Agnes and Ryan interview Richard Squires of Life Story Memoir, who has written about 55 memoirs and is helping Agnes finish her own book. He explains how he interviews clients, writes love stories for couples and a photographer's coffee table book, and why family stories are lost within a few generations. He also describes an AI app he is co-founding to help more people record their stories.
Takeaways
- Family stories fade or change within a couple of generations, so record them while the people who know them are alive.
- A memoir works best when it draws out a challenge the person overcame, and it can be written by someone else if the story is too emotional to write alone.
- Writing a memoir can be a gift from children and grandchildren to a parent or grandparent, or a tribute to someone who has died.
Chapters
- 0:00 Welcome and introducing the guest
- 1:04 Why Agnes hired a memoir writer
- 2:42 What Life Story Memoir does
- 6:23 Why people tell a biographer more than family
- 11:36 A coffee table photography book
- 16:17 Writing love stories for couples
- 17:48 How Richard became a memoir writer
- 21:55 Every life story is unique
- 26:06 Why clients want a memoir
- 29:47 Benefits of knowing your family history
- 34:31 Who hires a memoirist, and tribute books
- 37:41 An AI storytelling app in development
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