Questions for a memoir author?
I need your help. On September 6, I’m moderating a panel of women memoir authors at the East of Eden Writers Conference in Salinas, CA. Each woman has published at least one memoir and two have two published memoirs.
We already have a few questions to pose to the panelists. I’ve listed them below. If any of the questions we’ve listed resonate with you, let us know. If they don’t, let us know that as well.
But most importantly, I’d like you to imagine yourself in the audience of that session. What questions would you ask if you were sitting in that room?
You can post your questions as a comment to this blog. Or, you can email me using the information in the Contact tab of this site. I look forward to hearing from you. Your reward? More about that in a minute.
Our current list:
Q1. Why did you write your memoir, in other words, what was your motivation?
Q2. What was the most difficult part of the writing process and how did you overcome the problem or difficulty?
Q3. If your memoir required research, how did you go about finding the information you needed?
Q4. What audience were you writing for? Did you find that the people who read your memoir are primarily the same audience?
Q5. What advice would you give to someone just starting to write a memoir?
Q6. What did you learn about yourself in the process of writing your memoir?
Q7. Do you feel that you were changed by the process of writing your memoir?
Q8. What was the biggest surprise that happened in this process?
Your reward for sending us your questions? We’re going to tape the session and post it on this website. You get to hear your questions answered.
Thanks. I look forward to hearing from you.


{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Panel Question: Have you envisioned your story told differently? What might you alter if you were to retell the story?
Possible Questions:
Is your work improvisational or do you have a set plan?
What do you want your work to do? Amuse people? Provoke thinking?
Do you have a specific writing style?
What do you think makes a good story?
Regards,
Norm, Publisher & Editor Bookpleasures.com
I like all the above questions. I would add this. Many memoir writers have concerns about revealing stories about other people that may insult or hurt the other person. What about a story you want to include in your memoir that will put a negative light on the writer? How does a writer get around it? How do you get passed that fear of what other people, readers, might think of you when they find out you are capable of doing bad things?
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