Should you write your memoir in chronological order? Great question. Maybe—but not necessarily. Below, you’ll find five ways to structure your story, including the dramatic way Cheryl Strayed breaks the “rule” of chronology in her memoir, Wild.
Here are five structural approaches for you to consider as you draft your memoir.
1. Write your memoir in chronological order
Yes, most memoirs are written in chronological order. It’s a classic structure: Your story opens where it actually began, and moves forward from there. This works beautifully when your arc is the point—when the reader wants to see the you change, step by step.
Further, there’s inherent tension in following a person’s story as they lived it, without any foreknowledge or conveniently added hindsight. And tension is what keeps readers turning pages.
2. Open at a moment of high tension, then circle back
On the other hand, Cheryl Strayed starts Wild at the halfway point of her story. Her opening scene drops the reader into her “all is lost” moment on the Pacific Crest Trail. Then Strayed circles back through several years of back story, before returning to the head of the trail where, arguably, her story begins.
To try this method with your own memoir, identify a moment of high drama in your story. Starting there engages your reader emotionally—and likely compels them to keep reading to find out how you arrived at that powerful point. This approach also “earns” whatever backstory you need to support that moment because your reader is already so invested in your journey.
3. Braid two timelines together
Instead of including flashback on an as-needed basis as most narratives do, a braided memoir alternates between two timelines all the way through the book—a present-day chapter, followed by a past chapter, then present-day again—with both threads moving forward and developing on their own until they meet near the end.
Say you’re writing about caring for your father at the end of his life. You might start in the present with a chapter in his hospital room and follow that with a chapter from your childhood, decades ago, then alternating hospital scenes with memories the hospital scenes stir up.
Neither timeline interrupts the other—they’re running in parallel, each with its own arc. While this structure is more complex than a single timeline, it’s probably close to how memory actually works: the present constantly pulling the past to the surface.
Melissa Cistaro’s Pieces of My Mother and Susan Morris’s The Sensitive One are examples of the braided-memoir structure.
4. Let a recurring touchstone anchor every chapter
In Poser: My Life in Twenty-three Yoga Poses, Claire Dederer titles each chapter for a yoga pose, and her actual yoga practice develops chronologically as its own throughline in the book. But while each chapter discusses the pose named, the poses also become doorways into the unfolding story of her life. For example, in her “Child’s Pose” chapters, she revisits moments from her unconventional childhood.
If you have a practice you return to regularly—running, gardening, a weekly phone call, church, therapy—each occasion can become a chapter frame. Open a chapter there, then continue into the scene you’ve prepared for that chapter. You might even close the chapter back where you started, practice still going.
5. Anchor chapters to place instead of time
Mary Cantwell’s Manhattan, When I Was Young takes her through her twenties and thirties by way of five apartments, each one reflecting the experiences she had while she lived there.
This structure invites you to organize chapters by place. It’s a natural fit if you’ve experienced different settings—homes, schools, cities, or periods of travel—and each one came with its own cast of characters and its own version of the self you were becoming.
How do you decide whether you should write your memoir in chronological order?
Any one of these approaches might serve your memoir well. Each one makes a different promise to your reader. Chronological order promises a journey worth taking. Opening at a high-tension moment promises a big payoff. Braiding two timelines promises two stories that rely on each other to create meaning. A recurring practice promises the reader a steady place to stand while the past wavers in and out. And anchoring your story to the places you’ve been promises a varied world your reader can walk through with you (one that also does some of the emotional work for you). Which you choose depends on what you actually want the reader feeling on page one.
Are you wondering if you should write your memoir in chronological order? There may be other options that would serve your story just as well! I work with memoir writers at all stages of the process. Whether you’re just finding your way into your story or you have a complete draft, I can help. Visit my contact page, and let’s connect.
Writing a memoir can be a deeply rewarding journey—but also a tricky one. This article offers guidance for shaping your story in a way that honors both your truth and your readers: “How to Write a Memoir.” If you’re interested in my approach to writing, you might also take a look at my books: Plotting Your Novel with the Plot Clock and Jamie Helps Mel Write a Novel.