“This memoir by the celebrity chef behind New York’s Baohaus inspired the ABC show of the same name—but the book. It’s like talking to a good friend over coffeewho has a really wild. Beginning by making the readers wonder hooks them, hard. “I was sitting in a taxi, wondering if I had overdressed for the evening, when I looked out the window and saw Mom. “You have to go to the. Listopia Memoir Book Lists. Best Woman-Authored Books. 7,129 books — 5,693 voters Best Memoir / Biography / Autobiography. 5,080 books — 5,636 voters Must Read Non-Fiction. 3,251 books — 3,354 voters Best History Books. 3,036 books — 3,339 voters Best Feminist Books. 2,239 books — 3,313 voters.
You’re writing a memoir. But you’re not sure what questions or life lessons you want to focus on.
Even if only family members and friends will read the finished book, you want to make it worth their time.
This isn’t just a whimsical collection of anecdotes from your life.
You want to convey something to your readers that will stay with them.
And maybe you want your memoir’s impact to serve as your legacy — a testament to how you made a small (or large) difference.
The collection of memoir questions in this post can help you create a legacy worth sharing.
So, if you don’t already have enough ideas for a memoir, read on.
63 Memoir Writing Prompts
Use the following questions as memoir writing exercises. Choose those that immediately evoke memories that have stayed with you over the years.
Group them by theme — family, career, beliefs, etc. — and address at least one question a day.
For each question, write freely for around 300 to 400 words. You can always edit later to tighten it up or add more content.
1. What is your earliest memory?
2. What have your parents told you about your birth that was unusual?
3. How well did you get along with your siblings, if you have any?
4. Which parent were you closest to growing up and why?
5. What parent or parental figure had the biggest influence on you growing up?
6. What is your happiest childhood memory?
7. What is your saddest or most painful childhood memory?
8. Did you have good parents? How did they show their love for you?
9. What words of theirs from your childhood do you remember most, and why?
10. What do you remember most about your parents’ relationship?
11. Netflix app for macbook air free download. Were your parents together, or did they live apart? Did they get along?
12. How has your relationship with your parents affected your own love relationships?
13. Who or what did you want to be when you grew up?
14. What shows or movies influenced you most during your childhood?
15. What were your favorite books to read, and how did they influence you?
16. If you grew up in a religious household, how did you see “God”?
17. How did you think “God” saw you? Who influenced those beliefs?
18. Describe your spiritual journey from adolescence to the present?
19. Who was your first best friend? How did you become friends?
20. Who was your favorite teacher in elementary school, and why?
21. Did you fit in with any social group or clique in school? Describe your social life?
22. What were your biggest learning challenges in school (academic or social)?
23. Who was your first crush, and what drew you to them? How long did it last?
24. What was your favorite subject in school, and what did you love about it?
25. What do you wish you would have learned more about growing up?
26. What did you learn about yourself in high school? What was your biggest mistake?
27. What seemed normal to you growing up that now strikes you as messed up?
28. How old were you when you first moved away from home?
29. Who gave you your first kiss? And what do you remember most about it?
30. Who was your first love? What do you remember most about them?
31. Can you download powerpoint on a mac. Was there ever a time in your life when you realized you weren’t straight?
32. Describe a memorable argument you had with one of your parents? How did it end?
33. Have you lost a parent? How did it happen, and how did their death affect you?
34. What was your first real job? What do you remember most about it?
35. How did you spend the money you earned with that job?
36. At what moment in your life did you feel most loved?
37. At what moment in your life did you feel most alone?
38. What do you remember most about your high school graduation? Did it matter?
39. What’s something you’ve done that you never thought you would do?
40. What has been the greatest challenge of your life up to this point?
41. What did you learn in college that has had a powerful influence on you?
42. How has your family’s financial situation growing up influenced you?
43. How has someone’s harsh criticism of you led you to an important realization?
44. Do you consider yourself a “good person”? Why or why not?
45. Who was the first person who considered you worth standing up for?
46. If you have children, whom did you trust with them when they were babies?
47. Did you have pets growing up? Did you feel close or attached to any of them?
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48. Describe someone from your past whom you’d love to see again.
49. Do you have a lost love? If yes, describe them, how you met, and how you lost them.
50. Describe a moment when you made a fool of yourself and what it cost you.
51. What is something you learned later in life that you wish you’d learned as a child?
52. How do you want others to see you? What words come to mind?
53. What do you still believe now that you believed even as a child or as a teenager?
54. What do you no longer believe that you did believe as a child or teenager?
55. When have you alienated people by being vocal about your beliefs?
56. Are you as vocal about your beliefs as you were when you were a young adult?
57. Are you haunted by the consequences of beliefs you’ve since abandoned?
58. How have your political beliefs changed since you were a teenager?
59. Have you ever joined a protest for a cause you believe in? Would you still?
60. How has technology shaped your life for the past 10 years?
61.Has your chosen career made you happy — or cost you and your family too much?
62. What comes to mind if someone asks you what you’re good at? Why does it matter?
63. How is your family unique? What makes you proudest when you think about them?
Download gotomeeting desktop app mac. How will you use these memoir writing prompts?
These memoir topics should get ideas flooding into your mind. All you have to do, then, is let them out onto the page. The more you write, the easier it will be to choose the primary focus for your memoir. And the more fun you’ll have writing it.
That’s not to say it’ll be easy to create a powerful memoir. It won’t be. But the more clarity you have about its overall mission, the more easily the words will flow.
Good Memoir Hooks
Enjoy these memoir writing exercises. And apply the same clarity of focus during the editing process. Your readers will thank you.