The pandemic temporarily closed bookstores, forced authors to tour by Zoom and otherwise wreaked disruption on the publishing industry, but Berkeley-based publisher and writing coach Brooke Warner says she has never been busier.
As it turns out, living during a time of lockdowns and global uncertainty makes people feel highly motivated to process their anxiety through writing, Warner says.
Warner, whose She Writes Press publishes memoirs and other books written by women, has authored several books on writing and publishing, including 2019’s “Write On, Sisters!: Voice, Courage and Claiming Your Place at the Table.” But her true passion lies in helping new and established memoirists unlock their memories, passions and creativity. In her classes and one-on-one sessions, Warner helps writers move past the always pesky inner critic, stay on track and employ craft to make their stories come alive for other people.
Her best known class is “Write Your Memoir in Six Months,” an intensive biannual program she teaches with Linda Joy Myers, president of the National Association of Memoir Writers, but they also host shorter programs, including a boot camp for memoirists that sold out this fall. And writers looking for more inspiration can tune in to Warner’s conversations with well-known authors on the “Write Minded” podcast she has co-hosted since 2018.
Q. Memoirs are one of the fastest growing areas of publishing. What makes them special?
A. When I started working as an editor at Seal Press in 2004, I just loved the memoirs. I think some of the memoirs really changed my life. I’ve always gravitated very strongly to true stories. I often say it’s the genre of my heart.
Q. What’s the difference between a memoir and an autobiography?
A. Usually, a memoir is a slice of life, and an autobiography is a whole life. A memoir usually involves a shorter span of time or a specific piece that allows for more storytelling, where an autobiography is, I was born, and this happened, and then this happened. What’s interesting is that Michelle Obama is widely regarded as having this best-selling memoir, but I think that book is an autobiography, though the industry is starting to blur the lines
Q. The 2020 news cycle has been so overwhelming, it’s hard to slow your brain down enough to focus on a creative project. But you’ve found that people are very motivated to write?
A. The election and everything else that’s been going on has definitely been a huge distraction for people. But there’s a lot of energy swirling out in the world. My anecdotal experience is that people are writing more and more consistently. More people than ever have the time and inclination to pursue writing endeavors. I think it’s the way that the pandemic has forced some thinking. I don’t know if it’s about mortality, about legacy, about living through something like this, which is unprecedented in our lifetimes, but I think a lot of people have been wanting to capture their experience and have realized, if not now, when?
Q. For writers to get to that emotional truth that resonates with others, some say they have to go to places that are pretty raw and emotionally difficult. How do you coach writers through that?
A. As a coach, you have to be willing to hold your writers in uncomfortable places sometimes. I ask hard questions. It’s out of respect for the writer, and the belief that they can push themselves further. But in our classes, we talk a lot about being mindful to not do too much trauma writing all at once. If you’re really going to go into a dark and deep place, you need to supplement your writing with therapy. I don’t think anyone who sets out to write a memoir hasn’t experienced some kind of trauma — whether that makes it into the book or not, is a separate question. But it’s part of what draws people to the page — trying to make sense of that.
Q. Isn’t that why people want to write about difficult things they’ve gone through — as a way to make sense of it?
A. I do think that human beings are compelled to make sense of our experiences. We want things to have meaning. That’s true of trauma survivors. In writing their stories, they take back some control of what happened to them. I think it can be very powerful.
6 memoir picks from Warner
“In the Dream House” by Carmen Maria Machado: Experimental, haunting, and important — a book that teaches so much about the freedom writers have when it comes to self-expression and also about the horrors of domestic abuse.
“Finding Venerable Mother: A Daughter’s Spiritual Quest to Thailand” by Cindy Rasicot: In this book (from She Writes Press), the author journeys to forgiveness through the steady hand of her teacher, Venerable Dhammananda Bhikkhuni, whose lessons in Buddhism and love support the author and reader alike.
“Children of the Land” by Marcelo Hernandez Castillo: A gorgeously rendered, poetic memoir about the push and pull of being between two lands, of never quite belonging to either and of the unsteady and uncertain lived experience of growing up undocumented.
“Recollections of My Nonexistence” Rebecca Solnit: A memoir of 1980s San Francisco and how Solnit became who she is today — one of the strongest feminist voices of our times.
“Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity and Love” by Dani Shapiro: Having read every memoir Shapiro’s written, I believe this is her finest work — an exploration into the shocking discovery that the father who raised her was not her biological father.
“Heavy” by Kiese Laymon: I love “Heavy” for how it unpacks the multiple layers of heaviness. The way the story is told to his mother makes it one of the most intimate stories I’ve read in a long time.
