TOW#25: Memoir vs Novel

When life takes an interesting turn, many people use their experiences to write a book, but the debate is should they write a completely true memoir or use the event as the base of a novel. Adair Lara wrote the article “10 Ways to Tell if Your Story Should be a Memoir of a Novel” in order to assist writers with their decision of which genre their life story should fulfill through successful examples and simplified list.

 The genre of a book is based off of the author’s personal preference; however, it is capable of success either way. In order to portray this message Lara provided specific examples of successful novels and memoirs that were written by authors who were unsure of which genre to choose. She used extremely well known examples such as To Kill a Mockingbird and The Liars’ Club in order to demonstrate the level of success that can be reached by either genre to encourage the audience to feel less pressure to choose the perfect genre.

Lara also provided a list of reasons why someone may question which genre to use in order allow the audience to personally connect to the article. The list is split into two separate sections, one categorized as fit for memoirs and one for novels (each with five bullet points).  This provides a simple way for the audience to identify with the article and easily categorize their story as either genre. The list effectively and easily assists the audience to accomplish Lara’s goal, help authors choose a genre or their story.

It is through the use of examples of success and simplified lists in order to effectively help authors choose a genre for their life events. By provided such a simple but encouraging form to her article, Lara was able to successfully achieve her purpose.

Article: http://www.writersdigest.com/whats-new/10-ways-to-tell-if-your-story-should-be-a-memoir-or-a-novel

Memoir vs Novel

URL:http://www.alanrinzler.com/blog/2013/07/01/ask-the-editor-memoir-or-novel-for-my-true-story/

TOW#24: A Story Lately Told

Anjelica Huston, who is the first half of the book lead a happy life in Ireland, was then moved to London for part two of A Story Lately Told. In Ireland she had mastered the art of hunting and horseback riding, but London was a much different story, it was where she struggled academically and began to feel great defeat. Her parents split up, which provoked this relocation; London was the city where she would live out some time with her mother and brother Tony as well as where her career in acting would begin. After her mother’s sudden death in a car accident she moved to New York where her career and internal development truly flourished. Through the Huston’s life events and resilience she demonstrated that success comes to those who overcome and aspire for better.

Born to a director, Huston seems to have been blessed with a privileged and perfect life. After reading this book one discovers just how far from perfect her life truly was. It is important for her to portray these struggles, including her parents’ separation and mother’s death, to demonstrate that her success was not caused by her father’s fame, rather her hard work, dedication and resilience. The transition to London was not easy due to the great transition in lifestyle, farm life to strict schooling, Huston admits that she was “miserable there” (113). Although she was unhappy she pushed through for the benefit of her family. But once that family fell apart following her mom’s death she moved to New York, without that family that was once so important to her showing the great effect her mother’s death had on her while illustrating her resilience to push forward.

This resilience shows that despite everything she is a force to be reckoned with, one that will rise above all to accomplish her dreams. Her purpose in writing this book is to encourage people to overcome issues, no matter how severe. She provided her story to inspire resilience. 

A Story Lately Told

IRB Intro #4: Overwhelmed

For this marking period I am going to be reading Overwhelmed: Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time by Brigid Schulte. I wanted to read something that was not specifically about any one person’s life and I already read a historical book so I decided to go for a topic more directly related to myself but still interesting. This book was written based on extensive research on stress and effective ways spending and enjoying the little free time one has in modern day society. As a student with plenty of stress and one that struggles with time management, this book will hopefully be able to give me some insight as to how I should use my time in the near future. I came across this book on goodreads.com in the popular adults section. Originally I was planning on reading a book about crime in general or a specific case because that is a great interest of mine, I will be majoring in forensic science; however, I figured that I would be reading plenty of those books in the future and it may be better to inform myself on something more useful to me right now, such as stress. Effective time management has never been my strength so I hope that this book will provide me with the tools I need to be successful. I am not exactly sure how the structure of the book will be or hoe the information will be presented, but all of the reviews I have read have been full of praise so I look forward to reading this book.