Memoir Outline

To shape your memoir and create a memoir outline, you have to start by asking yourself a simple question. Why am I writing this? Your answer will help pinpoint the focus of your memoir. That, in turn, will help you figure out what belongs and what might work better in a different book.

Next, whether you’ve written a lot of pages or hardly any, you’ll want to create a memoir outline that works on a thematic level. That would start by identifying the book’s central arguments (or themes) and then looking at each chapter’s topic (theme) to figure out how (or whether) it makes the case you want to make.

Nailing the chapter themes will not only help build dramatic tension, it will help eliminate repetition in terms of content. And you will be help you determine whether it belongs in the book, and whether it belongs where it is, needs to move or needs to be combined with another chapter.

The Three-Act Structure

Memoirs are often structured like a three-act play. So that’s how I’ve structured the memoir outline that follows.

Act 1

Act 1 (or Part 1) opens with some kind of a hook that will entice the reader to want to keep reading, sets the scene, identifies a conflict and establishes the theme of the memoir. This beginning section is usually 25 percent of your story.

Ch #	Theme/Idea	Action	Who’s in the ch	# of pgs

Act 2

In Act 2 (or Part 2), something prompts (or forces) you to actively confront the problem you’ve introduced in Act 1. This section of your memoir—roughly 50 percent of the story—builds the drama and conflict as you encounter obstacles along the way that leave you struggling to deal with the fallout. Act 2 needs to end with a crisis (called a climax) that moves you toward (or sets you up for) a resolution.

Ch #	Theme/Idea	Action	Who’s in the ch	# of pgs

Act 3

Act 3 (or Part 3) is all about resolution and the lessons you want to impart. This part of the book, which is usually about 25 percent of the story, could be focused on how you come to terms with how you were raised and your sense of self. Ideally, the very end of the memoir would involve some sort of story that demonstrates a sizeable personal shift or a new understanding that shows how you’ve changed.

Ch #	Theme/Idea	Action	Who’s in the ch	# of pgs

I hope this memoir outline helps get you launched. I’m here if you need to check in with someone.