Reboot Your Autobiography! You Need An Author’s Editor To Help You Write, Improve The Whole, And Get It Published...

Memoirs. First things first: I have just read 3 would-be chapters of someone’s autobiography –the author being a distinguished science-related top expert here in the Philippines and abroad. I, as an agriculturist (UP Los Baños 1965) and an Editor In Chief (mechanical self-taught, 1975-1985; digital self-taught, 1985 to now) – asked the author to reboot the manuscript, no name-calling, no. This happened only on a Facebook chat, but the author did not welcome the editorial brusqueness – so, no deal! So, who lost?

(“Autobiography” from shutterstock.com, “PC” from istockphoto.com)

The author is an expert in a crop that should actively be cultivated by the Philippine government and not simply allowed to get by, by itself. And, like that manuscript, that crop should be cultivated with much expertise and not simply allowed to grow “naturally.” To coin terms, what I was offering the would-be author was “organic editing” and not simply “chemical editing” – 2 terms I invented right now.

In organic editing, you consider crop and field; you look at branches, leaves & fruits; you dig roots: Do they all connect to each other naturally – is the growth luxuriant?

In chemical editing, you simply spray the chemicals called “English Grammar” and watch from which leaves the bad ones will fall.

Elsewhere, “Acquiring Editor” of a Canadian press Russell Smith says “There are three main types of memoir” (26 July 2022, “The Trouble With Memoirs.” Open Book, open-book.ca):

1.     Celebrity. Someone who is famous for something.

2.     Unusual subculture. Glamorous stories of (people) who did something wild.

3.     Trauma. “This is what most beginner writers are trying to write: a story of dealing with adverse circumstances.”

Now I can tell you that the 3 chapters I have read of that would-be published memoir deal with trauma as described in #3 – Double Trauma: Dealing with tragic personal life and dealing with tragic science.

“Now, many of these [trauma memoirs] do become best sellers. The successful ones tend to share one or two attributes. They are entertainingly written, for one. But they also usually go beyond the author’s personal story to offer some kind of lesson or moral or reflection on a societal problem.”

Some parts of those chapters I have read are poorly written. But the author would not listen to me, so, goodbye!

I am very interested in that memoir because the author has some solid experiences here and abroad about a societal problem – if I told you the nature of that, you will be able to guess the would-be author of that memoir.

In other words, there is crossover between the trauma memoir and self-help: they both aim to offer comfort, and I would argue their audiences are similar. So for your trauma memoir to resonate, it has to offer some kind of philosophizing that applies universally.

That’s what’s lacking in that candidate memoir I was talking about. But the author would not listen. S/He could not accept this truth: “While the Author is Always Write – the Editor is Always Right!”@517