Memoir is the most personal form of nonfiction, and it is also one of the most structurally demanding. The challenge of memoir is not remembering what happened. It is deciding what your life experiences mean, which moments carry the weight of the story you are telling, and how to arrange them so a reader who was not there can understand not just the events but the person who lived through them.

They spend months writing, then, somewhere in the final stretch of drafting, they begin thinking about finding an editor. The manuscript is nearly done. The work feels close. The impulse is to find someone available now.

What's included in a developmental editing package? Explore typical deliverables editorial letters and what to expect from feedback.