I’ve discussed in the past how to get out of a rut when writer’s block is keeping you down or how to get writing when you’re not sure how to get started—the answer is disappointing. Just keep writing. But what about when you’re just not sure what to write about? Maybe you’ve mapped out the most critical scenes, but they’re just not connecting to form a larger narrative, or you know there is more to write, but you cannot remember all of the important details to include.
I am primarily a memoir writer, so most of my strategies come from that perspective. However, I imagine some of these suggestions could be translated to finding inspiration for poetry or fiction. Memoir is one of the most challenging formats to write because it can force you to recall some of the most difficult memories in your life but also opens you to criticism of your story when it couldn’t be more personal. Be careful when you mine for inspiration that you don’t trigger negative emotions that could prevent you from writing or simply functioning in your everyday life.
The first strategy I would recommend, before anything else, is to take a look at your book’s structure. Do you have a table of contents or a basic outline, or are you more of a pantser? Admittedly, I have always been more of a pantser myself and my momentum will inevitably run me right into a wall. You have to know, at minimum, your memoir’s central objective, what problem you are facing, how you will be transformed by the end, and the journey it took to get there. Basic stuff, right? It would seem so, but spelling this out makes it so much easier to keep yourself knowing exactly what you need to write about next.
As I said, I am still working on structure in my own writing and have learned how to coach structure from people who have already explained it far better than I can. Jennie Nash, founder of Author Accelerator (where I am earning my book coaching certification) just released Blueprint for a Memoir. I would also recommend looking into the wisdom of Mary Karr, Beth Kephardt, and Marion Roach Smith.
What else do I do to get inspired? I have a tendency to hold on to everything, so every once in a while, I open up one of the boxes in storage and pull out my old diaries from growing up. Between the “very important” discussions of which boys I was crushing on, I can find some memories of playing (but usually fighting) with my brothers, being stuck in my room for “talking back,” or my real-time reactions to historical events like 9/11. Even if I don’t find any usable memories for the story I was trying to tell, it still helps to get a little glimpse back in time to your younger voice, in the event you need to write from that perspective in your work.
Sometimes just looking at some old photographs can spark a memory in you. Maybe they’re in a box in the attic or a photo album at a relative’s house. With social media constantly reminding us of what we were doing ten years ago, that can sometimes bring back events we forgot ever happened.
If you’re close to the people in your life involved in some of the stories you’re writing, ask them what they remember about a person or event. I would caution you to write everything you remember first, otherwise you may get confused as to who remembered what. Your memoir is always your story first.
These probably all seem like obvious suggestions, but sometimes when we’re feeling uninspired, we can easily lose sight of the obvious and succumb to the allure of the internet before opening our cringey old writings or embarrassing photo albums. You can also just try getting out somewhere you’ve never been before (or haven’t been in a while), be it a restaurant, shop, café, museum, etc. You never know when a particular smell, song, or taste may remind you of something you’ve long since forgotten.
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Featured photo by Thiago José Amaral.
Hanna Etu 