Memoir

Simon Pearson looks back over the three years that he and his wife, Fiona Gorman, spent researching and writing the biography of the eminent heart surgeon Professor Sir Magdi Yacoub, which was published this week

At first glimpse, memoir and historical fiction may seem worlds apart. But many of the decisions historical novelists have to make to create a compelling narrative overlap with memoir more than you'd think-especially for writers of biographical historical fiction.

Literary agent Rachel Mills has called for mental health provision for authors of memoir, as well as mental health training for the publishers and agents who work with them. In a column for The Bookseller published today (Monday, 6th February), she argued that more should be done to support memoirists, who often delve into the darkest moments of their life by necessity.  Read more

Most of us write the first draft of our memoir chronologically, setting down what happened in order, or thematically, thinking of what happened and expanding from that time, place, or feeling. Both are terrific ways to generate a first draft.  Read more

It might seem that writers live pretty safe lives. Yes, there are some, mostly journalists, who immerse themselves in troubled and war-torn countries, and they can and do get hurt. But most of us who write sit at keyboards or notepads every day and create stuff - poems, plays, stories, essays-mostly from our heads.