What length does a memoir have to be?
There are no required lengths. It can be a complete story of one’s life such as an autobiography and run into the hundreds of thousands of word, to a very short story, perhaps even a profile accounting of one’s life.
However, in general a full length book is generally considered to be around 100,000 words. A short novel is around 50,000 words and a novella around 16,000 to 20,000 words. It all depends on what the author wants to focus one.
In this post I will concentrate on the novella. This size is short and concise and can be used to tell a specific part of one’s life. A memoir can be about you as a person or someone else close to you. It can also be about two people’s life together. There are no rules if one wants these to be left to the author’s friends and relatives. It is the perfect way to pass on a legacy.
One does not have to be rich and famous to author their memoirs. What is needed is a story that must be told. As an example let us explore the guy who has been married for a long time to a woman that passes away. He now has many grandchildren and great grandchildren. And as all parents know there is a time when the children and grandchildren ask, “How did you meet mother, or perhaps grandmother, etc.” Each time the story is one told with fond memories of that special time. This is all that is needed to set the memoir into a story form best suited for a memoir in novella length.
Why not make a romance from a story in your past? It could be the best way to honor a spouse you walked through life with. There could be no better way to pass on values and morals to a future generation. It can also be a way to tell a hot romance that no one would suspect. Real names could be used or written as a novella where only those close to the story would ever know the facts were true.
By writing a novella rather than a full novel the time to write it is reduced to a workable project. Also the cost of hiring a ghostwriter is reduced to a sum that can be affordable by most people. If the project gains interest it can always be expanded or additional novellas added to complete one’s life works.
I work as a ghostwriter and always looking for an interesting story that must be told. The sooner the project is started the better as most of the information is stored in one’s memories. I also plan to have an e-book on how to write your own memoir soon. I hope everyone interested in this will follow this blog as I post tips on writing your memoirs while I finish the work on this how to book. And as always remember me if you know of anyone needing my Memoir Ghostwriting Services
Johnny Ray
Award Winning novelist
http://sirjohn.org/MemoirGhostWritingServices.htm
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