Writing a memoir is about more than describing events that have happened in your life; it's also an exercise in writing on a theme. These three powerful memoir examples will demonstrate how to draw people into a stranger's life story. Along with our sample, they will help you craft your own memoir to engage readers and share insights from your life.

Three Memoir Examples to Inspire

A good memoir relays real-life events in an engaging way. Studying memoirs can help you write a personal essay for a college application or an assignment, and it can improve your own storytelling abilities.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

• Memoir examples as inspiration. Let’s look at a few memoir examples. We broke these into three categories of memoirs, those that can help us learn about structure, theme and takeaway. Each of these are essential elements of the genre. Examples of memoirs that use an effective structure.
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I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is a famous memoir by poet Maya Angelou, available from Penguin Classics. It chronicles her experience of growing up amid racial bigotry and personal challenge. It's not just her heartwrenching tale but also the vivid imagery that makes it a page-turner.

59 Memoir Ideas On this page you’ll find memoir ideas and topics, along with links to even more memoir writing prompts. 56 Memoir Topics Which of these have been important in your life? Being a parent your parent your grandparent a sister or brother a sport or game that's been important to you gardening a trip you took a particular job your.

The dress I wore was lavender taffeta, and each time I breathed it rustled, and now that I was sucking in air to breathe out shame it sounded like crepe paper on the back of hearses.

Angela's Ashes

Frank McCourt's Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir, Angela's Ashes, tells the story of his upbringing in the Irish slums during the era of the Great Depression. Published by Simon and Schuster, this memoir reads like a novel as Frank somehow manages to withstand an unspeakably difficult childhood.

When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I managed to survive at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while.

All Creatures Great and Small

James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small proves that a memoir doesn't have to deal with triumph over adversity; it can also be about finding wisdom and joy in the everyday. This beloved classic, published by MacMillan, tells the tale of Herriot's life as a country veterinarian in the Yorkshire Dales.

I lay face down on the cobbled floor in a pool of nameless muck, my arm deep inside the straining cow, my feet scrabbling for a toe hold between the stones.

Writing a Memoir: An Example

Imagine you want to write a memoir about your experience as a shy child who had just moved to a rural community. This process can help.

List Real Life Facts

Start with a list of facts and experiences that you may want to include:

• You had no friends except your dog.
• Your dad left your family the previous year.
• Your mom made you join Girl Scouts, and you needed to sell cookies door-to-door.
• People in this town were suspicious of outsiders.
• Because you had just joined the Girl Scouts, you didn't have very many badges yet.

Identify a Theme and Conflict

Before you begin writing, you need to know your theme. What do you want readers to learn from your memoir? You also need a central conflict. Study the types of conflicts in stories and decide which one you want to use.

• Theme - People aren't always what they seem.
• Conflict - You must face your fears in order to grow stronger.

Organize the Story to Build Tension

Now that you know the conflict and the theme you want the reader to understand, you need to organize the story so the tension builds toward the conflict. This is something you can do in a memoir that does not ordinarily happen in an autobiography.

In this example, you could arrange the events as follows:

1. The Girl Scout troop leader hands out the cookies and says that if you sell 24 boxes, you will earn a badge for your uniform. You really want the badge.
2. You load the cookies in your wagon and set off to make some sales. As you stand in front of the first house, you are afraid to knock.
3. You remember a previous experience knocking on the door of a house and having it slammed in your face.
4. You walk up to the house and are greeted by a grumpy old woman.
5. You make the sale.
6. Eventually, you receive your badge for selling 24 boxes.

Sample Memoir Excerpt

Putting all these pieces together, here is an example of how the narrative outlined above might play out in the actual text of the memoir:

The gravel crunched under the wheels of my red wagon. My father had bought it for me the week before he left us, and I'd never used it before. I hadn't wanted to use it, not even today, but I needed something to haul the cookies.

I stopped in front of Mrs. Nelson's house. I could feel her looking at me through the lace curtains, even though I couldn't see her. Now that I wasn't pulling the wagon, everything was silent. There was no wind. Even the birds had stopped their chirping. The curtain in Mrs. Nelson's front window moved a little bit.

Last year, the same month my dad had driven away, I'd had to sell chocolate bars for my old school. Dad had promised to take me, but he didn't. So while Mom was at work, I'd packed up the chocolate bars and knocked on the door across the street. When the door opened, I began to talk about my school. Before I'd even explained why I was there, the lady had slammed the door in my face. I was the only kid who didn't sell any chocolate bars that year.

Now, I took a deep breath and pulled the wagon up Mrs. Nelson's front walk. The paint was peeling on her railing, and her front door was a dirty white. I knocked, and the sound seemed to echo.

She opened the door a crack and grumbled, 'What do you want?'

Difference Between a Memoir and an Autobiography

Both memoirs and autobiographies involve a person writing about his or her own life, but that's where the similarities stop. These are a few of the key differences:

• Scope - An autobiography covers a set period of time in a person's life or often, the entire life. A memoir may skip around or only cover one or two events.
• Purpose - An autobiography's purpose is to inform a reader or record events. A memoir's purpose is to explore a theme and pass on insights.
• Length - An autobiography is generally a book-length manuscript. A memoir can be any length, from a personal essay of a few pages to an entire book.
• Tone - Because the purpose is different, the tone may be different too. An autobiography is often more formal and factual sounding, while a memoir may employ more humor and casual writing.

