How To Write A Book About Your Life (Memoir Outlining)

1. In Living Color: So you want to write a book of God? Your life You want to write a memoir was holding you bank. I've taught over 10,000 students on skills share. I can show you how to write your memoir, clicking a roll today and let's get started. 2. A Memoir 1: greetings and welcome to How to Write a book about your life. How to write a memoir just to get everyone on the same page. I want to give you a definition of what a memoir is now my grandmother, who are family, affectionately called Grandma B. She used to refer to people who she deemed to be smart. A smart cookie, she was, say, Franking. You're a smart cookie, You're a smart cookie and so I know everyone taking this class. I know that you're smart cookies because you have sought out to learn about how to write a memoir. So let me give you a definition. A memoir is a first person account of an experience that can be written and short form, like an essay or a full length book. It is a story or a collection of stories or essays about a specific time at once. Life. A memoir is a short walk. Me. Here's what a member is not use more clicking a memoir is not your autobiography. It is not your life story. From A to Z, it is a slice of your life. Like I say, it is a short walk. Now, there are people out there to say You only get to write one autobiography, but you get to write many memoirs. I don't know if you only get to write one autobiography, but you can write many memoirs about different times in your life. But for now, let's start with writing your first more. You want to write your memoir? A. Your authentic voice Just the way I teach this class. My teaches class. It's like I'm having a conversation with you. It's in my authentic voice. Your memoir needs to be authentic, so let's get started. Are you ready to learn about writing your memoir and your authentic voice? Course you are. Let's go, you smart cookie. 3. A MEMOIR QUOTE: to kick this course off in a good way and a way to really motivate you. I want to share with you a quote that I found about one of my books on a site called Ah Platform called Good Reads. Before I shared a quote, I want to say you probably noticed or you will notice throughout this course that I speak in his smile. Authentic voices not pretty is not. I think it's, but I just share with you in the most authentic way that I can. And I think it's perfect for a memoir course because a meme or if nothing else, is your authentic self ish, your authentic voice. And so now let me share with you this quote that I found I don't get on the site. Good read and all are very much. I checked my reviews, of course. What? I mostly find myself checking my reviews on some other platforms like Amazon. So I didn't even realize there were reviews on here, and I see they have some of my books that are no longer in existence. I write one of the pen names are right under is Frankie Johnny. So I was looking at this and this book, this version of the book. I have many versions of my outline book. I'm constantly seeking toe update them and put them. But I was reading the ratings are the reviews for this book and I came across this book and , yes, a five star this always good. You don't like get a, uh, star lower than a five before, too. So I came across this quote and buy this reader, and I don't know this reader. And let's just read this quote because I think it sums up what you have to do in order to get your book talk. Teoh. In order to start writing your book, the reviewer says, As an amateur writer, I find myself writing outlines and in that book, ideals frequently. Unfortunately, I often overthink the process and procrastinate due to the desire of perfection. Frankie's book breaks down how simple it is to just go for it and takes the pressure off perfection. The book gives one the courage to go ahead and put your thoughts into action. I've learned that WAAS perception of perfection may be boring. It's okay to let's get going to break the rules to be yourself and simply share your views and advice with a your topic of interest off to writing. I go now. Thank you. Review a tear. I appreciate that review, but writing We scare ourself out of doing it right. It's time to write. It will go grab something E or gold were Answer the phone. We're gonna get on. Our social media will do everything but right because it's like a fear there. I want to get started, but I want to do we talk ourselves out of doing it, and I'm always on a quest to get healthy. And I'll use this example and it's like, Oh, but I don't I don't know how to do it. I don't I don't know. I scare myself. I make it bigger than it has to be. I know how to get healthy. I know how to get healthy. All my life you drink a lot of water, you exercising to eat more vegetables and fruit, that you eat other stuff. And but I always want to get up into these new, new, faster, healthier with eating. You know all these things that come out like Ito or intermittent fasting and all this kind of stuff, and I worked myself up, and I make it harder than it has to be going to see my doctor the other day and he was like , You know what to do. You get to exercising, which I do. You eat healthy. So there is the basics and it's the same way with writing. No, we haven't. If you're not a writer, you probably haven't learned lessons of writing all your life. But this is to share that. You don't have to make it harder than it has to be. Just be your authentic self. This course I'm just coming to you in my authentic voice. I'm just going for what I know how to do. I know how to write memoirs and non fiction books, and I'm going forward. It's easy to talk yourself out of things and be fearful, but you don't have to go for it. Learn, arose and then break. Every one of them go for it 4. Memoir Book Outline: Let's talk about a memoir outline. Creating an outline for your memoir is very important that you outline your memoir outlined this absolutely important. So let me talk about a basic more outline. You remember the quote I shared, and then if you make it harder than it has to be that it will be hard, but you don't have to make it hard. Ah, basic outline is very simple. One c. I have 1234 just four tips for your outline. The first tip is to choose a life experience and give it a title. Just give it a title. Don't overthink titles because no title is Ashton Stone. You can change the title of