How To Fast Draft Your Memoir With Rachael Herron

Sharing personal stories can be a way to heal ourselves and also help others on a similar journey. In today's show, I talk to Rachael Herron about how to fast draft your memoir.

Show notes, links and full transcript: thecreativepenn.com/2018/02/19/fast-draft-memoi…

Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
01:30 Rachael's writing journey and NaNoWriMo
03:45 Hybrid publishing: indie, traditional and academia
05:58 What is memoir? Memoir vs autobiography
09:12 How true does a memoir have to be?
11:21 Room tone and the 80% rule
14:02 Owning your own story
16:46 How to protect the people you write about
22:49 Make yourself look the worst on the page
23:53 How a memoir can freeze you in time
25:32 Distance from events: the narrator and the character
28:19 The two biggest mistakes in memoir
29:26 Showing emotion with The Emotion Thesaurus
33:12 Metaphor and symbolism in memoir
34:23 Why fast draft your memoir in 45 hours
36:37 Productivity tools: Freedom and Write or Die
38:45 Overcoming the fear of writing memoir
43:01 Where to find Rachael Herron

Rachael Herron is the bestselling author of literary fiction, romantic comedy, and memoir. She teaches writing at UC Berkeley and Stanford. She's a podcaster and her latest book is Fast Draft Your Memoir: Write Your Life Story in 45 Hours.

• Rachael's definition of memoir
• How true does a memoir have to be?
• On how others define us when we write memoir
• What "room tone" has to do with writing a memoir
• Treating yourself as a character with an arc when writing memoir
• The two biggest mistakes writers make with memoir
• Overcoming the fears that come along with writing memoir

You can find Rachael Herron at rachaelherron.com and on Twitter @RachaelHerron

How to Write Non-Fiction, including how to write a memoir: creativepennbooks.com/products/how-to-write-non…
Pilgrimage, my own memoir: creativepennbooks.com/products/pilgrimage-paper…

Get your free Author 2.0 Blueprint: thecreativepenn.com/blueprint

This show is supported by my Patrons. Join my Community at patreon.com/thecreativepenn

The Creative Penn Podcast, show notes and links: thecreativepenn.com/the-creative-penn-podcast-f…

Watch next: How to Write Non-Fiction, the full audiobook: youtube.com/watch?v=Ut_uMlpFsgc

#MemoirWriting #AmWriting #WritingTips