Get Inspiration From Fiction Too

Rather than just relaying the facts, a memoir is about telling a great story. It needs to have a central conflict or theme, and then arrange the story so the tension builds. In addition to reviewing memoir examples, take a look at some examples of short stories for inspiration. You'll find that even though they are factual, memoirs have a lot in common with fiction.

B.A. English

While there are many different styles and types of memoir, all examples of this genre will share two defining characteristics.

Firstly, a memoir is autobiographical, meaning it is based on the personal memories, experiences, knowledge, or reflections of the author.

Secondly, a memoir is a piece of creative non-fiction, based on real-life events.

Memoir vs. Autobiography?

The terms memoir and autobiography are often used interchangeably. On Amazon, for example, Biographies and Memoirs are classed as one genre. However, although there are certainly similarities between the two, there are also distinct differences.

Firstly, an autobiography is the story of a person’s whole life, from childhood to the present day. A memoir, on the other hand, will usually have a narrower focus, detailing a particular event or period.

Secondly, an autobiography is written in a linear chronological style, recounting facts and events from the author’s life. In this way, it is more factual or objective than a memoir, which is more concerned with how the author experienced a certain time or event. A memoir is a subjective retelling of true life, told from the author’s point of view.

“…a memoir is how one remembers one’s own life, while an autobiography is history, requiring research, dates, facts double-checked.”
Gore Vidal, Palimpsest

Types of Memoirs

You don’t have to be a celebrity or have lived a life of danger and adventure to find content for a memoir, as these examples demonstrate.

1. Personal Essays

Traditionally, great thinkers and commentators of the day would publish personal essays to share their views and opinions with the world. From religious and spiritual reflections to your thoughts on politics, science, or literature, a collection of essays detailing your personal experience of or opinion on a subject or issue can make for a fascinating memoir.

Memoir Examples
Feel Free: Essays by Zadie Smith
I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes With Death by Maggie O’Farrell

2. A Significant Event

From war to the birth of a child, our lives are a series of events that shape who we are and how we see the world. Some of them will be a turning point, dramatically altering the way we live our lives. Sharing your experience of an event, personal or global, is an ideal subject for a memoir that will be a revelation for some and a comfort for others.

Memoir Examples
Night by Elie Wiesel
A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah

3. A Phase of Your Life

Sometimes it’s only when you look back that you see the formative impact of living or working in a certain time and/or place. Exploring a specific period of time such as your childhood or time at university in a memoir can help you understand how it shaped you. You may also find that readers recognize and enjoy the memories you share, as relatable to their own history and experiences.

Memoir Examples
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt

4. Behind the Scenes

A memoir can be an inside peek into a particular job, hobby, or passion. This could involve detailing the skills you’ve developed to help others learn, your experiences practicing a particular craft or playing a sport. The memoirs of the rich and famous could also be included here, as they give readers an insight into what really goes on behind the curtain.

Memoir Examples
All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot
Breaking the Code: Westminster Diaries by Gyles Brandreth

5. A Challenge

Stories of endurance, strength, and overcoming the odds to succeed will always be popular, especially when they’re true. Why not turn a challenge you faced or a feat you accomplished into an inspiring memoir.

Memoir Examples
West with the Night by Beryl Markham
Night of the Gun by David Carr

6. Understanding Culture

A desire to understand the complexities of cultural identity has formed the basis of many famous memoirs. These memoirs can also be important in preserving cultural traditions and the stories behind them for future generations.

Memoir Examples
I’m a Stranger Here Myself by Bill Bryson
Beloved Strangers by Maria Chaudhuri

7. A Reflection

Many memoirs are written as an exercise in personal reflection; an attempt to understand how we got here, including the decisions and mistakes we’ve made along the way. In this way, a memoir isn’t for anyone else. Only you as the author.

Memoir Examples
Boys in the Trees: A Memoir by Carly Simon
The Light of the World: A Memoir by Elizabeth Alexander

Does a Memoir Have to Be Written?

While many people might think of memoirs as a sort of written diary, others have used illustration or combined text and imagery to better tell their story. The use of images can make sensitive topics more accessible and help the reader truly see the world through the author’s eyes.

Memoir Examples
American Splendor by Harvey Pekar
The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui

100 Word Memoir Examples

Stonestreet one driver. If you only take one thing away from this post, let it be this: You don’t have to be famous or indeed infamous to write a memoir worth reading. The best books are the ones that tell the everyday stories of our lives, exploring their meaning in a way that everyone can relate to. A memoir can be a therapeutic exercise for you as the author that helps others on their own journeys too.

“I thought this memoir would be the closing chapter in the journey but it proved to be just the start of something that I could never have dreamed of. I printed one book for myself, and then 100 and another 100, as word spread. My humble project has not only helped me heal but in turn, encouraged others too.”
Debbie Ivins, Author of Whole Pieces

What Is A 6 Word Memoir Examples

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