any point. You can decide not to use the title, but you just want to give the life experience, your book, your memoir, a title. Next, you want to choose 20 significant details about the surrounds that event. More, more details. If you want to choose more, that's okay. I wouldn't recommend that you choose. You know, less than 20 just because some stuff will get left on the cutting room floor and you rather have more than less. You want to get these events titles. So just like you're giving your book a title, you want to name each if you want to look at it like Chapter, so these 20 events are essentially chapters, and so you want to name each event. Give it a title again. Don't don't overthink the title because it's not etched in stone and you can come up with the perfect title later. Next is what I call the plug and play method. You'll notice that I'm in doodle in an orange throughout this course butt plug and play method is when you give each significant event, you give it a title and you plug and play your notes. They will go into their chapter early on, when you're bringing, storming and whatever comes to mind. Don't throw out anything. Don't say Oh, that's not good enough. Use everything and I want to make a point. Excuse me. Even though I say you significant details, you don't want to list every detail. I woke up, I brush my teeth, I went to the store and then this happened. However, you can make any detail significant. So if you woke up and brush your teeth, did you have a feeling in your gut that something was gonna happen in that detail becomes significant. So again you don't want to list every little detail but significant details. What I find helpful is with the first chapter you want to introduce yourself unless you're a celebrity for someone who's well known, people won't know you, So you want to take the time to introduce yourself. In the book Hillbilly Elegy, the author J. D. Vance, he introduces himself. He says, My name is shady Advance. I think I should start with a confession. I find the existence of the book, you holding your hand, somewhat observed. It says, Right there the cover that It's a memoir, But I'm 31 years old and I'll be the first to admit that I will come accomplished. Nothing great in my life. Certainly nothing that would justify could please stranger pay money to read his book. But his book did accomplish something, and but I'm just showing hiss opening to say that if you're just the everyday person like I am, definitely introduce yourself in your first chapter, that s all. The introduction is the opening. I want to say that your events, the 20 events that you list, they don't have to be in chronological order. I would say, Is this your first attempted writing a memoir? You might. It might be more helpful to start thinking about in a chronological order like this happen . And then that happened. And this happened. However, you know, again, you're not giving every single detail unless a significant, but you're just given the order of the story. So it might be helpful with your first meme or to do everything in chronological order and the most important thing. So that's the basic outline. People worked themselves up about an outlying, and here's the basic outline. You just choose a life experience and give it a title. This 20 significant details and more is OK. I wouldn't say to do fewer brainstorm chapter ideals, and you plug and play information about the 20 details or the significant details into the chapter titles. Bam! And you have it. And next we're going to talk about a process that I came a with, called the thick paragraphs outline 5. A Memoir Thick Outline Story: father. Adding to the middle memoir outlying template is what I call the thick outlining process the thick outlining process. So what are thick paragraphs in the outlying, isn't you, ray? Paragraphs of chapter or the essay is easy writing because nothing is at stake. You're just freeze Fallon and bring storming. You add research notes, you add reminder notes, you pin it, which means is a reminder to go back. And maybe you need to talk to your therapist. Or maybe you need to talk to a family or a friend who was present during that time to help you remember what went on, you know, so you pin it and that's what that paragraph C is. But let me tell you how I came on with what I call the big paragraphs outlining process. Excuse me. So my story begins in 2012 as a way to earn money from my writing. Until my writing started to earn me money, I began freelancing through, you know, various online platforms. I want a freelance. I wanted freelance work. I wanted to write block poles and non fiction books, but those areas were saturated, so I finished down, offering freelance of services during work that I hate It, which was researching and outlining work that I previously hate it. And so the work was so unsexy and so boring. However, my book outlining service, it became popular very quickly, and I had a lot of work, so I had to find a way to make outlining more enjoyable. And because I lining is not how we learned at school or college, which was, in my opinion, very boring. Outlining can be fun. So let me talk about my writing process many years ago, and I related to a story. Um, many years ago, I wanted to learn how to play 10. It's not like professionally, like Serena and Venus, but I wanted like to do exercise, and I felt Tip, This is a great way to do exercise. So imagine my shock when I showed up at the Recreation Center and the India instructor. He wanted to teach us the fundamentals of tennis. I was bored. I did not want to learn the fundamentals of tennis. I just wanted to go outside and correct Oh, hit balls like Serena, I don't want to learn the fundamentals, so I really didn't pay attention. But when we get outside and it was time to hit balls, I didn't hit any balls. But I did a lot of grunting. That's because I did not pay attention to the fundamentals, and I look at researching and outlining as the fundamentals to nonfiction book writing to writing a memoir you might want, like all I wanted to do is to go outside of hit balls and grand and rentable fast. However, without first creating an outline, you're gonna feel flat, just like idea field, um, hitting those balls. But like I said, there is good news with the thick paragraphs went outlining. You know, I found myself writing pass just of the book, which made it feel like the book was