In this conversation, we tried to talk about structure in storytelling, the craft of writing a memoir. What are we talking about when we talk about story structure? Listen to find out…
At the end of the episode, we share a few structure-related prompts for you.
Links & Resources from this Episode of Writing Grief
- Meli’s reading Doretta Lau’s short story collection How Does a Single Blade of Grass Thank the Sun (Nightwood Editions, 2014)
- Meli mentioned that Doretta Lau was a recent guest in our writing community (at RachelThompson.co) and when endings came up, Doretta recommended The Last Fifty Pages: The Art and Craft of Unforgettable Endings by James Scott Bell (Compendium Press, 2019)
- Rachel references The Situation and the Story: The Art of Personal Narrative by Vivian Gornick (Macmillan, 2002) and we refer to the book a few more times throughout the episode
- Rachel references Voltaire’s often quoted line, “The secret to being boring is to leave nothing out.” (Which is a translation of, “Le secret d’ennuyer est celui de tout dire,” from the essay “Sixième discours: sur la nature de l’homme” in his book Sept Discours en Vers sur l’Homme, 1738)
- Meli mentions a writing prompt she received from the writer and editor, Dinty W. Moore
- Meander, Spiral, Explode: Design and Pattern in Narrative by Jane Alison (Catapult, 2019)
- Rachel refers to her podcast Write, Publish, and Shine where she interviews literary editors about publishing
- Rachel took a memoir outlining course with writer Lilly Dancyger with Catapult
- These memoirs come up once again: Wild by Cheryl Strayed and Liar’s Club by Mary Karr
- Meli mentions Wild Game by Adrienne Brodeur; the audiobook Meli mentions with an interview at the end that clarifies Brodeur’s mother’s present condition is narrated by Julia Whalen
- Rachel references The Rules Do Not Apply by Ariel Levy (Random House, 2017) and her essay Thanksgiving in Mongolia in The New Yorker
- We also talk about Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (Riverhead Books, 2017)
- Meli mentions Glennon Doyle’s two books Carry On, Warrior (Scribner, 2004) and Untamed (The Dial Press, 2020)
- And Meli talks a bit about Alain de Botton and his School of Life
- At the end of the episode, we quote from Thinking About Memoir (Sterling Publishing, 2008) by Abigail Thomas
- We also reference Zami, A New Spelling of My Name by Audre Lorde (Persephone Press, 1982)
The transcript for this episode is available upon request from podcast@writinggrief.com.