Hey, Book Writer – Make Your Memoir Reader-Friendly

"Chiwah took what I'd written and massaged it and turned it into a book that makes me look like a great writer."

Those heartwarming words came from Scott Miller, a Viet Nam veteran who had a great story to tell. Scott doesn't think of himself as a writer, but he's a heck of a storyteller. His book, The Incarcerated Kid with the Lacerated Head, stands as evidence to that fact.

Scott came to me with a manuscript of a memoir chock-full of wonderfully entertaining stories from his childhood and young adult years. He didn't need a copy writer or a ghost writer – he'd already written the book. His grammar was awful, his spelling atrocious. I didn't care – I was too busy laughing as he took me back to my own childhood, hiding behind the couch, playing with matches... reveling in the adventures and misadventures of growing up in America in the '50s.

Now, any book publicist will tell you that unless you're rich and famous, nobody is going to be interested in your memoir. And that's true. Does that mean you can't succeed by writing a story culled from your own life experiences? By no means! You can do what Scott did: Turn your memoir into a story that takes your readers back to relive the joys and tender moments of their own lives.

The power of any book is in how if affects the reader. The reason we say memoirs don't sell is that they tend to be all about you, and nobody even knows who you are, or cares. So when you write your story, step out and become the storyteller.

It's fine to see yourself as one of the characters, the one called "I," from whose perspective we hear the tale. But don't make the story about you. Remember, your reader doesn't care about you. Your reader cares about the story, and it's the characters that create the adventures that bring a story to life. So take an objective look at every person you write about, including yourself. Think about what makes these people tick, and write that into the story, as Scott did.

So what if your grammar and spelling are a mess? That's what editors were made for. If you bring me a well told story, I'll turn it into good writing. The key is in the depth of your insight into yourself and the characters who lived the story with you.