writing itself. The process was happening organically, and that's why I let it happen. I just kept going, and my outlines began to look like many, many books. And when I would add, like just passengers off my writing and the outline I would hear back from clients and get ghostwriting work. So I created I got into the field that I wanted to be in in the first place, so that goes back to thinking about outlining. It doesn't have to be the boring in a sexy way. You can be creative and just started writing parts of the book. And the good thing is, nothing is a state this writing you could let down your hair, so to speak and think about I don't This is this is this writing isn't going in my book, so I don't have to be perfect. I can just let go a preferred perfection and just right This is just the pastures on writing for my outline. But what happens is when you let you know where you relax and you just write freestyle. Some amazing things happen. And that's what I discovered. That's amazing. Amazing things will happen since 2000 and 12. I would say I've created at least 1000 outlines outlines for clients outlines in the workshops that I've been teaching outlines for the online courses. And here is one of my outline books that it contains 50 of my outlines and, um, yeah, here is one of my books, and I have all types of one of the pen names I use Well, in this book, I'm using my name Frankie be kid, but one of the pen names I use, it's Frankie. Johnny and I have outlined books on Amazon and Kobo on various platforms and this is gun row with courses. But where I will put some why have some of my courses, I should say. And, um yeah, so I've just been outlining using this thick, thick paragraphs process and it has worked out so amazing. The big take away is that outlining does not have to be boring. It could be fun. But you do want to lay learn the basic structure. You remember the basic structure that I share once you give your outline a title list, 20 significant details this time have fun rules were meant to be broken, breaks the rules and and create a kick butt outline. 6. Jog Your Memory: I'm going to share with you some great ways that you can feel your outlying with details 20 or more significant details. We're gonna take a walk this segment down memory lane, and also, I know when I get out and just take a walk, walking brings clarity, and it helps me come up with ideals, and it may help you as well. But for now, we're gonna take a walk down memory lane, and I know when we look back and have thes nostalgic think about times in our life that we have warm feelings about. There are certain things that trigger our feelings, are or are remembering of that time. And although I tend memoirs tend to many that I've read 10 toe start out saying, even if there something, even if the author overcomes and that you don't have to at the end of the book, if you is it, it helps if you've grown if you're in a different space in your life. But that's not always the case. And as an example, before we get to how we can jog your memory and help you feel you're outlining with significant details in Roxane Gay Memoir, hunger. At the end of her book. She is not yet healed. She is killing, but she has not yet healed. And so memoirs don't always. Most of, um, the author is in a different space of better space. I would even say Yeah, to some degree, Roxanne Gay is in a better space. But she also admits she still has those varying those moments where she's not in a good space but in regards to filling your outlying with Excuse me, 20 or more significant details. There are ways that you can do that. One of the ways is by looking at, oh, photographs. Now this is a so many that the event you're writing about took place in a time where there were Polaroids. I remember growing up in my grandparent's home in my grandmother had a Polaroid camera. And so, even though I don't still have some of the Polaroid pictures, I have have sent snapped pictures with myself also. Now I took a picture of the picture, So if you have old photographs or uh, that you can look at to help jog your memory and help you feel your outlying with significant details, it might have. You might be right in about a very recent time. And if that's the case, certainly you've taken photographs with your phone or your camera or something like that. Music, music. There is nothing to send you back down memory lane like some music. Think about the music that you grew up for when you were in high school, because that was a certain kind of music that you listen to that bring back set time to you . Some music is a great way to jog your memory. There, some websites and I'm not going to share the websites is because I'm not really. I went on one of the rip websites and played around and listen to some music of the time. What it is is you can put in, let's say 1980 it will bring up music from that air. But the reason why I don't only want to share material and my course that I know has been around for a while. Sometimes these websites pop up and then you list them in your material or your course, and then the websites are gone. So I just want I don't want to put him in here, but you can Google. You can go on the Internet and you can put in nostalgia, nostalgia, music machine or something like that, or even going YouTube and pull up some music of that era, and that may help you fill your outline with some details or with a chapter ideal. Also, books from your childhood if you're writing about the time a time period. If your memoir starts like some do in a person's shout hood, you could think about books that were either read to you or that you really your childhood of the classic books again. If you ever running up about something that happened more recently, what was the hardest book out or not? Even it doesn't have to be the hottest book. But what were the books out? What books were you reading? That kind of puts you back to that time when this thing happened, talking to a family member or friend. Obviously, if it's someone who abused you, you're not gonna call them up. Or you might have actually heard of people, um, having forgiveness and talking to their abuser. That's not a channel or a route that I would take but I've actually heard of people who do it. But here's an example. Let's say you're writing about a wedding, your wedding and your memoirs about either you're getting divorced. Are this being in love