Most writers tend to get worse rather than better. I'm determined to be one that gets better.
Edmund WhiteRead
In a memoir, your main contract with the reader is to tell the truth, no matter how bizarre.
Interpretation
What this quote means
A memoir should always convey the truth, regardless of how strange it may seem.
In this quote, Edmund White emphasizes the importance of honesty in memoir writing. He suggests that the author's primary obligation to the reader is to present factual experiences and emotions, even if those experiences are unusual or difficult to believe. This commitment to truthfulness is what ultimately creates a genuine connection between the writer and the audience.
Themes
TruthMemoirHonestyWritingAuthenticity
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a workshop for aspiring memoir writers to stress the importance of authenticity in their narratives.
More from Edmund White
All quotes βI've always seen writing as a way of telling the truth. For me, writing is about truth. I have always tried to be faithful to my own experience.
Edmund WhiteRead
If bigots oppose gay marriage so vehemently, it must be because marriage is a defining institution for them; gays will never be fully accepted until they can marry and adopt, like anyone else.
Edmund WhiteRead
When we are young... we often experience things in the present with a nostalgia-in-advance, but we seldom guess what we will truly prize years from now.
Edmund WhiteRead
I was never an assimilationist. I always thought gays had some special mission.
Edmund WhiteRead
The Stonewall riots were a key moment for gay people. Throughout modern history, gays had thought of themselves as something like a mental illness or maybe a sin or a crime. Gay liberation allowed us to make the leap to being a 'minority group,' which made life much easier.
Edmund WhiteRead
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At the time I was growing up, literature was involved with the so-called confessional poets. And I was not interested in that. I did not think that specific and personal perspective functioned well for the reader at all.
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