that as i wrote yesterday and read it back to myself, there were lots of words that didn't need to be there and didn't make much sense.
am Loosing the plot?
Has anyone had a go at writing their memoirs and if so, is it easier to just write and write, then go back and edit it a few times until it reads well? this is what I have been doing so far.
thanks, Kat.
Hi David...yes i've done the family tree plan and it works well .. i have headings and i work through each one like a short story....You have given me some invaluable comments!
Hi Alice....I will have a go at what you describe... any comments and tips here are helpful and I'm taking all things on board to try and improve...thanks you also for your great comments!!
thanks guys!!
Hello!
I haven't written memoirs, as such, but something that might help is reading over the last few lines of the writing you did in the previous session. You mentioned that you read the previous chapter over, so maybe limiting yourself to a few lines will give you a flavour of the style you wrote in without allowing you to go over it all as an 'editor'. This might help you to continue without getting bogged down in what you've already done - then you can go over it all later.
I often find that this helps both in keeping my style constant (but maybe that's because I'm quite impressionable - sometimes if I try writing shortly after reading a book I find myself writing in a style similar to the author!) and allowing me to reach a milestone - say, 10 chapters - before going over it critically.
Of course, this is just what helps me - everyone seems to write in different ways! I have really enjoyed the work you've submitted so far, so I'd say that however you're doing it at the moment seems to work more than successfully!
Alice :-)
Hi :-)
There are usually emotions when writing about one's life - so it's almost certainly easier to write as a "stream of thought" first and then go back to develop a more consistent pattern.
Have you found the "family tree" ida that you initially liked to be helpful?
I suspect that you might find that keeping track of what you have written and where might be an intersting challenge - I would reckon that most people would find this. The logistics (if that's the right word) are the boring but essential part.
For my main writing I keep telling myself that I need to use one of the massively long sheets of paper that I can get hold of and just write on the sequence of events in a great long chain. Maybe I will achieve this one year?
:-) David