of your life and you using losing your partner to say you're losing your partner that death and you want to think about your wedding? Well, how you can remember things that happened at your wedding. It's by talking to people who were present at your wedding. Call up a cousin or friend or your best made or your or your bridesmaid and exam. Hey, you know, just just are sharing and they'll share with you and you might share a good laugh. And that will help you feel your memoir with details. Were there any films? If if you were we got married, did you in your your partner? Did you go to the driving? Remember drive ins? I think some drivers are still around. What films bring back memories during the time that you are writing about you. Just give me that can help you to feel your memoir with the details. If you're writing about your wedding or some other event, are growing up in your grandparent's home, what worth a sense like in the home, you know, and our family, they're starting If if your grandma cooked or if your grandparent's you know, if your grandpa was always working on the form, what kind of sense was a grass are? I don't know. I'm just thinking of things at the top of my head. But since can also, if you start to think back, what were the sense of the time here that you're writing about? That can also help you feel your memoir with significant details and also add Richard details to your writing when and talking about touch, since it's smelling seeing, you know, just being really descriptive. So those are some ways that can help you, you know, at material to your outline, they should begin to fill it out. 7. Memoir Book Cover: a book cover can play a key factor in motivating you to write your book a book cover. If this. If you have your heart set on getting traditionally published, there are others who are going to give input, and you may not have a final say of what your book cover looks like. But if you are planning to self publisher independently publish, you certainly have a say. You can tell your designer what you want your book cover to look like. And previously, as I was teaching writing workshops, I usedto have the workshop participants come into the workshop, and I was send them home with an assignment to create a vision board of their book. What was inside their book and just that could keep them just what they could have something tangible to focus on to encourage them to keep going and finish their book. Now I encourage participants to create a book cover in 2000 and nine. When I wrote this true story and flash memoir, I didn't I came up with the vision for this book cover, and I ended up paying a graphic designer. But I didn't create a book cover prior to writing my book ideas. So afterwards it was like an afterthought. But as I've grown and been teaching for many, many years, I absolutely know that a book cover is the best way to keep you motivated to finish your book. It tells your story in a picture, and it's something tangible that you can look it to cross the finish line. It's a motivation to keep you on track. Its force, Wester Vision E is what you want to include in your book is is a story in pictures. There's a site called Campbell dot com and the reason why I feel okay with sharing information about this site with you. It's because I have been using this site for many years at the site to just get a basic account where you can credible cover. It's absolutely free. Now there is some calls associating were like, If you if it's ah, certain book covers costs like a dollar anyway. It's a free site. You can do basically everything you need to do. I do pay a monthly fee eating. I'm not a fit. I'm not associated with this course. I'm not affiliate of this side or anything. like that. But I pay a fee just because I do some different things that I need to pay a fee for. But ultimately, you could go on this site and make a book cover. And this, um this is, uh someone made their book cover on camera. And isn't this beautiful? Just a beautiful cover. A graphic memoir, a sketchbook with hand drawn maps. I think this is absolutely gorgeous. Now, this is a book cover for a novel. The boy who couldn't sleep and never had to a novel. This is, I think so, creative. And if you didn't even want to go on camera, you could draw something to just sort of so that you have something tangible to keep your eye on the price on speak and venture motivated to finish your book. Um, of course, if you have someone in your family that's a graphic designer, you could have them. And I'm just strolling down this some books on campus. Some book covers on camera. Look at these cover. Some of these covers are absolutely striking. And so you get somebody, schizo. It just it just like something tangible is something that, like I said, to help you get to the finish line. To sum up, I always encourage workshop participants and now my online students to create a book cover . You could sketch your book cover. You could color your book cover. You could have someone that's a graphic designer maker book cover. You don't need to do anything fancy, though. You can write the words on a paper and draw a box around it. But I do encourage you to create a book cover. So that is something tangible that you can see in the motivation and something that you can visualize. And, of course, I want you to be inspired, be inspired. 8. Memoir Quick Tips: Here are some questions that I frequently get eggs in the memoir space for questions that I've saw seen put out there as it pertains to memoirs. I know when I started rewriting my memoir 10 years later and doing research, these were some of the questions I had. Yes, I want to share these questions because I know they're gonna help you as you prepare to write your memoir. The first question. Our statement question whatever your memoir does not have to be saying, it can be joyous, even if it is say, there could be lighter moments. And, um, I don't know why have rocks hang gays look here or bring it up a lot? In his class, I saw a memoir about a woman who had breast cancer, and I can't remember who wrote it. But anyway, on the cover, the book cover Waas to limits that looked in the shape of breast. And when I read the memoir, I'm in hand, lighter moments in it. And then we all know the breast cancer of the very serious topic. But they're just goes to say that even if it's something very sad, there can be lighter moments Onley