 Drama: June 21, 2023 Issue [#12008] |
This week: Writing the Family Memoir Edited by: Joy  
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1. About this Newsletter
2. A Word from our Sponsor
3. Letter from the Editor
4. Editor's Picks
5. A Word from Writing.Com
6. Ask & Answer
7. Removal instructions
“...no matter how frequently we came, when we arrived, they acted as if we had been away one hundred years. [His grandparents' greeting.]”
James Vescovi, Eat Now; Talk Later: 52 True Tales of Family, Feasting, and the American Dream
“My mom absolutely LOVED all things English, so it’s not too surprising that she loved English tea parties. When she and I traveled—which was frequently—we often found ourselves in locations (Vancouver, Ottawa, London, Bath, Cardiff, to name a few) where we could take advantage of that lovely English custom of “taking tea.”
Mallory M. O'Connor, The Kitchen and the Studio: A Memoir of Food and Art
“Our scars make us who we are: let's wear them proudly and throw this shame aside because it was never ours to bear'
"Tell me you're sorry, Daddy" (P:187)”
caryn walker, Tell Me You're Sorry, Daddy
“Just as there can be a hole in these narratives, a memoir can be as much about what's forgotten as what's remembered.”
Jane Alison, The Sisters Antipodes
“It was what we Japanese called the onion life, peeling away a layer at a time and crying all the while.”
Arthur Golden, Memoirs of a Geisha
“The strays beyond the railroad are barking, which means something, a rabbit or possum, has just slipped out of its life and into the world.”
Ocean Vuong, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
Hello, I am Joy , this week's drama editor. This issue is about writing about our families, a true drama in itself  .
Thank you for reading our newsletters and for supplying the editors with feedback and encouragement.
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Welcome to the Drama newsletter
As a writer who may be interested in personal stories, have you ever considered to write about your family? I mean not just an incident or two but a whole book on your family’s history and memories of its individuals. This is because writing a family memoir can be a special project and a profound and rewarding experience that allows writers to honor their roots and to create a history for the future generations.
Supposing you’ve decided to tackle this project, writing such a memoir can be personal and introspective. Then, it is essential to take into account who your audience might be and if you want to share this work with the whole world or only with your family.
After you decide on which, you can then tailor your style and language accordingly. Descriptive language and your unique personal connection to the family's history should also play a role in bringing about this project to your intended readers. Once you are finished with the original script as to editing and what not, you can then consider it in various formats such as printed limited copies, e-books, or an online blog.
The way I look at it, the best way to tackle this interesting project has to have something to do with involving the other family members, at least to some degree. Surely, you can involve them as to relating their own memories, the family lore they have heard from their elders, and their personal input into your work.
Then, another even better idea can be a collaboration with another family member who is also good with the writing arts, especially a family member who is knowledgeable in the family's history and someone you probably would like to be brought closer together.
Here are a few suggestions I can think of for that collaboration project:
 Define your goals: Discuss and clarify the purpose of your memoir and the aspects of your family's history you'd both like to focus on.
Gather information and conduct research together. It may prove to be a good choice to have photographs, documents, letters and any other relevant materials to enhance the memoir.
Plan an outline together: Brainstorm the key events, milestones, and anecdotes to give you a roadmap for the writing. And always, be honest about the complexities of family relationships, the struggles, and the lessons learned.
When collaborating, it may be a good idea if one person writes one chapter and the other another one. Or either of you may choose which chapters you would like to write. Just remember to share the workload equally. An imbalance of work is not fair to either writer.
Once you have the first draft ready, get external feedback. This could be from other family members or other professional writers and editors.
It is also important, during the writing process to respect each other's perspectives, allowing space for individual voices, and to be open to different viewpoints. After all, you two have taken the lead in preserving your family's stories and creating a meaningful legacy for future generations.
Best of luck with writing such a memoir and may it resonate with your readers on a much deeper level, especially when you make them feel like they are witnessing firsthand even the earliest family events.
Until next time! 
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This Issue's Tip: When writing the family memoir, start with a joke, especially if you're expecting possible negative reactions. Alternately, open with a dramatic moment, and if you can, cut it short to be returned to that moment within the text.
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Feedback for "Perspective is Vital in Fiction"
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Damon Nomad 
Hi Joy I enjoyed this newsletter's discussion on the character viewpoint. POV in writing is a struggle for me, I tend to like to write as an omnipotent story teller not one of the characters telling the story. I was surprised and pleased to see that you included one of my stories in your editor's pick. Thank you for the newsletter and for including my story.
Thank you for your positive input and for sharing your beautiful story with us, here in WdC.
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