Publishing a three part memoir/autobiography
Asked by Charlotte Ingle on June 17, 2020
The three parts of my book are: ancestral stories/my story/my children. I would like to publish a limited number of this book for my family. Then I want to publish my story, as a memoir. What do you think? How can I publish this? And please tell me what you think of these beginnings.
Beginning of Ancestral: Monroe County, Mississippi, 1820s. Far back in my ancestral past, my great-great-grandfather, Charles Austin Corbell, took Nancy Crenshaw as his wife. Married at age fifteen, Nancy gave birth to a baby boy while still in her tender years.
My story: Center, Texas, 1950 Lovetta leaned on P.C., as she climbed, with his help, into the old blue pickup. She closed her eyes and images of four little graves in a row taunted her. Please, Lord, let this one live!
Children: Nacogdoches, Texas, January, 1975
Dear Baby,
Larry and I have been married three and a half yearning years, and he has finally agreed to have a baby. My heart yearns for you. I hope you will be a daughter.
Jerry's Answer
Charlotte: The book for your family sounds like a worthy effort. I do feel, however, that you are explaining something from the get-go that is obvious, and it's this: If you label someone as your great-great-grandfather, you don't have to begin "Far back in my ancestral past..." When else would it have been? :)
In your story you say "Lovetta leaned on P.C." AND that she climbed into the old pickup "with his help." Again, you don't have to say both.
Otherwise the openings of all three can work and be compelling, The secret to a memoir is reader-benefit. So be sure the underlying theme is who you were vs. who you became and that the reader can learn and grow and change too, regardless their challenges.
All the best with it.