include material that prepares the story forward is interesting. I know it's hard to judge your own material, and if I've stayed it, you don't want to include every detail. But every detail can be mason, if again, is so. What does that mean? If you're walking in the rain that you have an epiphany that Ah, I'm going to start a bank. I'm gonna start a startup. I'm gonna start Google. You have that epiphany, then you need to write. What was it like that day? It was rainy. What did the rain smell like? You know you want it. You're gonna want to include that detail, show passion and not anger. And this was one of the things with my memoir that I wrote in 2009. I felt so deeply about the subject and so wrong this by so many different people. And I just let it all out because it was what I was feeling at the moment. And I'm glad that I got him calling at 2009 version a draft now and I'm glad that I got it out. But as I look back and as you know, one of the things was, someone comes across this angry and bitter, and that doesn't help. The goal of your memoir are one of the goals of your memoir Should be, too. It's not inspire. That's not the word it should be to help others to heal. The only purpose isn't just for you to heal or if it's a If you're writing a memoir, that's happy. Our Julius, you want to make people smile and laugh, and if it doesn't accomplish that, go then. I don't think he has met the mark. So you don't want to show anger, just anger and bitterness. No one wants to read your rant. It's okay to be passionate, to show passion, but you don't want to just come across this angry and another thing place. So right here places, a character, whatever town or city or country you live in. Give us the backdrop, you know, give us the character of what's going on because places a character. If this is if Paris is a city, you fell in love, if at because the continent that he fell in love, show us their character. Introduce us to the character. The here's one. You have to read memoirs or whatever type of nonfiction book your your writing. You have to read that type of book, and I've shared this. I'm always surprised when people say, Are you asking what they're reading? And they don't have an answer. Shame on them. They you need to be reading if you're going to be writing and then, at some point the next point, you have to stop reading. And why? Because we get busy doing everything else is set writing right? And so you want at some point say, You know what? I need to balance it out. It's OK to read some memoirs, but I need to start writing my own memoir and let go of Fear and we after that, you know, just let go of fear and you start writing. Here's another one. Your memoir and I highlight it is your memoir is You're a true story to the best of your record Lee election, and even if your account different from others who were present during the story, I'm reading our Raid educated the memoir and she their nose like after each chapter, and it may say something like my sibling Luke was present. He disagrees on what happened. I say it happened at 4 a.m. And he says it happened the month of the following month, or whatever it is. And ultimately, I don't think they even needed now. This book, the book educated was produced are was published by appearing on Penguin Random House. I don't think they even needed to make those and knows. I don't know what the legal reason why they did make those nose, But I just think that because in your memoir is your truth to the best of your recollection . Yeah, we talked about of I share that you go back and talk to people who were present. If it's something some people you can talk to, some people may not even still be alive or if you want to. But it sure memoirs. What's the truth? To the best of your recollection today and here's one and boy, is this so true? You will experience trauma crying shame, guilt here and that when writing it's like opening up a vein. I scratched it out. It's like popping a vein. If you're writing about something painful who be have a box of tissue and whatever else you need because it is very painful. You are going to re experience those very traumatic moments. That's been the case with my writing. You remember a cancer. See if it resonates with an audience and they see in his truth, I'll go back to the memoir educated because that's the most recent memoir, um, that I read. And that memoir she has a varying poetic is written like a novel, and my style of writing is not like novelists, if you will, and that's okay. You have to use your authentic voice. I can't be terror. Terror can be franking and that's OK. Ah, good meme work his steel work even if you don't have that poetic style of writing, if you will. Or if that novel style of writing hillbilly elegy his novel is very playing. He he writes very plain, and his novel is a bestseller. It has been turned into a movie or is going to be turned into a movie, and he writes in a very plain manner, and it's his authentic voice. And so be true to who you are. Use your authentic voice now. You don't want your authentic voice to be boring but you don't want to try to do something that it's not you, okay? And then we say, is the truth to the best of your memory. I kind of had that point up here. But you remember James Frey, his memoir, A 1,000,000 Little Pieces and he get in tow problems because his memoir wasn't the true to the best of his memory. It never happened. And it was a brilliant book, and when he should have done was because his writing was very novel. Lisk, if you will, you should have targeted toe a novel instead of just lying. Okay, here's the important point. You can recreate dialogue, Francis, if you're writing about something that you know, like my grandmother, my grandmother had these little Sainz right at rest her heart. She's deceased, but I know what she would say. She would say something like, um, she's going to town. She would say about a person who talks a lot. She was like, Oh, she's just going to town like she means she's talking a lot so I can recreate that because I know that it's something she was saying. Then I said, Ah, think about the bigger picture. Yeah. Okay. I know what this is about. So the bigger picture is if you're writing a memoir about race racing cars or something like that, that's kind of like what? The logline about what your memoir is about. But what are the other underlying issues? Are the themes