As memoir writers, we can benefit from his insights. We already know that to create a readable memoir, we need to think about the people in our lives as characters in a story. So, over the next few postings, I’ll break down McKee’s lessons and see how we can use them to build rich portraits of the people in our personal histories.

Here’s this week’s memoir writing challenge:

“Characters are what they do.” Think of a person who you want to include in your personal memoir or family history. What do his or her actions (work, habits, sayings, hobbies, acts of charity, love, anger or hope) reveal about character? How can you capture those revelations in words?

Choose someone to write about and, without stopping to think about it too much, spend ten minutes writing down everything about the person that comes into your mind.

(This is a photo of my grandfather Joe, a skinny man trying to bulk up by stuffing an inner-tube into his overalls...an action that said a lot about his sly sense of humour.)

Vancouver ghostwriter Tracy Urban loves chance encounters with eccentrics,tricksters, adventurers and other characters.

Generate: An Intergenerational Writing Workshop

Sunday November 1 & 8
1 :00 p.m.
Level 3 Meeting Room, Central Library (350 W. Georgia Street)

This two-part workshop is designed for teams of grandparents or parents and their children or grandchildren. Each team will bring in an object or photograph or event of historical importance to their family; an heirloom, a recipe, a family photo, a wedding dress or a war medal. They will generate two or more inter-generational pieces of writing based on this object. This workshop is designed to get the whole family to work together to create a collective piece of personal history.  Admission is free. Registration required.  For more information or to register, email programs@vpl.ca or call 604-331-4041.

Ghostwriter Tracy Urban helps aspiring authors get their stories into print.

Lifestory: Memoir Writing for Seniors

Tuesdays, September 22, 29, October 6 & 13
2 :00 p.m.
Level 3 Meeting Room, Central Library (350 W. Georgia Street)

Writer-in-Residence Ivan E. Coyote believes that history does not solely belong to historians but to anyone who remembers or writes their history down. Join her for a four-part writing workshop for seniors. Admission is free. Registration required.  For more information or to register, email programs@vpl.ca or call 604-331-4041.

Ghostwriter Tracy Urban helps aspiring authors get their books into print.

""As long as I was trying to anticipate what people wanted from me, as long as I was trying to fulfill other people's expectations, I was in a losing game," said Shriver. "That's what I want to focus on...letting go of other people's expectations of you so you can own your own life, write your own story and live your own legacy."

One of the most important lessons the aspiring memoir writer can learn is that she is writing for herself first and foremost. The only way to live your own legacy and to tell your real story is to first let go of other people's expectations. We never really know what others expect of us anyway, so trying to tell our stories in a way that makes them happy is a fool's game.

When you sit down to write or record your story, keep in mind that your stories are your legacy. Make sure what you leave behind is the truth as you lived it.

1) If you think you’ve got a unique story with a saleable hook, you could try to find a traditional publisher such as Simon & Shuster or Knopf. Be warned... this is a difficult and time-consuming process, not for the faint of heart. Each year publishers receive thousands of polished, professional manuscripts and book proposals from highly-credentialed authors. Only a small fraction are accepted.

To get a sense of what's involved, read author Tara K. Harper’s "The 39 Steps to Getting Published.” Better yet, read some books on the process. Two good ones are Putting Your Passion into Print by Arielle Eksut and How to Get Happily Published by Judith Applebaum

2) Consider a print on demand service such as iUniverse or Cafepress. The fee involved is modest and, if you like, your book will be available for sale online through Amazon and Chapters. Unlike old-style vanity publishing, the books are only printed when someone orders a copy, so you don't end up with boxes of them in your basement. Very eco-friendly! For a comparison of the various POD services available, click here

3) If you just need a few copies of your story for family and friends, consider using a local desktop publisher or a publisher that specializes in family histories. Costs for this vary widely, depending how elaborate you want your book to be. Heirloom style books with gorgeous covers and archival paper can cost hundreds of dollars per copy, while simpler books cost as little as fifty dollars a copy.

4) If the format of your story matters less than just sharing it with friends and family, consider creating a blog using a free provider such as Moveable Type. This allows everyone to read your story for free; it also lets people to comment on the stories, perhaps adding other memories. Blogs also allow you to add photos and even audio and video clips.

For more information on how to get your stories into print, contact book developer and ghostwriter Tracy Urban at StoryHeart for a free consultation.

