The line between memoir and autobiography is a fuzzy one at best, especially in this modern literary era, when writers are constantly blurring the boundaries between genres to create a new, exciting one. But there are indeed obvious and practical differences between the two that can be clarified with some definitions and comparison.

Like an autobiography, memoir is a narrative that reveals experiences within the author's lifetime. But memoirs are typically less formal, less encompassing, less obsessed with factual events and, alternatively, center their primary focus around a mood or attitude toward a particular section of one's life.

Autobiography, on the other hand, is essentially a truthful biography written by the main character, or at least drafted with a collaborative writer. While memoir concerns itself with an emotional truth, autobiography details the chronology, events, places, reactions, movements and any other relevant information that inhabited the life of the subject. Fact, above all, is its foundation.

Another difference to note is the potential author of these genres. While a celebrity, renowned athlete or newsworthy politician may be able to hire a ghostwriter to draft an autobiography, a memoir, depending heavily on memory and emotion, will more than likely be written by the subject.

In essence, an autobiography is a chronological telling of one's experience, which should include phases such as childhood, adolescence, adulthood, etc., while a memoir provides a much more specific timeline and a much more intimate relationship to the writer's own memories, feelings and emotions.

In his own memoir Palimpsest, Gore Vidal gave his own definitions of the two genres, stating, "a memoir is how one remembers one's own life, while an autobiography is history, requiring research, dates, facts double-checked."

But what does this difference have to do with you, the memoirist?

Since the modern boom of non-fiction and such heroic real-life stories as Angela's Ashes and The Color of Water, just to name a couple, memoir has become an extremely marketable commodity. Truth is everyone has a section from their life that could be considered remarkable, and as you capture that remarkable life experience in your own words, it's important to embrace your feelings and the reactions to your own past.

Remember, memoir is not just about what exactly happened in the past, but rather how it made you feel, and perhaps more importantly, how it makes you feel now.

With these basic definitions and comparisons, you should now be able to both define your own work and define your future non-fiction work with clarity and focus.

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