Your Life As Story Discovering the "New Autobiography" and Writing Memoir As Literature (Paperback)

From the Publisher: In Your Life As Story, autobiography expert Tristine Rainer explains how we can all find the important messages in our lives. Like Mary Karr or Frank McCourt, we can shape those stories into dramatic narratives that are compelling to others. Blending literary scholarship with practical coaching, Rainer shares her remarkable techniques for finding the essentials of story structure within your life's scattered experiences. Most important, she explains how to treasure the struggles in your past and discover the meaning within those experiences to capture the unique myth at work in your life.The definitive guide to writing the story only you can tell, from the author of The New Diary (more than 75,000 copies sold). In Your Life As Story, autobiography expert Tristine Rainer explains how we can all find the important messages in our lives. Like Mary Karr or Frank McCourt, we can shape those stories into dramatic narratives that are compelling to others. Blending literary scholarship with practical coaching, Rainer shares her remarkable techniques for finding the essentials of story structure within your life's scattered experiences. Most important, she explains how to treasure the struggles in your past and discover the meaning within those experiences to capture the unique myth at work in your life.Provides practical coaching on writing long or short autobiographical narratives, including a history of autobiography and examples from such writers as Maya Angelou, Maxine Hong Kingston, and Russell Baker