MEMOIR CONSISTS OF TWO MAIN COMPONENTS
Use either of these components in the wrong way and your memoir simply will not work
Watch the short video below to learn about these two components and how they work together to create plot in your memoir. This information is not available anywhere else. It took Random House author Wendy Dale 15 years to discover it.
Wendy Dale is the memoir coach that other coaches turn to for advice.
If you don't have time to watch the video now, enter your email address in the form below the video and I'll send you the video as well as a free video course that teaches you how to write your book right the first time, using a simple 7-step process.
MY BOOK KEPT GETTING REJECTED BECAUSE OF THIS
My name is Wendy Dale. I'm a Penguin Random House author.
I spent years writing my memoir and thought it was finished. I was a little bit cocky because I was already a professional writer. I'd written commercials for Disney, lots of magazine articles, had even penned a TV special that got nominated for an Emmy.
So when I got rejection after rejection from agents, I didn't understand what was happening. Why didn't anyone want to buy my book? What I eventually learned was that my book lacked structure (a word that is synonymous with plot).
PLOT IS CREATED IN MEMOIR USING JUST TWO COMPONENTS. GET ONE OF THESE COMPONENTS WRONG AND YOUR MEMOIR WON'T WORK.
The problem? I was just rambling on about my life in my book. But because I didn't yet have plot, my book was about me, not my reader. It wasn't anything that anyone else cared to read.
I did eventually get my book published by Three Rivers Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House. But it required years of work and frustration. And when it was time to write a new memoir, it felt like I was starting over again from scratch.
This was the beginning of a fifteen-year journey to discover the principles that all memoirs follow. Eventually I would write a book on how to write your memoir right the first time called The Memoir Engineering System.
ABOUT WENDY DALE
Wendy Dale is the author of The Memoir Engineering System, the result of 15 years of research analyzing thousands of texts to deduce the principles that all memoirs rely on. Her own memoir, Avoiding Prison and Other Noble Vacation Goals, was published by Three Rivers Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House.
She is the creator of Write or Flight, the world's first reality show for writers and is also the co-writer of the Emmy-nominated TV special, The New Adventures of Mother Goose.
Some of the organizations Wendy's students have worked for include Entertainment Weekly, Outside Magazine, Simon & Schuster, Seal Press, Wiley, NBC, National Geographic Wild, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post and the New York Times.
Wendy currently lives with her husband and two bunnies in Cusco, Peru.
WENDY HAS APPEARED IN
Can you tell the difference between these two sentences?
Each of these sentences represents a different kind of writing, a different component in your memoir. Can you tell the difference?
I am standing at the counter when the doorbell rings.
The doorbell always startles me.
Understanding the difference between the two types of writing in your memoir is the first step to getting your plot right.
Learn lots more on how to write your book right the first time by getting your free class.
Wendy Dale's concepts are based on fact and fifteen years of research. You won't find these concepts anywhere else.
Wendy Dale is an extremely talented writer.