What Makes a Memory: 3 Steps to a Memorable Memoir

Memoirs are creative nonfiction. They’re about how things that happened—felt to someone.

Autobiographies are nonfiction. They’re about things that happened to someone.

The other big difference in the two forms is that memoirs are meant to draw the reader in. Truman did this with In Cold Blood. Memoirs (from Latin by way of French—mémoire from memoiria) means, “memory,” or “remembrance.” To get that across to a reader, it’s about telling a story—not writing a history. It’s about intimacy and getting emotions into the reader.