1. Use “I” and be the first person narrator. Get personal.
2. Tell your story in your own words. Use “comfortable” language.
3. Use your five senses to get up close to your story. Use detail.
4. Let people get to know your story through the voice of your main character, YOU!
5. Feel free to change names to protect the innocent and keep the peace.
6. Use dialogue. Try to remember what people said.
7. Create the world of your story by describing the place or setting.
8. Don’t avoid conflict. It energizes a story.
9. Limit each chapter to one specific incident. Don’t try to tell everything at once.
10. After you write, sit back and review your work. Select a theme.
11. Revise and edit to your heart’s content. Be patient. Nothing is written overnight except the Bridges of Madison County.
12. Don’t be afraid to tell the truth as you see it. Your version is just as valid as Aunt Edith’s.
13. Let yourself go, have fun and feel the story unfold.