like racing cars? Is it courage? Is it freedom? Did you feel freedom when you were racing these cars? Did you feel courage? You know, you want to think about the bigger picture? Let me highlight that right here. Okay. And then a poetic novel stallion writing. I just do not have that poetic novelists writing style. Like I say it educated the book educated. She does this book shout, and we'll talk about that in a minute. And that's OK. Everybody doesn't have to have you want to be authentic Toho your and make it interesting. Now we're gonna talk about types of memoirs and I'm gonna wait and show you that. And then that's next segment. Let's see, not a tip of something funny Author and the LaMotte says if people wanted you to write nicely about them and she's told this everywhere they would have behaving better they would have behaved better. Okay. And then I want to say, Don't rule. Our self publishing may be considered doing nanowrimo. And I'll put, um, this about nanowrimo. I'll try to put this in. Some of that may be the one of the worksheets or something. All right, we're gonna talk about shouts and, ah, sketchbook, graphic memoir and the next segment. Let's go. 9. 56 Memoirs: here is my what I call index challenge to you. Doesn't this look like an index car with the little thumbtack at the top way? That's not important. My index challenge to you is I'm about to show you a list of I Believe It's 56 books, summer books, summer essays and I want you select one of the books from the list or select a couple of the books from the list. And I want you to read the book, and I want you to touch the book and feel the book. And if the book, if it's on your Kindle or your iPad and then obviously you can't touch it not the actual physical book anyway. And I want you to do a little assignment, right? The title of the book, The subtitle right on Logline about the book A Logline is just describe dish, describing the book in one line, traded to one line. It's okay if you do. A couple rules are meant to be broken, right? A synopsis of the book. What was the book about? What did you like or what did you feel? Didn't work in the book that the book inspire you to do something differently. Like if you're on a happy to the book, inspire you to be happy. Did it make you think about life? Write that down right. Found the chapter titles in the book, write down the number of chapters and write down the structure. Some books they have a clear cut is 23 chapters. Some books. The structure is there divided like I Know Pinkel. Random House books. Some of their books are divided in like five parts or three parts, and they use Is Roman numeral So like Part one. And it might be six or seven chapters in Part two, and it might be another 6 to 8 chapters in Part three. Same thing for a four same thing, par five. Same thing. So look at the structure of the book and tail. What worked for you. What doesn't work for you? I was reading recently completed reading Ah, Paul and I can't pronounce his last name, but he wrote the book when breath becomes Air and if you haven't read that book is incredible. But one of the things that didn't work for me or didn't care for in the book and I think Penguin Random House published it Pops harmonies. I came to say the word God trying to say the word. He's deceased. He was a neurosurgeon and he passed away. And one of the things that I don't like about the structure of the book is that it's just two chapters. So it's the first part in Part two, and it's so long and it's interesting that the book is called when breath becomes air, but you can't take a break. In my opinion, chapters allow me toe put a pin in it. Someone speaking allows me that you know nowhere us, like, say, if I don't read the book straight through, and I almost read their books straight through because it was really it is really a good but but it allows me toe notice, respect, take a breath. And so I like for memoirs, toe have chapters and rock saying gay book hunger. I don't believe that the chapter numbers are listed, and that drives me crazy about books. And even all Roxane Gay's book is really good. Both these books hurt incredible, but I don't need to know. I need to know where to put a pin in it. I need to know where to put a pin in it. So you're a little injected little index channels that I have. And of course, you don't have to use a index car. You can type it up. You can use a sticky note. Another thing that I would encourage you to do after you read the book first, just let it wash over you. What if you know, just let it wash over you, and then the second time you read it, go through and write little synopsis about each chapter. I started doing that with the book educated, educated it has The chapters are numbered. But I just started just writing little, uh, you know, chapter summary. So you might want to do that as well. That's just something. Here is the list of book. Excuse me. A good number of these books on this list I have read. I think one of the books is not yet out, but I pre ordered and I plan to read it. Some of the books I read a long time ago. Some of, um, I plan to read, I I either have a physical copy of the book or it's on My Kindle or I pay It. And if you're like me that books groan under the weight. I have so many books they groan under the weight of their of the bookshelf. But pick a book off this list or picked two books off this list and read it. Touch the book of his a physical book. Do everything I actually to do from that index car on here is just some books, some of the books because they I read him. I like him. I love him. In some cases, everybody remember Ah, 1,000,000 little pieces. Remember, all that controversy came out about is this memoir? Did he make it up? Remember that controversy about that book that actually was a really, really good book? Um, policy here I was talking about When breath becomes thereby and I have his name type twice . I'm sorry I can't pronounce his last name. Let's see what else did it. I think this is the book that's not yet out. Notes from a young black sheriff. I think that's the one. Ah, it's interesting. There. The book on here, the Warner Boys. This is the interesting book because the couple current Anna Warner. They take turns writing a chapter, so that's very interesting. This here is an essay that you can find online and be warned. This essay is, it'll haunt you really well. It'll haunt you, so just pick something out. Like here is a wife, a ble. This is written by a journalist, and it's funny. Gets handsome. Funny parts. I should say my book. The book I wrote, a 2009 is even on this list. You can't get a copy again. I rewrote it, and I'm re releasing it. But I just throw it on a list. Just toe. Have a lot of fun. So if you go to your index car challenge and in doing it, you'll find that your memoir is going to be better. Off you go. Why don't leave mail? You have to finish this course. Of course. 