Vivian Gornick in her book about writing memoir quotes V.S. Pritchett who said that memoir is all about the art, you get no credit just for having lived the story. In other words, when it comes to writing about your experience it’s the telling that’s important, how you put the words together, ahead of the actual story itself.

Gornick herself says: “The truth in a memoir is achieved not through a recital of factual events but when the reader can believe that the writer is working hard to engage with the experience.” It’s not what happened that is as relevant as what the writer is able to make of what happened.

I like Gornick’s work because I think she does this so well. Her life story is made especially interesting by her skill in being able to put words together so well.