Synopses & Reviews
Breathe Life into Your Life Story is an essential read for anyone who aspires to write a life story—but not just any story, one your family and others will actually WANT to read.
Written for both novices and experienced writers, this book presents techniques used by novelists to immerse readers into their fictional world—techniques like “showing” rather than just “telling”; creating interesting, believable characters and settings; writing at the gut level; alternating scene and narrative; beginning with a bang; generating tension, and more.
Excerpts from memoirs written by such pros as Maya Angelou, Frank McCourt, Russell Baker, and many others illustrate how best-selling authors have used these methods to hook their readers. Dozens of “Learn by Doing” exercises help readers practice and acquire the skills necessary to breathe life into their own stories.
Synopsis
Not everyone is a movie star or has parents who spied for the French Resistance. But everyone can learn to create a memorable life story. Take, for instance, this example from a popular memoir: With a high gloss on his city shoes, in his crisp white barber's smock, Uncle Lewis cracked with the railroad men as he presided in front of a long wall of mirrors lined with pomades, tonics, and scents. By using interesting details, the author has painted a vivid picture with words that sparkle. How does one move beyond names and dates to tell a story that keeps readers hooked to the final pages? How much literary license can one take? These are the questions addressed by the Thurstons, with examples from famous authors and through their own entertaining and informative prose. This is an invaluable guide for both beginners and experienced writers, showing how to preserve memories and bring them to life for future generations.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. [141]-151).
About the Author
Dawn Thurston, a graduate of UCLA, teaches writing at Santiago Canyon College in Orange, California.Morris Thurston, a graduate of BYU and Harvard Law School, is a retired senior partner in the law firm of Latham & Watkins. He is currently a volume editor for the Joseph Smith Papers Project and an adjunct professor at BYU Law School. His biography of a great-great-grandfather, Tora Thurston: The History of a Norwegian Pioneer, won the Dallas Genealogical Society’s biography award.