I'm currently writing an article on my experience of writing memoir, so watch here for that!
A great book that includes perspectives on memoir by nine well known writers who chose to write memoir (including Annie Dillard and Frank McCourt) is 'Inventing the truth: The art and craft of memoir,' edited and introduced by William Zinsser. I found this book when my own ideas were forming and it helped me wrestle with questions such as why write memoir, what to leave out and what to put in, and the always challenging issue of how the people one is writing about might respond. It's a good read and the nine contributors represent a diversity of opinions and processes.
In the introduction, Zinsser suggests that the best memoirs are written with love. Avoiding the pitfalls of vengeance or denial, they 'arrive at a larger truth about families in various stages of brokenness.' I have aspired towards this, knowing that we are all broken in some way but also that we are all whole.
