Guest Bloggers

Belinda Pollard: Personal Stories Enhance Your Writing

Inspiration from Belinda Pollard on how to use memoir writing in any of your writing. Excerpt from “Putting Your Self Into Your Writing, Exercise 1,” by Belinda: Memoir is a popular genre these days, as people tell their personal stories and inspire others to overcome obstacles, cope with life, or laugh at someone’s funny antics. But personal stories go much further than memoir. They are great additions to many types of non-fiction, especially self-help. They are wonderful in travel narratives. How-to can also become more engaging and effective if you tell about your own ups and downs as you learned a particular skill. And your fiction writing can improve as you learn to tell your personal stories well. I’ve edited biographies and memoirs, and other types of books that use personal story. One of the elements that work really well is when the author finds a way to give readers…