Memoir Writing: Telling the Emotional Truth

Question: Is it fair to guess at other character’s emotional truth? How can you really know what they were feeling if, lets say they are dead and you can’t ask them now?

Answer: The most important thing is to get to your own emotional truth. One mistake you do not want to make is to reveal all the truths about everyone else in your life without being transparent about yourself. The more you reveal your emotional truths, the more your reader can relate. It is in the secrets we keep, what we don’t want others to know about us that draws people in.

As far as making it up-you have to trust your intuition. If you ever feel you are writing something to get someone back or from a place of revenge, you want to question what you’re writing and why. It is a fine line we walk when telling a memoir because other people’s lives are woven with ours and you have to be careful to write with integrity.