Memoir Resources
Barrington, Judith. Writing the Memoir: A Practical Guide to the Craft, the Personal Challenges, and Ethical Dilemmas of Writing Your True Stories. Portland, OR: The Eighth Mountain P, 2002.
Barrington delivers as promised. The book covers the craft, the challenges, and the ethical considerations of memoir writing. Her tone is engaging and direct, but not condescending. Her practice activities at the end of each chapter are useful, but not unique for experienced teachers.
Elbow, Peter. Writing with Power. New York: Oxford UP, 1981.
When writers mention "personal writing," Peter Elbow's name is bound to come into the discussion. This book is a good example of his philosophy and his energy. While not about memoir writing as such, this is a solid look at the power of the personal.
Rainer, Tristine. Your Life as Story: Discovering the "new Autobiography" and Writing Memoir as Literature. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, 1998.
This rather large book (350 pages) is a source of information about the genre(s) of new auto/memoir, practice exercises, publishing tips, and bibliography. I especially appreciated her historical summary of the evolution of autobiography as a genre and her discussion of it the "new" aspect of it. That explanation, alone, goes a long way to explain the Jim Frey/Oprah "discussion."
Roorbach, Bill. Writing Life Stories: How to Make Memories into Memoirs, Ideas into Essays, and Life into Literature. Cincinnati, Story P, 1998.
This is my "If I could have only one book..." choice. Developed from materials he uses in workshops, this book hits just the right level of detail. More importantly, it achieves the detail with a tone that is a perfect combination of intimidation and chatting. He orders and chides but also praises and encourages--a real coach. Unlike some of the other books, this one has exercises so intertwined that readers soon sense that it is worth reading the whole book. It is quite possible, by the way, to read without doing the exercises, but several of the exercises are "keepers"--ones to use personally and to share with students. Because this is about creative nonfiction, generally, the bibliography has sub-divisions: memoir, personal essay, nature writing, travel writing, literary journalism, and anthologies of creative nonfiction.
Selling, Bernard. Writing from Within: A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing Your Life's Stories. Claremont, CA: Hunter House, 1989.
This book is a bit dated, and it does, indeed, tend to be step-by-step, which makes it a bit prescriptive for adult writers these days. I much prefer Roorbach's content and tone.
Zinsser, William, ed. Inventing the Truth: The Art and Craft of Memoir. Boston: Mariner, 1998.
Zinsser collects thoughts about the memoir by nine memoirists: Russell Baker, Jill Ker Conway, Annie Dillard, Ian Frazier, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Alfred Kazin, Frank McCourt, Toni Morrison, and Eileen Simpson. Especially valuable is the bibliography, which is a list of the favorite first-person narratives of each of the contributors to this collection, organized by contributor.
Zinsser, William. Writing About Your Life: A Journey into the Past. New York: Marlowe and Company, 2004.
This is the book I would use if I were teaching a course about memoir. Zinsser nicely combines his short memoirs--just what students would aspire to write--along with the meta-discourse about memoir writing. His memoirs become the instances of his theory, in other words. And, as always, the book is very readable.