Workshops

Memoir, With a Twist

By Nicci Yang, WIW Membership Manager

Does your memoir have “that extra dimension” to get noticed in today’s competitive market?

Howard Yoon, a literary agent with the Gail Ross Literary Agency in Washington, D.C., discussed “that extra dimension” at WIW’s July 20 Workshop. Joining him were memoirists Beth Nonte Russell and Brooke Lea Foster, who shared the extra dimension to their own memoirs.

First and foremost, Yoon began “Memoirist need to pay attention to the trends in the market.”

Quirky, offbeat memoirs written in the vein of Bridget Jones’s Diary and younger genre of memoirists like Augusten Burroughs (Running with Scissors) and David Eggers (A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius) are hot in the market right now. The dysfunctional voices of the authors and the beat of their storytelling is one twist to this kind of memoir. Not only entertaining but also relatable to their audiences, the memoir, often becomes the catalyst to overcome a similar situation, taking on the characteristics of a self-help book. That’s another twist. 

Always hot in the market are celebrity and political memoirs. Famous or infamous, the success of the memoir will depend on how well known the author is and how much coverage he or she is receiving. Voyeurism, that’s a built in twist that celebrities and political figures have that most of us do not. 

Above all, the classic, standard memoirs like Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt and The Color of Water by James McBride reign supreme. Be forewarned, though, in the literary world, standard memoirs are extremely hard to publish. Why? The twist is two-fold. It relies solely on the interesting lives and, of course, the amazing writing of the authors. 

Doing your homework and finding out what’s selling will give you an advantage to claiming your twist to your memoir. 

The importance of the memoirist’s audience, Yoon stressed, is the most helpful advice he can give. The goal of a memoir is to share your experience, but go one step further—who do you want to share your experience with? Who will gain the most from hearing your story? “Think of your audience in ‘concentric circles’.” Yoon said. If you’re writing a memoir about adopting a Chinese child, your core audience would be parents who have adopted Chinese children, and then the next layer of audience would be parents who have adopted, then the next would be parents and so on. “Focus on your core audience first. Is your core audience going to be big enough?” Zeroing in on the core audience and being as specific as possible will help publishers to distinguish your memoir from all the other memoirs in the same broad category. 

With Yoon’s presentation as a backdrop, Foster and Russell expanded on their memoirs and their extra dimensions.

An article Foster wrote a couple of years ago for Washingtonian became the impetus for her memoir, The Way They Were. Foster’s twist—her memoir reads more like a self-help book than a memoir.

When her parents announced they were divorcing a couple of years ago, Foster was already out of the house and establishing her own life. Wisdom and age did not make it any easier to cope with the demise of her parents’ marriage. In fact, Foster faced the same questions and insecurities a young child would face and then had more complicated questions to ask. To cope, she turned to support groups and books. The books, however, were few and far between. In response—and mainly as an outlet for her emotions—Foster wrote an article for Washingtonian about the questions, the anger, the heartbreak, the insecurities that arose during the divorce. The article drew numerous letters from readers who experienced the same pain and angst to the ones who praised her for sharing her story to the ones who felt that Foster’s article felt like therapy. Obviously, Foster was not alone. 

The Way They Were, which comes out in January, took five months to write. “Writing a memoir scared me,” said Foster. “I knew I always wanted to write a book, but not a memoir.” Her memoir, she admitted, is not quite a memoir. She wanted to not only share what she went through, but also help others deal with their own similar experience. Other people’s stories, statistics, therapists’ analysis, among other things outside of her own experience weave throughout her story. She visited chat rooms and conducted surveys (created on www.surveymonkey.com for a nominal fee) to gather information. Foster enjoyed the research she put in to her book. “It was like therapy.” 

Unlike Foster’s memoir, Russell’s is a pure memoir. It relies on her sole experience.  Her twist, the story—a life changing experience. 

Several years ago, Russell traveled to China with a friend who was going over to adopt a Chinese child. When they arrived, however, her friend changed her mind and decided not to adopt after all. Foster felt compelled to adopt the child herself. Perhaps Russell was not meant to be the traveling companion but the intended adoptee all along. 

Later, Russell would put her story on paper, but mainly for herself as a keepsake. Eventually she would share it with one friend, who in turn shared it with another and another. The result, Offspring of a Deathless Soul shares Russell’s story about the unexpected adoption of her daughter from a Chinese orphanage. 

After the presentation, Yoon moderated a Q & A session that yielded several useful tips:

Q: Most writers get caught up in the process of writing, and it takes a shape of its own. In writing memoirs, you write about people who may not want you to write about them. Does that compromise your writing? If so, how do you take control of it?

Foster: No, this is my truth, not theirs. At the risk of sounding cliché, I have to be true to my truth. Also, don’t show your memoir to anyone until it’s done. For example, my parents have not seen my memoir yet. I plan to talk to them before they read it.

Russell: There wasn’t anyone that I had to worry about for my memoir. What I did find interesting were the things that I kept out like certain conversations between my husband and me. 

Q: Memoirs are very personal and a rather selfish act. You have to focus on intimate details. How do you bridge the gap from being selfish to selfless? Do you find yourself holding back?

Russell: You have to present your story in some way that will benefit the reader otherwise it becomes selfish and boring.

Yoon: Writers, in general, are personal and with memoirs it’s to the Nth degree. If you can’t do it fully, get out. Readers are smart and they can tell when a writer is holding back.

Q: With such personal materials, did it ever get hard to write? Did you ever want to stop?

Russell: It was harder getting started. Once it got going, it consumed me.

Foster: It took me five months to write my book. Divorce is not a fun topic to write about. What helped me was to treat it like a full-time job.

Q: Where is your book filed in book stores? How would you define your audience?

Russell: My book can be filed under parenting, travel and memoir. 

Foster: The audience is anyone over 18 who have gone through their parents’ divorce.  The secondary audience would be parents.

Yoon: Again, make sure you know who your audience is. Agents will force you to choose your audience before they can market it. You don’t want book stores to make a mistake and stick it in the wrong place. The fate of your book can be determined by where a book associate places your book.

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