1. World Literature: Mr. Lancto
How To Start A Memoir
World Literature: Mr. Lancto

2. So What Makes A Good Intro?
Elicit a powerful emotion that makes the reader wonder “what’s next”
Begin with the “tragedy” and then work backward
Shock the reader
Interesting fact or experience
Important dialogue that thrust the reader into your story
Create a mystery that the reader wants to figure out

3. “Here they come and I’m not ready, how could I be, I’m a new teacher and learning on the job.”
Frank McCourt Teacher Man

4. “I have an engineering problem
“I have an engineering problem. While for the most part I’m in terrific physical shape, I have ten tumors in my liver and I have only a few months left to live.”
Randy Pausch The Last Lecture

5. “I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of I remember the precise moment, crouching behind a crumbling mud wall, peeking into the alley near the frozen creek. That was a long time ago, but it's wrong what they say about the past, I've learned, about how you can bury it. Because the past claws its way out. Looking back now, I realize I have been peeking into that deserted alley for the last twenty-six years.”
Khaled Hosseini The Kite Runner

6. “I was eight years old and well into the third grade at Riker Hill Elementary School when I fell head over heels in love with myself. What can only be described as the “cornerstone of my youth” came unexpectedly out of left field and washed over me like a Category 5 cyclone. Not enough to drown me completely, but enough for me to lose my footing and knock me on my supple eight-year-old a**.”
Chelsea Handler Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang

7. “We called her our sister from another mister.”

8. Making Dialogue Believable
Could this be a conversation you would hear in the halls/on the phone/in everyday life?
Vary the way you explain who is talking
No good = He said, He explained, she stated, etc.
Good = She softly whispered behind my back
Do not need to remind the reader who is talking if it is an ongoing conversation
Bring out the VOICE of the person speaking
NO CLICHES !!

9. “What about the car?” asked Heather
“I don’t know what to do,” responded Sinead
Heather was looking frustrated, “Well do something please!”
“I am sorry Heather, please forgive me,” apologized Sinead.

10. As the car crawled to its death, Heather glared at Sinead, “what about the car?” There was a pause. The two girl sat wondering how they had got to this point.
“I don’t. I don’t know what to do,” Sinead barely got out through her spastic tears. The smoke was slithering into the front seat as if triggering Heather’s angst.
“Do something!”
“I…I’m sorry, please don’t hate me.”