Monday, May 6, 2013

Difference between essays, memoirs and stories


Essays, memoirs, and stories are different forms of writing. Principally, essay and story are names defining 2 ends of a continuum of focus varying from acting to thinking. In a story, you can imagine the characters in a more dramatic way. There are comprehensible plots and it includes detailed explanations on the background of the character and even the environment in which the character resides. The stories are quite intriguing and they take us in a totally different world.

Writing has evolved over the ages. Essays have gained fame in more recent times, especially the personal essays that show the values, beliefs, and opinions of the writer. The essay involves more meaningful topics. Essays generally contain the topics which lead us to self understanding and it is more articulate and delivered in an organized manner.

A memoir is an account from history or biography from personal learning. Memoirs can be long or in brief form. You can get a good variety of memoirs from your local library. Some you will find are in huge volumes and some may be a book of around 50 pages. On the other hand, story writing contains a fully evolved theme in the beginning. You can create a short story out of it, and you can even elaborate on the idea and generate a novel.

Stories may also involve a life story, which contains more of real life experiences and incidents. Customarily, essays will have strict limitations. Stories differ from the essays. They have lots of drama, dialogue, actions, different plots, and different elements, which make the reader more keen with heart pumping experiences and you get totally lost in the story. Whereas, the essays show us the way to self realization and understanding the condition in the topic.

In some common circumstances, the autobiography and memoir can be utilized by interchanging. An autobiography concentrates on the incidents of the writer’s life in a more organized sequence, whereas a memoir contains one particular part of the writer’s life. Both memoirs and autobiographies are narrated in the first person voice and both the forms of writings are inspired from true incidents from the writer’s life. They each hold personal information and are supposed to permit the reader to understand and realize the the author's point of view. In short, the reader starts thinking like an author. You will find detailed analyses in both memoirs and autobiographies, though memoirs are generally more personal as compared to autobiography.

More commonly, personal essays are well-matched to the complete purpose of story and making sense of perceptions and experiences. The essay writing procedure aids to organize reflective fragments into an impending and logical story. Once this fundamental understanding is well organized, it can be embroidered and refined into a work of good writing by utilizing dialogue, description, other forms of writing, and a good plot for good impact on the reader.

A memoir, unlike essays and stories, concentrates on one facet of the writer’s life. Many people compose memoirs to discuss their experiences in their careers, in war or their family life. Memoirs generally contain a comparatively short span of time of life. It concentrates on one or two incidents in a writer’s life. The main purpose of the memoir is to draw the reader’s attention to the particular incidence in a writer’s life.

Good stories help to connect with readers. It contains all the action, reflection and more artful manner and it contains all the components that impacts the readers and the reader gets more engrossed in the story. Stories can be a work of fiction, it could be inspired by true events, it can be science fiction, horror, social, etc.

You can start your writing with any of these forms. It depends on your creative skills. There is no standard formula for writing a great story, essay, or memoir. It is the writer’s magic, which creates a great work of art.



©2012-2013 Claretta Taylor Pam, Innovative Publishers Media Group & Innovative Publishers. All Rights Reserved

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