Memoir Vs Autobiography
One of the questions we receive a lot from writers is what makes a memoir different from an autobiography. After all, if you're telling the story yourself, is there really a difference between how you tell it? In much the same way that a square and a rhombus are both rectangles, memoirs and autobiographies are both creative nonfiction. There are some key differences between the two forms, which we'll hopefully capture below.
The key difference between a memoir and an autobiography is the scope. When people write an autobiography, it is a tremendous undertaking as the person is seeking to chronicle their entire life. The story is perceived as an effort to capture not only details of the person's life, but the times around them and the context with which the life was lived. If someone tells you they are reading an autobiography of someone, it is safe to assume that the book covers every detail about the person, with a memoir, it's not as easy to identify.
When looking at memoirs, the story is often centralized around a certain theme or event. Politicians typically write memoirs as they capture the actions of their political career. If you decide to write a memoir, it's important to look at your life and figure out what you want to capture. This often makes writing memoirs a blessing and a curse, as you can filter the material down to the events in your life that relate to your topic, but also limits you as it is hard to go beyond these events.
Often as a result of this difference in scope, there is also a difference in the style of the writing in a memoir vs an autobiography. Because a memoir is centered around a specific topic, it will often be more freeform and have an almost narrative style to it. The memoir isn't restricted by the scope of your life, so it doesn't need to be regimented into chronological order. With an autobiography, as it tries to capture the scope of your life, it is easy for the book to become very formal and essay-like.
One thing to keep in mind when trying to distinguish the two, is to look at the story and ask yourself what it focuses on. If you read a president's memoir, you might challenge the idea that it's a memoir. After all, the story will likely include brief sections on the President's early life and time out of office. However, the important thing to remember is that center focus. While there are sections about a President's early life, it is a fraction of the book's full scope, which largely centers around their decisions in office.
In the end, the thing to remember when deciding whether to write a memoir or an autobiography is what story you want to tell. Are you simply recounting the events of your life, or are you telling how your life was affected by a certain event or experience?
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