10. Thick Outline : I'm going to show you live and in living color a little bit more of what your blank template is going to look like. But first, let me go over a few things. Remember, I said it to choose a life experience and give it a title. Titles are etched in stone. This 20 significant details the more the merrier, because some things will be left on the cutting room floor. Spring Storm chapters plug and play. This is when you plug and play information. You might have already started started writing. What I am running too often is that somebody will come and they'll have half of a manuscript, and some of the material or most of the material is good material that they can use. They just need to plug and play. It's helpful that you introduce yourself. I gave the example from the hillbilly elegy, but you don't have toe do it. In that style. You can look through some of the 56 books, maybe the book that you are still acting and find one of the introduces his cell that you really like. Now you might. You might find that some of the books don't do an introduction that they have really a really poetic writing style or just their writer, or just some reasons why they might not have done it that way. But I don't advise that you do. Start with the introduction. Keep in mind that the 20 details significant details that you list that you list. They do not have to be in chronological order. Once you do a basic memoir, then your plug and play with the thick paragraphs were just part of your writing and voila , it really. It's just this simple. See the ideals they'll just scream from your head. So my book title. When I wrote it in 2000 I was dreamed of her this up title and you do this, you do a title. A subtitle logline. What's from College Student Bank Robber? And it's a story of my 19 year old son, who goes from preparing to start a 30 year in college to be incentives to more years in prison than he been alive. And I guess I should add 20 because he was sentenced to 20 years and you can think about your thing where your narrative arc, what are the things It's just a base of what it's about. But what it's about is a mother strength. It's about, um, enduring. You know, just think about some of the things that may go into your memoir, Although you may not know him, they'll emerge after the writing starts, and so again, introduce yourself until why you're sharing your story. This is something that may not even going your book or in May. But if you're unknown, you definitely want to do this. And then just on a piece of paper, 20 and I would even go so far as is saying, maybe 25 you know, just called a 25 or 40 just goto a number that's more than 20. Just because some stuff will get left on the cutting room floor and you just chapter to call being a BA way. I'm just making up something. Then I'll say this is the chapter when he used to love cars and trucks and blah blah, blah, blah and you could just rip, there is no nothing that's wrong, or there's nothing that's incorrect that you can't go wrong. And this is just you doing, um, freestyling your writing. Whatever comes to your brain again. You might have started writing some of your book and you might just want to plug like, Okay, I started writing the chapter when entail fell down and he heard his d and he was in school . And the school call me and you just plug in. At previous piece of rioting is just 20 um, and one of things that is helpful. The way I do my alibis, I do really meaty outlined. So an entire page might be chapter wound. Chapter two might be another pace, Chapter three. And if you're one of those type of people who excuse me, you you do write in a notebook, you keep a notebook, will then the chapter one and dedicate a page or several pages to your nose. Or if you do, keeping in a document, Chapter one, given a full page. So what I mean by that is let me just throw down. This page is dedicated. Just a chapter one, Chapter one, then than other pages dedicated. A chapter two and chapter three and Chapter four inch after five in chapter six. You get the picture, you just keep going and you fill it with material, and this is just getting out your base outline. You can incorporate thick paragraphs. You are incorporating thick paragraphs. It's something strikes you when you feel the need is for a Ryan E. That's simply where the thick paragraph is. If you want to make a note just to yourself to say, Look this up or talk tune. My say you might have, you know, talk to talk to Cousin Carl and you know our Google autism. I'm just There's just some things that you want to do. You can make nose in your outline. There's nothing wrong or right. And once you have this base outline, once you have it really, really tight and just going forward, which is being creative, you have what you need to start writing your memoir after you look and do those you know, reader memoir of pick. A couple of members often list, study them, touch them, fill them, understand how memoirs work. You start with this basic chronological, a memoir and a chronological order, and after that break every rule, learned the rules and break every one of them. No, it's time to start writing almost anyway. 