Writing A Fiction Memoir
Writing A Fiction Memoir. It sounds like a contradiction, right? To write a story that is both and not true simultaneously. This style of writing is becoming more and more popularized as auto-fiction or autobiographical fiction.
So what is auto-fiction? It is a novel that is written in first person and tells a fictional account inspired by a person’s life. This is not technically a genre that you find in a book store, although it is becoming more substantiated within the industry.
Why would you write auto-fiction? There are few reasons that would inspire us to write a fictionalized memoir. The first is if we want to write a fiction story, but don’t know what it should be about, we could borrow events from our own life or those we know to create a fictionalized story by changing the characters, the place, and the way events occur.
The second reason we write auto-fiction is that we may be afraid to write and share about our own life. This allows us to write about our story, but in a fictionalized way so to avoid the fear of writing truth that would hurt yourself or others.
Third, you have creative liberty in writing a fictionalized memoir. This story is not confined to a specific linear path since you are able to make your own rules. So you want to write about your divorce? Great! Fictionalize it by changing up the persons, the situation, the dynamic. Hell, you could even make this characters live in outer space! Skies the limit!
Lastly, writing auto-fiction creates a certain emotional distance from hard material. This fiction writing about your life will allow for space to write about traumatic events, but in creating a character’s new identity or even a different outcome– you are able to have creative and emotional perspective to write and process.
You have probably read a number of fiction books that you didn’t even realize were auto-fiction. Some authors have some out right and said their work was inspired by true events, but others have been speculated.
Here are a few common ones you may or may not have known are popularly considered auto-fiction:
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath– Published a month before Plath’s death, The Bell Jar is the story of an educated young woman’s mental collapse, attempted suicide, and her rocky journey back to mental stability.
On Earth We Were Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong– This powerful and creative novel written as a letter from a son to a mother unable to read.
The Outline Trilogy by Rachel Cusk–The Outline Trilogy follows a British writer named Faye as she goes about her daily life and encounters a series of friends and strangers.
How Should A Person Be? by Sheila Heti is part literary novel, part self-help manual, and part vivid exploration of the artistic and sexual impulse as it tracks a woman’s life journey of becoming.
So, how do you write auto-fiction?
First, begin digging through memories from your life, from those you’ve known, from history. Write them out in a single sentence. For ex) The train trip after a break up….. the cancer diagnosis….. the divorce the led to a mental breakdown… the bad therapist… etc.
Second, flip this story on its head by either combining a couple together to make a new narrative or add a supernatural or romantic element to change it up even more. For ex) The train trip after the breakup on the haunted train….. The bad therapist that led to a mental breakdown.. etc.
Third, once you flip the true story on its head. Create central and side characters. Use first person for the lead, but change up the details about them (appearance, voice, job, etc). Give them a unique identity so that you are able to create a certain amount of space from the true event.
Fourth, Create a narrative arc so that there is a beginning, middle, and end with a certain amount of conflict and resolution just like in any novel you may read or movie you may watch.
That’s it friend! Ready to begin? Start writing and let me know how it goes.
IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR SUPPORT IN WRITING YOUR BOOK, THEN CHECK OUT MY 1:1 BOOK COACHING WHERE WE WILL WORK TOGETHER TO TAKE YOU FROM BOOK IDEA TO COMPLETE DRAFT.
Megan Febuary is an author, trauma-informed book coach and creative mentor. Helping women write their books, heal their stories, and understand their unique human design. You can learn more about working with Megan at yourbookyear.com
