The Interview
The most exciting and fulfilling part of the memoir process is the interview. The introductory interview helps the Personal Historian focus on the narrator's story and perspective. In this introductory interview you can expect to speak to your biographical information and events that you wish to chronicle. Attention will be directed to familly history and culture, life lessons you wish to pass on, and other personal history as appropriate.
Subsequent meetings will generally follow an interview format to confirm information, fill in blanks, and capture your narrative.
The scope is determined between the narrator and Susan, usually during the second meeting. For some, the scope is the selected events during the narrator's entire life. Others, for example veterans, may want to capture a specific span of time. My father was a Marine during the invasion of Iwo Jima and has concentrated on those 52 days with a little attention to events immediately before and after.
These interviews are recorded. Your memoir is based on these interviews so your "voice" and manner of expression is captured to your satisfaction. The result is that those who read your memoir feel familiar with your cadence and way of expressing yourself.
