Narratively’s 6 Tips for Writing a Revealing and Impactful Memoir Story

We’ve spent thousands of hours editing writers’ stories about their own lives. If you’re interested in getting your memoir piece published, here’s how to stand out from the crowd.

Illustration by Hallie Bateman

Memoir seems like it should be the easiest form of writing, right? No reporting, no research, just writing down what you already know. Yeah…not so much. Anyone who’s ever sat down to write a memoir can tell you that getting those thoughts out of your own head and onto paper (in a clear and relatable way) can be a lot harder than it sounds. Every story is different because every life is different and so is every writer, but after editing and publishing more than 700 memoir pieces over the past 10 years, our team at Narratively has put together this guide to 6 steps that will help you get that memoir story from idea in your head to perfection on the page.