MEMOIR QUEST STUDY GUIDE
The memoir “quest” will count 2.5 times, which is more than a quiz and not quite as much as a test. It will be on the four memoirs we have read - “Scout’s Honor” by Avi, “Reverend Abbott and Those Bloodshot Eyes” by Walter Dean Myers, “Lights in the Night” by Annie Dillard, and “A Glow in the Dark” by Gary Paulsen. It will also include questions about what a memoir is and the steps of the writing process.
PRACTICE:
- List the four steps of the writing process in order. Be able to define each step.
- Know the difference between editing and revising. They are not the same thing!
- Know when and how to use Save As.
- Be able to list techniques for prewriting.
- What are we NOT worried about during the drafting and revising stages?
- Memoirs deal with memories. Remember Gore Vidal’s quote - “A memoir is how one remembers one’s own life, while an autobiography is history, requiring research, dates, facts double-checked.” Therefore, memoirs may not always be 100% true.
- Know the significance of each of the memoirs we read. Why did each of these authors choose to write about the things they did? What messages were they trying to get across? Refer to the handout we did in class.
- Have an opinion about each of these memoirs. Which did you like? Which did you dislike? Why do you feel that way? Be able to back this up with details from the stories.
- What was different about “Lights in the Night” (part of “An American Childhood”)? How was Dillard’s style different from the other memoirs we read?
- Remember that to really make your memoir come alive, you must use sensory detail, description, imagery, dialogue, and figurative language (simile, metaphor, etc.)
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