本清单来自美国回忆录作者Lisa Ellison (www.lisacooperellison.com)在弗吉尼亚作家俱乐部2018研讨会（The Virginia Writers Club 2018 Symposium）上所做工作坊的handout，感觉挺不错的，所以逐条翻译了一遍，对memoir writing感兴趣的朋友可以看看。
Lisa Ellison's Memoir Checklist
1. Learn about self-care. The memoirist's journey is not for the faint of heart.
学会自我照顾。回忆录写作者的旅程不是为意志薄弱者准备的。
2. Find a writing buddy who can share the journey. It will lighten the load.
找一个写作伙伴，互相分享你们的历程。这样会减轻你的负担。
3. Set an intention for your project that has nothing to do with publishing. In this way, your project is guaranteed to be successful.
为自己设定一个和发表没有任何关系的目标，这样的话，你的写作项目保证可以成功。
4. Write about what keeps you up at night, or in other words, write to your edge. But don't spend all your time rooting around in your darkness.
什么让你夜不能寐，你就来写它。换句话说，写你擅长的。但不要把时间都花在翻来覆去写自己的阴暗面。
5. Create a timeline of important events. Write about them in the order they bubble up in your memory. This may not be chronological.
自制一个重要事件时间表。根据他们在你大脑中出现的顺序写下来，可以不按时间顺序。
6. Practice self-care.
练习自我照顾。
7. Write like you're an orphan, at least through the first few drafts -- Anne Hood
像孤儿一样去写作，至少在最初几稿是这样。——安妮·胡德
8. Learn to write engaging scenes.
学着去写一些引人入胜的场景。
9. Keep asking yourself what's underneath those scenes. In other words, what's the truer and truest version of your story? --Elyssa East
不断地问自己，这些场景下面还有什么。换言之，你自己故事的那个更真实，最真实的版本是怎样的？——爱丽莎·伊斯特
10. Do something other than work on your memoir.
除了写回忆录，做些其他事情。
11. Practice artist's dates as described in Julia Cameron's book The Artist's Way.
学习艺术家安排日期的方式，就像朱莉娅·卡梅伦在《艺术家的方式》中描述的那样。
12. Read voraciously across all genres.
贪婪地阅读各个文体的作品。
13. Keep your heart open. Seek out a love that's bigger than you can imagine. Give it to the most wounded part of yourself then give it to every character.
敞开心扉。寻找一比你想象的还大的爱。把这份爱带到你自己最受伤的部分，然后把这份爱带给故事里每一个人物。
14. The subtitle of every memoir is how I coped -- Debra Gwartney. In other words, events don't happen in a vacuum. Think about how you and other characters coped with the circumstances in your story. When you've written several drafts, write the most difficult chapters from another character's point of view and see what you learn about yourself and everyone involved in the situation.
每一个回忆录的副标题都是：我是如何处理的。——黛布拉·格沃特尼。换句话说，事件不会在真空中发生。思考一下你和其他人物在故事里是如何面对周围环境的。当你已经写了几稿的时候，换个人物视角来写最难的那一章，看看你对自己以及在处境当中的每个人都会有哪些认识。
15. Life is chaotic and random, but a memoir is an ordered story. Every event in your memoir must lead inevitably to the next and create a magnetic river reader will float down. --Dinty Moore
生活是杂乱无序的，但回忆录是有序的故事。回忆录中的每个事件都必定引发下一个事件，并制造出一个有磁性的河流，读者会一直跟着漂流下去。——迪蒂·摩尔
16. There are many ways to write a memoir, but in the end one thing must always happen: the narrator grows.
写回忆录有很多的方式，不过到头来有一件事是肯定的：叙述者成长了。
17. Unlike biography, a memoir is about a slice of life. All items must serve this specific story. In the drafting process, you may need to write other stories to understand the ones that belong in your book.
和传记不一样，回忆录是生活的片段。所有的事物都必须为这个特定的故事服务。在起草的过程中，你可能需要写一些其他的故事来理解那些属于你这本书的故事。
18. In the beginning, you are telling yourself the story of your life. Eventually, you are telling the story to the reader. Consider what he or she must know. Delete the rest.
一开始的时候，你是和你讲自己的故事。最终，你是在向读者讲你的故事。考虑一下他/她必须知道什么，把剩下的删掉。
19. A good memoir is about more than your life. Consider how your story connects with the world at large.
一个好的回忆录的内容远大于你的生活。思考一下你的故事如何与整个世界进行关联。
20. The published version of your memoir should confide in the reader, not confess your sins -- Meghan Daum.
你回忆录的发表版本应该是向读者倾诉你的心声，而不是坦白你的罪过。——梅根·道姆
------------
Memoir writing我还没有写过，但它对我有一种特殊的吸引力，非常希望在不远的将来可以写出自己的回忆录。
网友评论