Category: Blog
3 Essential Elements for Writing a Powerful Memoir
Discover the first three essential elements Carolyn V. Hamilton identifies for writing a powerful memoir: story, sensory description, and scene-building. Learn how incident incidents, vivid details, and well-structured scenes can transform personal memoires into compelling narrative. Part of Lorenzo Pablo Martinez’s Writing Craft series.
Important Parts of a Successful Memoir
Memoir is one of the most intimate forms of storytelling. It invites readers not only to witness what happened, but to feel what it meant. In The 5 Important Parts of a Successful Memoir, writing coach Carolyn V. Hamilton offers a blueprint that resonates deeply with the work many of us strive to do: turning […]
Characters in your prose
Writing Character in Memoir vs. Mystery Fiction When we sit down to write, the word character means very different things depending on whether we’re telling our own story or inventing someone else’s. Understanding that difference can sharpen our prose and deepen our reader’s connection. Characters in Memoir: Living People on the Page In memoir, your […]
Premise Vs. Theme
Premise vs. Theme: What’s the Difference—and Why It Matters Writers often use the words premise and theme interchangeably, but they serve very different purposes in storytelling. Understanding how they differ—and how they work together—can deepen your writing and give your story the focus it needs, whether you’re writing fiction or memoir. The Premise: What Happens […]
ENDNOTES
The issue of Endnotes recently came up in conversation with a memoirist, so I thought I’d address it here. To have them or not to have them? When most readers think of endnotes, they imagine heavy biographies, scholarly works, or history tomes where every statement must be documented and sourced. Endnotes reassure readers that the […]
Setting in Memoir and Mystery
As I mentioned when I described what constitutes a “scene,” whether it’s in a memoir or fiction work, there are other building blocks that go into telling a story. Today I’m going to talk about Setting More Than Just Background When I think about writing, whether memoir or mystery, setting is one of those elements […]
What experts say about “scene” in non-fiction and fiction
Definition of a Scene in Memoir Wendy Dale defines a scene as a piece of writing that occurs at a specific point in time—marked by a clear time anchor such as “one day,” “that Thursday at 3 p.m.,” or “four hours later.” It’s the part of the story where the reader actually lives through the moment […]
From Memoir to Mystery
From Memoir to Mystery When I wrote my memoir, Cuba, Adiós, I never imagined I’d end up writing a mystery novel. Memoir felt like my natural space—I was telling my own story, sharing my family’s history, and trying to make sense of the past. But stories have a way of leading us down new paths. […]
BACH AND THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP PART 2
My relationship with Yves starts to unravel on a Sunday morning while we sit on blankets in Central Park enjoying Brie on French baguettes and sharing a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon. The sun hangs on the sky like a ripe apricot, a perfect complement to our lunch but an incongruous backdrop to the news I’m […]
LORENZO PABLO MARTINEZ 