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Memoir outline template

A memoir outline tells one stretch of a life as a story, not a record. It opens on a scene, gives only the background the story needs, turns on one event, and closes on a second scene that answers the first. Nine chapters carry it from before to after.

A baker lifts a golden loaf from the oven during a quiet night shift.

When to use it

  • You are writing about one period or one change, not a whole life.
  • Your draft reads like a diary. The turning point gives it a before and after.
  • You want the reflection saved for the end, where it has been earned.

The 9 chapters at 75,000 words

The marks assume 75,000 words, because memoirs usually run 60,000 to 90,000 words. Each chapter starts at an even share of the whole; yours will run longer or shorter. The story structure calculator works them out for any length.

  1. Opening Scene 0% · word 0 A moment, not a summary. Put the reader in the room.
  2. Background 11% · word 8,500 Where you came from, only as much as the story needs.
  3. The Turning Point 22% · word 16,500 The thing that divides the life into before and after.
  4. Rising Difficulty 33% · word 25,000 What it cost, as it went on costing.
  5. The Crisis 44% · word 33,500 The worst of it, told plainly.
  6. The Reckoning 56% · word 41,500 The moment you saw it for what it was.
  7. What Changed 67% · word 50,000 What you did differently, and what it took.
  8. Reflection 78% · word 58,500 What you understand now that you could not then.
  9. Closing Scene 89% · word 66,500 Another moment. Let it answer the first one.

A worked example

Twenty years as a night-shift baker, and the year the bakery closed.

  1. Opening Scene. The last loaf out of the oven on the last night, and the owner crying into the flour bin.
  2. Background. How a failed engineering student ended up kneading at 2 a.m.
  3. The Turning Point. The landlord's letter, and the date on it.
  4. Rising Difficulty. Looking for work at forty-eight with no daytime references.
  5. The Crisis. The morning I found myself at the bakery door with my key, out of habit.
  6. The Reckoning. I had been hiding in the night because nobody asked anything of me there.
  7. What Changed. I took a day job teaching bread to teenagers, and it was worse, then better.
  8. Reflection. What the dark hours gave me, and what they cost my family.
  9. Closing Scene. A student's first loaf, at noon, in full daylight.

Open this template in Tabularia

Tabularia opens a new Book on the Memoir shape: its acts and a chapter for each section, named for it, with each note pinned beside the chapter it belongs to. The book's word goal is set to 75,000 words. You name the Book before anything is created.

Open in Tabularia

Or take it away

The Word file has every chapter with its note and mark, a line under each for your own plan, and the example above. It opens in Word, Google Docs, Pages, and LibreOffice.

Download for Word