Whether you’re in need of some inspiration on your life writing journey or seeking out books to help guide you, the quotes below will give you a taste of the authors’ perspectives.
I’ve chosen an essential quote for each book—something I hope illuminates a central tenet of the writer’s philosophy or states some fundamental truth about writing memoir. Then, a single quote about the craft of writing personal narrative. And lastly, one I simply delighted in, perhaps because of the rhythm or the language or a fresh idea…
I’d love to hear some of YOUR favorite books, authors, or quotes in the comments!
From To Show and To Tell: The Craft of Literary Nonfiction by Phillip Lopate
Essential quote:
“I cling to the conviction that there is some organic thread to the things that happen to us, which lurks patiently in experience, hoping to be found out.”
Craft quote:
“Nonfiction writing thrives on daring, darting, subjective flights of thought. You must get in the habit of inviting, not censoring, the most far-fetched, mischievous notions, because even if they prove cockeyed, they may point to an element of truth that would otherwise be inaccessible.”
Simply delightful quote:
“The fact that I often forget what I had written in the journals made my finding a tasty morsel all the more pleasing years after.”
From Handling the Truth: On the Writing of Memoir by Beth Kephart
Essential quote:
“If all your memoir does is deliver story—no sediments, no tidewater, no ambiguity—readers have no reason to return. If you cannot embrace the messy tug of yourself, the inescapable contradictions, the ugly and the lovely, then you are not ready yet.”
Craft quote:
“Easy prompt for a stuck writing day: Choose a smell, and write it into your story…. There are smells out there that explain you. There are smells that take you home.”
Simply delightful quote:
“You have never seen my Venetian masks, and I have never cooked your grandmother’s red sauce. But if we both write most truly, we will enable each other’s compassion.”
From Your Life as Story by Tristine Rainer
Essential quote:
“Many people still assume that the autobiographic writer should have little choice when she begins to write about her life, that she is chained to circumstances, and it is her job simply to set down as accurately as possible everything that happened to her, ‘just as it really happened.’ The trouble with such an understanding is its reduction of the writer to a mere recorder.”
Craft quote:
“When you are reading a writer that you admire, mark the places where she or he is able to do something you don’t yet know how to do. Try to figure out, with writer friends if possible, why a certain passage or sentence or image works. Then try the technique yourself.”
Simply delightful quote:
“Stories are everywhere, and although you cannot touch them, you may see them like fireflies in your backyard; they fill the night with magic.”
From Writing about Your Life: A Journey into the Past by William Zinsser
Essential quote:
“One of the saddest sentences I know is “I wish I had asked my mother about that.’”
Craft quote:
“As for how to actually organize your memoir, my final advice is, again, think small. Tackle your life in easily manageable chunks. Don’t visualize the finished product, the grand edifice you have vowed to construct. That will only make you anxious.”
Simply delightful quote:
“Be ready to be surprised by the crazy, wonderful events that will come dancing out of your past when you stir the pot of memory. Embrace those long-lost visitors. If they shove aside some events you originally thought you wanted to write about, it’s because they have more vitality.”
From Yours Truly: An Obituary Writer’s Guide to Telling Your Story by James R. Hagerty
Essential quote:
“An obituary is a life story, full of sound and fury—plus a few laughs, with any luck, and a lesson or two, signifying something. Death is merely the pretext for telling that story.”
Craft quote:
“Without details, a story shrivels into oblivion.”
Simply delightful quote:
“To me, our frequent sins, follies, errors, and shortcomings are at least as interesting and instructive as our occasional virtues.”
Dawn Roode, a personal historian based in northern New Jersey, helps individuals, families, and family-run businesses preserve their legacies in bespoke coffee table books.
