• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • 20 Top Tips
  • About Marion
  • Online Classes
  • My System
  • Coaching & Editing
  • Books
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Contact
  • Home

Memoir coach and author Marion Roach

Welcome to The Memoir Project, the portal to your writing life.

All Nonfiction is an Argument. Even Memoir. Want to Mix it Up?

ALL MEMOIR NEEDS AN ARGUMENT. Want to argue about it? Just kidding, of course, though accepting that even all memoir needs an argument from which to build a structure is a topic that can get heated for some new writers? Why? Because most writers think that memoir is about them. They are wrong.  

Once a month, I teach a Master Class, in which seven people and I are engaged in the magnificent task of getting a first draft of their books finished within six months. We’re all about the argument in that class, since everyone must submit one, work from it and be ready for it to change as they write. The fact that memoir needs an argument, and the value of that argument, is one of the fundamentals of my online memoir teaching. And in every single one of those classes, we discuss that argument and how it works to hold up the books’ structures.

You might say I argue a lot. I don’t. Well, not really.

In pretty much any piece of nonfiction, no matter its length, your argument can be reduced to one sentence. Maybe that sentence is life is better if you garden. Or that life is really hard until you get a good cat to love. Is that snickering I hear? You’ll stop snickering when you remember how many copies Marley & Me sold worldwide. Subtitled “Life and love with the world’s worst dog,” the movie version alone broke all Christmas day records with a $14.75 million opening. The book is now a franchise. What was its argument? Something like dogs teach people something about themselves that people cannot learn on their own. Or even bad dogs make people better. Or, well, you try it.

And then let’s go back to that cat who is going to improve your life, specifically that sentence about that cat, and let’s break it down by each phrase: Life. Is hard. Really hard. Unless. You get. A good cat. To love.

Well, there are your seven chapters. Don’t believe me?

Life: Who you are. Is really hard: First show us hard, then show us really hard. One chapter each. Unless: This is where you show us that you are open to alternatives. You get: This is where you show us all the things you’ve tried in order to make your life better, like speed dating, dieting, drinking heavily, perhaps. A good cat: Maybe you’ve had bad cats or good cats. Tell us. To love: Show us living with that one good cat. Maybe there is a sad ending. Or a happy one. Or a sad one turned happy when the good cat dies and you have the courage to try again with a new cat.

Simple? Maybe. Too simple? I’ve heard that argument a bazillion times, to which I can only reply: You want this writing thing to be more difficult than it already is? Why?

So, here’s your new mantra: My memoir needs an argument. What is it?

Share this:

  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn

Related posts:

  1. When Writing Memoir, Who Are You Writing For?
  2. Class Notes: The Secret to Writing Memoir? Act Like Galileo in Walmart
  3. The Best of Best-of Lists for Memoir

GET THE QWERTY PODCAST

Qwerty Podcast logo

Subscribe free to the podcast

DON’T MISS an episode of Qwerty, the podcast for memoir writers. You can subscribe to all future editions on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or Stitcher, or anywhere podcasts are distributed.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. RobertJulianBraxton says

    January 31, 2012 at 11:32 am

    with you
    there can’t
    argue

    ‘conceptation’
    disputation
    deceptation
    contestation

  2. Lynne Wighton says

    January 31, 2012 at 12:15 pm

    OMG! I’ve written that story about my cat! and you are so write/right! Even a dissertation should be able to be summed up in one sentence.

  3. C.J. Barbre says

    February 2, 2012 at 6:05 pm

    Finally I have the key to describing my memoir in “25 words or less” as requested by the publisher I’m seeking. Thank you so much!

    • marion says

      February 12, 2012 at 12:32 pm

      Hi, C.J. I am delighted. Thank you for letting me know. Go get ’em. And let me know how it goes.

  4. Tart+Sweet says

    February 11, 2012 at 10:33 pm

    So simple, but so profound. Great stuff.

Primary Sidebar

GET THE QWERTY PODCAST

Qwerty Podcast logo

Subscribe free to the podcast

DON’T MISS an episode of Qwerty, the podcast for memoir writers. You can subscribe to all future editions on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or Stitcher, or anywhere podcasts are distributed.

Join the newsletter

Subscribe to get my latest content by email.

Success! Now check your email to confirm your subscription.

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

We won't send you spam. Unsubscribe at any time. Powered by Kit

SITEWIDE SEARCH

Books I recommend to learn to write memoir

Learning to write begins with reading. Click on any photo above and go to my Suggested Reading List. Then what? Put away the prompts and exercises. Stop practicing and learn to write with intent. How? Come join my Live Online Classes.

SEE MY WRITING SYSTEM

BUY MY HOW-TO MEMOIR WRITING BOOK

  • Amazon

TOPICS

POPULAR STORIES

  • How to Start a Writing Project? Write From a Point of Conflict, with Author Callan Wink
  • How to Write Memoir When You Don’t Have it All Figured Out, with Jess Gutierrez
  • Differing Versions of a Family Tale? No Problem.
  • What Tone Should Memoir Take? In Praise of Humility in Memoir
  • How Writers Figure Things Out, with Joan Wickersham

Footer

SITEWIDE SEARCH

JOIN ME ON INSTAGRAM

mroachsmith

I teach & coach memoir to inspire the writing life you want.
Author of 4 books. Work w/ me to write yours.
Tap link to connect.

No writer ever has it all “figured out”. Join No writer ever has it all “figured out”. Join @arkansaswrites and I as we discuss how to keep writing on the QWERTY podcast. Available on all major podcast platforms. 

#writingcommunity #memoirwriting #memoirauthor #memoircoach #booktok
Join Joan Wickersham and I as we discuss how to fi Join Joan Wickersham and I as we discuss how to figure things out as a writer on the QWERTY podcast. Available to listen on all major podcast platforms. 

#writingcommunity #memoirauthor #memoirwriting #writingmemoir #memoir
Happy Mother’s Day. Happy Mother’s Day.
Join @lailaswrites and I as we discuss how to beco Join @lailaswrites and I as we discuss how to become a freelance writer on the QWERTY podcast. Link in my bio to listen in. 

#writingcommunity #memoirauthor #memoirwriting #memoircoach #booktok #memoir
You’ve heard about the importance of the first l You’ve heard about the importance of the first line in a novel, but how about the first scene for memoir? Join @brookerandel and I on the QWERTY podcast as we discuss. 

#writingcommunity #memoirauthor #memoirwriting #writingmemoir #booktok
Join Julie Kabat and I on the podcast as we discus Join Julie Kabat and I on the podcast as we discuss how to write memoir using letters from family. Available now on all major podcast platforms. 

#writingcommunity #memoirauthor #memoirwriting #writingmemoir #booktok #memoir

Copyright © 2025 Marion Roach · contact