Memoirs are personal recollections and based on someone's memories. While the essense of the story comes from within the writer, research can be used to clarify facts and details, enhance and embellish the story, and to assist the writer in being as creative as possible.
Checking Your Facts
Depending on how recent the event or experience was, not everyone’s memory is 100% perfect, so it’s always good writer's practice to check your facts and information. Readers very quickly loose confidence in a story if they find incorrect details (no matter how small or insignificant). Even if you are certain, it doesn't hurt to check! Information like dates, when wrong, can greatly harm the credibility of the writer in the eyes of the reader.
Remember, as a memoir your readers are expecting the truth, so if your story contains a factual error, they may also begin to cast doubts on other aspects of your story.
Gather Details on Your Personal History
Specific details can enhance your story and provide your reader with more information. Your memoir doesn’t have to rely purely on your memory. It’s fine to gather facts and information to support your main story. Providing relevant details may be useful to the reader and help engage them.
Helps You Remember
Our brains can only remember so much, and while you might recall the main aspects of your personal story, it can be easy to forget the details. Sometimes research can help us remember things we’ve forgotten. It can take us back in time and perhaps even re-live some of the experience. If you can recall how you felt even better. Such emotions and feelings captured in your memoir go to enhancing your overall story. Looking at old photographs, films, reading old journals and newspapers, and talking about past events with others can be a good way to re-live an experience.
The Perspective of Others
It’s possible that your memoir will include other people. You may want to clarify details with them and they may be able to also provide you with extra information. Gaining the perspective of others could be further material to enhance your story. Hearing how others experienced the same event may trigger some lost memories.
Types of Research
Research can be many things: It can be investigating written material such as books, journals and newspapers. It can be talking to people and hearing their recollections. It can be looking at photographs or old films. Even scents can bring back memories. Don’t limit your research! You might be surprised what you remember.
The Art of Writing
There is more to memoir writing then simply sitting down and letting your story come out. This is definitely one way of recalling your story, but generally the best memoirs are well planned and considered. Some research in how to best approach writing your memoir can help the final quality of your story. A wide range of writing courses dedicated to memoirs can be found by typing memoir writing courses into a search engine.
As a memoir is about a personal recollection, the core element of the story is going to come from within the writer. However, research can definitely help enhance the story and ensure that the information presented is credible. Research is also helpful for the writer to improve his or her memory and hopefully recall more detail to embellish the work.
See also Tips for Improving Memoir Writing and Making Your Memoirs Real
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