: Including letters and other documents in a memoir Writing my memoirs. I would like an opinion on how best to include 4 pages of letters/fax/emails. How about a 20-page composition? as addendum/exhibit?

@Vandalay250

Posted in: #Formatting #Memoir #Structure

Writing my memoirs. I would like an opinion on how best to include 4 pages of letters/fax/emails. How about a 20-page composition? as addendum/exhibit? Too long to include in manuscript? Thanks for any help you can offer.

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@Karen856

@Karen856

Use an appendix

The appendix is the perfect spot for longer documents you wish to include within a work (not just for a memoir). You can have as many as you want.

Name each appendix. Appendix A, Appendix B, is perfectly fine. Or use a name that doesn't have the word "appendix" in it if you prefer. The 20 page composition gets its own appendix. The 4 pages of letters/fax/emails can share another appendix.

Have a table of contents that lists each appendix and gives the page number where it begins.

Within the text, discuss the material like you would any other material you assume a reader has access to elsewhere. Clearly give the location within your book so readers who wish to can go read it first, or refer to it later.

For shorter pieces, you can include them in the text at the spot where you discuss them. For anything taking up all or most of a page, or more than one page, set it off with a special page border or change the background color or even the font. It should be obvious to the reader that it is separate from your narrative.

Very short pieces can be set off on the page with a box, with your narrative taking up the rest of the space on the page.

You can decide if you want the shorter pieces to be collected into one or more appendices, in the main text, or both. Though try to limit duplicate pages.

You may also decide to just take small quotes from the documents for the main text and put the full documents into the appendices.

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