11. Why Write Memoir: keeping with a yellow Van Zandt's quote and the theme of Healing and Regards to memoir writing, I Want to Share a book by Elizabeth Gilbert Going to Share a spinoff book there was inspired by a book by by Elizabeth Gilbert's book Eat, Pray, Love. You're familiar with the book the book has. So last time I checked over 10 million copies. It was made into a movie, and it might but most importantly, what it did for so many people. So we're gonna share this book, and here is the book Eat, Pray, Love made me do it. So let me tell you about the premise, but will a little bit behind the scenes about this book. From what I've read So Azaz. I've shared a prey Low was such a successful book and inspire so many people to change their life to go after the light. There, they want to let go of something to release, to get help for themselves as far as 20 people and excuse me. So you see what we were going to get a little bit into Elizabeth Gilbert's introduction, but she'll notice that each person Rebecca Victoria Mallory, that's going on so happy Wife Happy life Lisa Becker. I'm just picking out random ones. Ah, adventurous woman. Laura. I can't pronounce her last name. Role map Living well, The list Pepperoni epiphanies Someone like me ing. So all these people, I believe they said they got in 2000 entries for people who wanted to be a part of this anthology and out of the 2000 they selected about 50. So write it down, read your story mandate crossing over. So these people were selected. So these are all the people who were inspired by her book. OK, so we just keep going Now here's the introduction and what she starts out in this introduction. What the author Elizabeth Gilbert starts out by saying is there were already she didn't know why her book had caught on when they were already plenty of divorcement wars travel memoir, A Spiritually Wars. Her book was kind of like all those things road into. One of her book took off, and so she says she's to hear from people all the time, and she finally started to understand why her book took off. And there's two stories in particular that really helped her to come to understand why her book and let me get to where she wrote. So if you want to read this book, you can read it to read the full introduction. I'm just giving you, Ah, heart and one guy. After reading her book, he was giving his wife such a hard time. He didn't want a they want to get divorce. And so he was spending a lot of money, were lawyers and everything like that. And he read her book Colonel on a humble. He was on vacation with his sister. It was his sister's book, and he just picked it up and started reading it. And after reading that book, what happened to him was he picked up the phone and he told his wife, I bless your journey. Can you imagine that going from being tortured by your ex husband, him, like fighting you in court without his lawyers and all his money? And then it just says I bless your journey. So that's one of the people that why she decided to let other people become a part of this book and turning essays. And she said, You pray love about what happened. She said, because this book wasn't about just a woman because she was kind of came from a wealthy purpose family. Elizabeth Gilbert does. And it wasn't about her journey of falling in love, falling out of love, traveling to beautiful places, eating wonderful food. What this book was about is what What the overall message when people came away with is that everything can be changed. After that realization, nothing would ever be the same. Essentially, my life doesn't have to look like that anymore. So your memoir, in keeping with the theme of healing it's a realization that somebody may read your book. And if it's a happy memoir, they'll read it in a lab. And they say, I can experience that kind of joy or if your memoirs about something say it, they can come away. And if it's where you were at when you started the book and where you were today, you can help someone he'll to be inspired. And that such a powerful reason to write a book. Um, actually said when she first wrote it, she didn't think her book was anything special. But 10 million copies later, and the movie and thousands upon thousands of people. If not millions of people, all of the world be inspired. This is what her button has done. And this is what your book can do. May you be inspired. I'm gonna leave you with that again. May you be inspired. 12. Recap & Thank You: Let's do a quick recap showing. The big take away from this course is that you want to create your memoir outlying template so that you can begin writing the tips to help you create the memoir outline template. If you're gonna want to the Index Challenge, you're gonna want to take a walk down memory lane and think about some of the nostalgia things I shared. You're going to want to talk to people. You're going to want to do it. It's important. Toe have the right mindset. Don't overthink it. Sometimes I know you'll read books or your take classes, and they're so they're just give you all this information that you feel overwhelmed. And that was the case when I first started creating outlines. I feel overwhelmed. I learned to do it a very boring and unsexy way. But then when I let my creative creativity just explode and I just went for it, and that's what you have to do, don't overthink it at this stage in the game. You want to get it done and so just go for creating your memoir template. Finally, I want to say a huge a great big thank you Thank you so much for taking my course. You can. You should have taken any other course that you want to on a memoir. Writing you could read any other book on the topic. But for some reason, you took the time to take my humble course. And I thank you. Any time you put something out in the universe, Rather is a course or a book or anything. Every every time we even go outside, we're always thinking it's this hair, right? Is this thing on my closes? Everything look okay? And that's what it's no different. When you create a course, you're always thinking Is this OK? It's this fine. When you put your memoir out, let me Like I said, It's like popping of a You're gonna be worried you're outlining gonna be afraid. But if you don't do what you're gonna have regrets, so go for it. Now, if you have the opportunity to review this class, please take the time to do so. It really helps, and I want to hear your feedback. So I thank you in advance. And also then here's the thing, and I mean, it's from the bottom of my heart there. My website is fbk writer dot com. My email address, which I'll put in the description of the course, is FBK at FBK Writer Dycom. Let me hear from you. I can't do it for everyone, but if you complete your outline, I'll take a look at it. Not a 20 page outline. But if you complete a one page basic template outline, shoot it to me. It's time permitting. I want to faint as a way to say thank you. Have a look at it and give feedback. Thank you. Thank you, Thank you. Let go of fear. And this is the year that you're going to write your memoir. I bless your writing journey. Signing off This is Frankie talk soon.