Picking the right opening scene?

I have no idea who you are or what type of memoir you're writing or why you think it may appeal to readers and I am sorry but I therefore have no clue as to how you should open it.

Either of the above strategies could work- it's all in the execution and you still seem to be in the planning area as opposed to execution.

Reading other memoirs may help and it may also be easier to determine where it should open once it is finished.

Good luck.

Shouldn't this be in the non-fiction section?

I haven't read a memoir in ages, so I can't offer you much, sorry. As Bufty said, take a look at others, maybe it will help.

Good luck on your memoir; I can see you're excited about it. Just a little hint: shorten your sentences. Makes your ideas come across better and everything's easier to read.

It's hard to give you advice without knowing anything about what you're writing. Read some memoirs and see how it's done. Start with something that will make people want to keep reading. I'm not big on memoirs, but I would write about what's exciting and worthwhile in your life rather than writing down everything. If the first 18 years of your life were uneventful then don't include them, or just gloss over them. It's hard to give anything other than general tips based on what you've told us.

I don't write memoirs so I'm coming at this from a novel-writing perspective, but I personally am unsure about both of your suggestions. Both seem kind of like a trick to get the reader interested so that they will then continue to read through less interesting stuff. But any book needs to be exciting all the way through or no one will want to read it. It's nice to have a little blip in the excitement stakes at the start to hook a reader but not if it feels contrived.

Why are you writing this memoir? I'm guessing that if you're not famous, it must have some kind of message? Ask yourself what that message is and where the story really begins (i.e. when does the character (you!) set off on the slippery slope of no return. Hint - it's not going to be when something happened to a long-dead relative or when you were born).

I think you need to try to come up with an event that can be used to set the story in motion even if, at the time, the character didn't realise the significance. So a story about surviving some horrible disease could start with the first symptom or diagnosis, a story about enduring brotherly love could start with a fist fight over a girl. With novels, characters are only interesting in terms of the things they do - no one cares about their childhood or family history until after they've proved themselves to be on a journey worthy of reading about.

Start anywhere and get the whole thing written.

Especially if you're considering a non-chronological form, it may be easier to figure out where to begin after you've sorted out the ending.

In many ways, memoir has to tell a coherent story too, even though it's non-fiction. This is why it's good to know where you'll end before you write or re-write your first scene.

I also wish you good luck with it!

philipmichael said:

Thanks for the replies.

Well, the crime was my mom's mom getting murdered when my mom was about 12. Thematically it is relevant to my story because the first plot point is my mom abandoning me when I was also around 12. There is an ironic connection between the murder and the abandonment because growing up my mom always complained about how difficult it is/was not having a mother. Even if I don't use the murder as the opening scene, it still will at least get mentioned as backstory because the trauma shaped my mom's actions in other important scenes.

My 2nd plot point is a medical malpractice incident that I suffered. The 3rd plot point is a radical life/career change from crime to the "straight and narrow." The 4th and final plot point (or climax) is getting hospitalized years later as a result of the medical malpractice incident, forcing me to quit my job.

I'm still honing in on the main themes/messages. Some things that are on the table include: taking a hands on approach to your health when dealing with the medical industry, family and social support networks should not have regulations or narrow definitions.

So far I have just been writing chronologically. However, with my first plot point being abandonment, I was planning on just setting that up by some foreshadowing scenes and some examples of happier times as well as scenes hinting at the cause of the abandonment (which is not revealed until the end of the book). None of these "set up" scenes are that dramatic, so I don't know if they will hook the reader, hence why I am considering using a scene from around my hospitalization (which was an extremely dramatic and action-packed time) then rewinding back to the beginning.

Click to expand...

The crime parts are very interesting.

Here's how I think I would try to set it up. Start with the murder and the impact it had on your mother for not having a mom. This leading into your personal abandonment at such a young age is tragic, emotional and gripping. If it shaped you and led you to a life of crime I would follow with that. If there is any correlation between your life in crime and the crime that occurred within your family then that would be good to mention as well. Then finish with your life in crime and eventual redemption, which it seems there is one. Then you could finish with the climax of being hospitalized and losing your job. Is the first malpractice relevant to the story as a whole outside of there being two? Does it add a lot? And is it interesting.

I personally think your third plot point is the most interesting one from the face of it though without knowing the details. Stories of redemption are good. Especially if the loss of your job changed things for the worse, or made you revert to your old ways.

I had a botched knee surgery that almost killed me because of a staph infection and was speaking with lawyers, but never pursued it because I survived and my medical bills were covered, but even if I had gone after the doctor I don't think it would have been very interesting. The second one, however, does seem interesting because of the repercussions of the loss of your job.

If you feel the need to skip to something later that's more exciting maybe you should just start with that, but I think starting with the tragic murder of your grandmother is gripping enough to keep someone reading if it ties into later parts of the memoir.

That would make for a good story. The malpractice happened, but it needs to be able to fit into the main story and be relevant, memoir or otherwise.

I think you have something good on your hands. Good luck. If nothing else writing about tragedies like this is cathartic.

I'm sorry for the tragedy you've endured.

I've read three autobiographies and one biography.

Auto:
Kingdom of Fear- Hunter S. Thompson
Have a Nice Day- Mick Foley
Education of a Wandering Man- Louis L'amour

The regular one was a biography of Johnny Cash. I can't remember the name.


In Kingdom of Fear and Have a Nice Day both of the authors chose to begin with a pivotal event in their lives. HST starts with an episode from his childhood which was basically the first time that he ever took on the government. Mick Foley started with how he lost his ear in a wrestling match while doing the hangman stunt.

It's been long enough that I don't remember how Louis L'amour's began. I think he started by talking about dropping out of school.

In the end, you can always rearrange scenes later.

it's all in the execution and you still seem to be in the planning area as opposed to execution.

Sounds like you've lived an interesting although slightly traumatic life...

The most exciting part of this for me is the criminal behaviour. The parts before are things that wouldn't be that interesting (in my twisted little mind, anyway) if you'd managed to deal with them without everything falling apart. So I'd not care that much about reading about them until I knew the character was intriguing enough to warrant my time and energy. Maybe starting with the malpractice makes more sense than trying to symbolically foreshadow the real meat of the story and possibly losing readers who don't care about abandoned children unless they go on to do something extraordinary?

But I think you're best off writing everything first and then trying to work out how to fit it all together as others have said. One thing I would say is that you don't want to focus too much on hooking the reader with something dramatic. Dramatic isn't necessarily interesting if the reader's not invested in the character. I think you'd lose some of the impact of the hospitalisation part if you started with it - I know I wouldn't care if I didn't already know the character. Something subtle can sometimes be much more powerful if you are brave enough to rely on the character being intriguing without the need for drama.

Good luck, though!