Let’s say that you want to write your entire life story, and you want to start with memories of your grandmother telling you about growing up in Andorra, moving to Paris, coming to this country where she met your grandfather on a cattle ranch in Wyoming. (And this is just your maternal grandmother.) You also want to include what your paternal grandparents told you about living in Vermont during the Depression, the biggest snowstorm that ever hit St. Johnsbury, and the history of that farm table handed down to you etc. And you’re not even up to your parents let alone the beginning of your own journey on this earth. There’s just so much material if you’re over the age of thirty and it compounds as the years fly by. The sheer weight of all this material can bog you down before you even begin. But some people don’t bog.
I just received an autobiography in the mail entitled One Lucky Lady, written by Jean Franks. She had the book privately printed, her grandson is credited with the typesetting, and her four sons and daughter supplied the blurbs on the back cover (“Now we’ll finally find out what happened to the dog.” – Bill Franks, son) It’s a wonderful achievement (250 pages!) and Jean’s organization of her book might be inspiring to anyone who’s thinking of writing their autobiography.
In her first chapter, she covers Family History (antiques and all), then she goes on to divide the book into chapters with the names of the states she lived in. There are also chapters called Travel, Jim (her husband), Working, and the last chapter is titled Reflections with subtitles: gender, power, money, legacy, joys of parenting, etc.
To Do: Students always ask me if I outline or what? I’m usually a believer in ‘or what’: jumping in and writing my way out, then seeing what I have to organize. But Jean’s chapter headings could be really helpful for those of you who get nervous about going off into chaos and who want to start with an outline of your autobiography or memoir. Outline your life into chapter headings. You could use Jean’s headings or make up your own. Choose one and write for five minutes. Keep going if you’re on a roll. If not, choose another heading and write for another five minutes. You don’t have to write your autobiography here, just get into periods of your life that might hold material to write about.
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