General features of memoir writing

Hamid Qazvini
Translated by Natalie Haghverdian

2018-1-30

Undoubtedly, memoir writing is one of the oldest forms of writing, dating back to the history of the invention of script and writing.

Perhaps one of the questions posed by the promoters of memorabilia is “what are the memoir feature qualities?” Does the memory writer has to have any special techniques? Whether writing personal memories is easy or absent?

In answering this question it should be said that writing personal memories is not difficult and complicated and anyone with any level of literacy can do it. The author of the memoir should only write his memorials in simple, intimate and honest words. That is to describe any incident as it has actually happened and associated his/her memory. Memoir writing does not include enclosed writing. Unfortunately, one of the strategic mistakes of some people is that they think their text should be literary, so as to be credible and attract the audience. While, unaffected memoirs better communicate with the audience. Hence don’t concern yourself with your weak and simple prose but practice to improve. It is said that some of the world's bestselling authors have been writing daily memories which promoted their self-esteem and turned them into professionals. Of course, it does not mean that memoir writer does nothing to promote his prose and just wait for it to be promoted simply by writing. By studying various works, he can expand his vocabulary and acquaint himself with different proses and styles. It is indeed useful to study various political, historical, and fiction works. Also, cyberspace has a great effect on promoting writing skills and gaining confidence. Meanwhile, permanent writing in cyberspace can also help the author's regularity.

Memoir writing is usually linked to abstract writing and does not step out of generalities. Although the author may occasionally engage in details, this behavior is not a permanent and inclusive process in all parts of the memoirs and is largely subject to the interests of the author. Of course, the mention of the exact time and place of an event is a necessity, because all the events take place on the basis of time and place, and a memory that lacks these two elements will lose its credibility and importance. Written memories usually start by referring to a specific age period, a historical period, a person, a specific place, a good or a bad feeling, food, travel, job, education, friends, family, and the like.

Another important point is that people often encounter a variety of constraints in their mental expressions, which are directly related to their secrets, and memoir writing can be a practice to solve this problem. Incidentally, experience has shown that those who write daily diaries or personal diaries are more likely to be able to express memories and conduct oral history interviews.