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The Autobiographer's Handbook: The 826 National Guide to Writing Your Memoir | 
 enlarge | Author: Jennifer Traig
Publisher: Holt Paperbacks
Category: Book
List Price: $15.00
Buy New: $5.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 104902
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1st
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.8
ISBN: 0805087133
Dewey Decimal Number: 808.06692
EAN: 9780805087130
ASIN: 0805087133
Publication Date: September 2, 2008
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Product Description
At last—the contemporary masters of memoir have come together to reveal their strategies and impart their advice. This book contains an unprecedented wealth of knowledge in one place. In The Autobiographers Handbook, you’re invited to a roundtable discussion with today’s most successful memoirists. Let Nick Hornby show you how the banal can be brilliant. Elizabeth Gilbert will teach you to turn pain into prose. Want to beat procrastination? Steve Almond has the answer. Learn about memory triggers (Ishmael Beah: music) and warm-up exercises (Jonathan Ames: internet backgammon). These writers may not always agree (on research: Tobias Wolff, yes, Frank McCourt, no) but whether you’re a blossoming writer or a veteran wordsmith, this book will help anyone who has ever dreamed of putting their story on paper, on writing themselves into existence. Featuring: STEVE ALMOND • JONATHAN AMES • ISHMAEL BEAH • ELIZABETH GILBERT • NICK HORNBY • A. J. JACOBS • MAXINE HONG KINGSTON • PHILLIP LOPATE • FRANK MCCOURT • DAVID RAKOFF • ESMERALDA SANTIAGO • JULIA SCHEERES • ART SPIEGELMAN • ANTHONY SWOFFORD • SARAH VOWELL • SEAN WILSEY • TOBIAS WOLFF • AND MANY MORE
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| Customer Reviews:
A must for someone who wants the world to read their story November 14, 2008
It has been said that everyone has one good book in them. "The Autobiographer's Handbook: The 826 National Guide to Writing Your Memoir" is a collection of tips and advice from masterful writers on putting down one's life story onto paper, and in a format that would be appealing to read for your audiences. A basic writing course with a focus on memoirs, "The Autobiographer's Handbook" is a must for someone who wants the world to read their story.
"I write myself into existence." September 2, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is a particularly focused book, a perfect addition to a writer's library, unique in structure and intent, not limited to one author's perspective, but a collaboration, useful, specific suggestions for the writing process. Staring at a blank sheet of paper, or more likely, a blank computer screen, anyone writing a memoir is faced with daunting decisions: where to start, what to include, appropriate editing, the direction of the narrative. Concept is critical and the concept behind this guide is specific. Co-founded by Dave Eggers, "826 National" is a non-profit, tutoring, writing and publishing organization that encourages one-on-one attention to developing writing skills. "826" provides a network of volunteers for tutoring sessions, workshops and related programs for adults and children.
This handbook condenses the goals of the organization, arranged by subject: "Meeting Your Muse"; "You vs. Page One"; "Writing Through Pain"; and "Getting It Out There", fourteen chapters in a round table format, including a bonus chapter, "From the Mind, to the Internet, to the Book, to You." Some of the authors participating in this effort to "write oneself into existence", discussions of the memoir by those who do it best, include Jonathan Ames, Paul Collins, Stephen Elliott, Nick Flynn, Elizabeth Gilbert, Maxine Hong Kingston, Frank McCourt, Anthony Swofford and Tobias Wolff. The chapters address common problems, from inspiration to polished voice, assorted viewpoints offering perspectives and insights from every aspect of life. There is also a section on recommended reading, the history of the memoir and "history's strangest memoirs". (Exercises to complement the specific chapters are available online.)
Today there is unprecedented interest in translating personal experience into a finished memoir, a unique personal way to share life problems and solutions, the convoluted journeys from challenging situations to survival, the writer often the wiser for the experience. Not limited to one perspective, these voices represent a wide variety of experiences, giving birth to the personal narratives we share, sometimes harrowing, sometimes humorous diaries of the human condition. As a resource, this handbook is an important addition to a writer's working reference library, as a source of inspiration, it is invaluable. Luan Gaines/ 2008.
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