For the first time ever “the number of self-published, a.k.a. “on-demand” books printed in the United States last year exceeded the number of conventional titles. The company reported a “staggering 132-per-cent increase over last year's final total of 123,276 titles,” which in turn was 462 per cent above the total of self-published titles produced in 2006.” (Read the rest of “Oh heck, I’ll just publish it myself”)

Why are so many authors choosing to self-publish? Reasons vary. Most of the POD books printed last year sold only a few copies, indicating they were labours of love produced for family and friends. However, other authors choose to publish independently because:

· They appeal to an easy to find niche market

· Their books fill a regional void

· The authors want to keep control over their material and cover design

· The authors want to publish quickly. (POD books can reach their market in a matter of weeks; traditional publishing can take years to move from manuscript to bookshelf.)

· The authors appreciate the much larger royalties they get from using P.O.D. (Traditional publishers give authors about 10-15 percent of the cover price while indie authors keep a much bigger portion.)

Some authors do very well by self-publishing. Bestseller “Still Alice” was originally self-published as were “The Celestine Prophecy” and “The Shack.”  

However, being an independent author isn’t for everyone. If you’re considering printing your book yourself, contact StoryHeart first for a free consultation on the pros and cons.

Ghostwriter and book developer Tracy Urban helps storytellers and experts become authors.

The SPBE also offers a lot of educational opportunities for independent authors, with seminars on a variety of topics including: “Online Marketing: Getting Your Book Noticed on the Web” and “The Rise of E-Books-How to Publish, Promote and Sell an E-Book.”

The SPBE will be held on Nov. 7, 2009.  For registration information, click here.

Literary agent Jessica Faust , one of the authors of the Bookends LLC blog recently shared an illuminating insight that should make everyone who wants to write their memoir stop and think. She says:

“...years ago I was attending a small writing conference where it seemed every attendee was working on their memoir. It wasn't long before I developed one easy question to establish whether or not I felt that memoir might be worth considering, and that was whether the author read memoirs. Do you know that not one single writer was reading or had read memoirs? Sure, some had read one or two, haven't we all? But no one was reading them to learn what a memoir really was.” (To read the rest of the article, click here .)

Many clients ask me what they need to do to get their memoir published. I’d say Ms Faust’s advice is a good place to start: visit your library or bookstore, pick up some bestselling memoirs and start reading.

As you read, ask yourself some questions: How do these best-selling authors structure their stories? What do they include—and even more importantly—what do they leave out? How do they create compelling characters in their stories? What can you learn from them?

Here are six titles to get you started:

On Writing by Stephen King

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

Mississippi Sissy by Kevin Sessums

Travels With Herodotus by Ryszard Kapuscinski

Chant to Soothe Wild Elephants by Jaed Coffin

Thinking in Pictures and Other Reports from My Life with Autism by Dr. Temple Grandin

Got any other good memoirs to suggest? Share your favourites with other StoryHeart readers.

Ghostwriter Tracy Urban loves reading travel memoirs.

I’m frequently asked about the ins and outs of self-publishing and print-on demand.

"How do I get my book printed and on Amazon? What’s the difference between P.O.D, self-publishing and vanity publishing? How do I market my book?" All great questions!

In my opinion, print-on-demand is a great option for non-fiction authors who want to get their book into print quickly and affordably. The authors I’ve worked with have had positive experiences with POD and appreciate getting their story out there without spending years looking for a publisher or agent. They have appreciated having complete control over their book and its content and also like that they get to keep more of the royalties for each book sold.

Self-publishing is not for everyone though. Potential authors owe it to themselves to research the pros and cons of the process. Here are some places to start:

The Well-Fed Self Publisher by Peter Bowerman

Top Self Publishing Firms: How Writers Get Published, Sell More Books, And Rise To The Top by Stacie Vander Pol

The Reality of Self-Publishing: An Agent’s Perspective by Andrea Hurst

2009 Directory of Self-Publishing Companies

Ghostwriter Tracy Urban helps storytellers and experts become authors.

The magazine, which often has articles of interest to aspiring lifestory writers, says: 

"Everyone has a story about love or heartbreak. Can you tell yours in exactly six words—no more, no less?"

If you want to give it a try, you can submit your story here. If your six-word personal history is chosen, it will be published in an upcoming issue of the AARP magazine.

Ghostwriter Tracy Urban lives and writes in Vancouver.