In a memoir, I think, the contract implies a certain degree of truth. I think you have to be as true to your memory and your experience as you possibly can.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
In a memoir, your main contract with the reader is to tell the truth, no matter how bizarre.
I will say, with memoir, you must be honest. You must be truthful.
I have never liked the memoir form because I tend to think that memory fictionalizes anyway. Once you claim that you are writing a narrative purely from memory, you are already in the realm of fiction.
If you bill something as a memoir, you're implying that everything in it is true.
A memoir is always the most authentic telling of a situation, but a novel gets to different places.
When you are writing a memoir, you have the advantage of knowing how it all ends. It's just taking your life apart and putting it together again.
Writing a novel is easier than writing a memoir; you are not constrained by the truth.
I've yet to read a memoir by anyone I've known at all well that came anywhere near to the truth.
I think one can be more honest in fiction than in a memoir.
A memoir forces me to stop and remember carefully. It is an exercise in truth. In a memoir, I look at myself, my life, and the people I love the most in the mirror of the blank screen. In a memoir, feelings are more important than facts, and to write honestly, I have to confront my demons.