Memoir & Non-Fiction Writing Coach

Alice takes her memoir and non-fiction cues from Mary Karr, Tobias Wolff, Truman Capote, and Jon Krakauer. Memoir is a “true” story, as opposed to a fictional one and it is also writing that provides storytelling techniques which have a distinct voice and style. While memoir should be true, it is more important that the writing be emotionally true because the writer needs to recreate experience for the reader. In this case, the writer may want to take some creative liberties so that characters may be condensed, dialogue invented or timelines can be compressed for the sake of the true story.

Memoir can be used to flesh things out for the writer and it can also serve as a reckoning, a hero’s journey. In this reckoning, the writer must take into account all of the good, bad and ugly events and circumstances in her life and have them make sense for the reader. One of the greatest challenges for the writer is for the writer to make her story universal and emotionally full. For instance, a writer knows she has succeeded if she writes about her own experiences at the hand of a bully or of her body issues and her words touch another person. She may also know she has succeeded if she feels uncomfortable, yet emboldened to keep going while writing her story.

Alice will help make your non-fiction book pop and eliminate passive voice, redundancy, and paragraphs that don’t move the story forward, but make sense to you. Alice has a strong business and marketing background so send your business books her way-she knows her investment and management/leadership strategies.

Poetry is not for the faint-hearted-you have to be vulnerable and smart with your language, but when you create a strong poem it will resonate with your audience forever. Alice will help you sharpen your language, style, meaning, and imaginative voice. She has been publishing her poetry for twenty years as well as teaching and editing it so she knows how to take you from good to great. Poetry should surprise, inspire, and even make your reader laugh! Poetry is Alice’s favorite genre and always will be

As an experienced, professional memoir coach, Alice Osborn provides you with real-world instruction that will get your memoir finished and published. Just as important, she is there for you for support to guide you through the tough times that every memoir writer encounters, particularly when writing about the tough and painful times of your life. Alice is particularly skilled at helping writers through this difficult part of the creative process.

If you are looking for assistance writing your memoir, Alice can be an invaluable resource. It’s also one of her favorite genres to teach!