One might easily assume that there is only one narrator for memoir, the author. But actually, there are several distinct voices that narrate memoir. There is the overarching authorial voice, the narrator that speaks directly to the reader. The author is almost always behind the scenes and is mostly recognized in the front and back matter of a book. The acknowledgments page and the author’s note for example are written only in the voice of the author.
Then you have the narrator that carries the memories. This narrator brings the reader into the moment, showing us play-by-play, the events of the past as they unfold. This narrator could be considered the main character. Depending on the subject matter of your memoir, your main character could be a middle-aged mother, a convict in prison, a homeless teenager, a cancer patient, a sexual abuse survivor, a world traveler, and so much more. I call this narrator, the Voice of the Past. The Voice of the Past represents the main character in your memoir.
And finally the last narrator is the Wise One. This narrator has been through all the experiences the reader is about to encounter in the book and has come out on the other side with the learning and wisdom of that experience. This narrator is the most trusted voice for the reader, and it is often established early on in the memoir.
The three narrators of memoir are:
Author (The Organizer)
Voice of the Past (What happened)
Wise One (What was learned from what happened)
The voice of the past narrator provides the camera lens through which the story is SHOWN. You’ve probably heard the writing adage “show don’t tell.” It is an instruction for this narrator. This narrator’s job is to carry around the camera and show the reader the events that have happened in the past. This narrator is limited to the role of the past and characterization of that role. It is in fact, the most limited of all the narrators even though it gets the most airtime. This narrator does some telling but it mostly relies on showing the reader the events that happen. The writing adage has since been adjusted to “show and tell” because both kinds of narrators are needed.
The Wise One is the commentator, the one who does most of the telling of the story. This narrator helps explain and guide the reader along so that what they are seeing is understood, that what they have been shown by the Voice of the Past, has the proper context. The Wise One helps the reader to make meaning of the events and gives purpose to even the most difficult experiences. This narrator connects directly with the reader and is the readers guide on the journey through the memoir.
The Author, though mostly silent, is in the background organizing the “showing” and “telling.” The author decides what to show and what to tell and arranges these in the proper order.
When working with your own memoir see if you can identify who is narrating the story. Sometimes we let the Voice of the Past do way too much telling when that is not that primary job of this narrator. The Voice of the Past needs to be our camera that shows the story. We need the Wise One to do more of the telling. I like to highlight different segments of a chapter or essay according to who is narrating that part of the story. This helps me see if I am succeeded in balancing the “show and tell” aspects of the story as well as deciding how to organize that information. I have found this tool to be effective especially during revisions. If a chapter or essay is not working well, I ask myself “who’s narrating?” And this almost always leads to the solution for the problem.
