Free Memoir Outline Template: 12 Chapters, a Filled-In Example and 3 Structures

What goes into a memoir outline?

A memoir outline isn't a list of everything that happened. It's a plan for the story you're telling: which memories make the cut, in what order, and why. A one- or two-page outline is enough to keep you from getting lost halfway through.

Each chapter in the outline needs three things. The scene: the specific moment the chapter is built around. The change: what's different at the end of the chapter compared with the start. The reflection: what your present self understands about it now that you couldn't then.

Before choosing a structure, write the memoir's one-sentence question at the top of the page, for example 'How did I learn to forgive my father?' Every chapter should help answer it.

Here's one chapter filled in, from a memoir about that father. Scene: the afternoon he shows up at my graduation, sober, and sits in the back row. Change: I realize I've been waiting for an apology that isn't coming, and I have to decide whether to talk to him anyway. Reflection: I understand now that the back row was the closest he knew how to get. Three lines, and you know exactly what to write.

Structure 1: Chronological

Chronological memoirs tell events in the order they happened. It's the most natural structure and the easiest to write, because you always know what comes next. Angela's Ashes and Educated both move broadly forward in time.

The risk is that the book becomes 'and then, and then'. The fix is selective time: skip years freely, and spend whole chapters on single days that matter. Opening with a present-day scene, then jumping back to the beginning, also helps, because it gives the reader a question to carry.

Best for: stories of growth or transformation, where the order of events is the point.

Structure 2: Thematic

Thematic memoirs group chapters by subject rather than date: a chapter on every house you lived in, every job, every dog, every meal that mattered. Within each chapter, time can move freely.

Say you're writing about your relationship with food. Chapter titles might be 'Rice', 'My Mother's Kimchi', 'Hospital Cafeteria', 'The First Thanksgiving I Cooked'. Each chapter covers a different stretch of years, but together they tell one story.

The risk is that chapters feel like separate essays. Make sure something builds across them, usually your understanding of the book's central question.

Best for: lives with a strong recurring thread, and writers who find strict chronology boring.

Structure 3: Braided or frame

A braided memoir alternates two timelines, usually a present-day thread with forward motion (a trip, an illness, a search, a renovation) and chapters from the past that the present keeps calling up. Wild braids a long hike with the events that led to it.

A frame is a close cousin: a present-day situation holds the whole story. In Maus, Art Spiegelman's interviews with his father frame his father's wartime past. If you're writing a parent's story from conversations, the conversations can be your frame.

The risk is that one strand is much stronger than the other. Outline both strands separately first, then interleave them.

Free memoir outline template (12 chapters, copy and paste)

This template works for chronological and braided memoirs. For a thematic memoir, replace the chapter labels with your themes and keep the three prompts under each. Twelve chapters is a comfortable size for a first memoir. Add or cut as your material demands.

MEMOIR QUESTION: (e.g. How did I learn to forgive my father?)
STRUCTURE: chronological / thematic / braided
OPENING IMAGE: (a present-day moment that raises the question)

1. The opening scene - the moment that raises the question
2. Before - what normal life looked like
3. The first crack - the first sign something would change
4. Turning point 1 - the event that set the story moving
5. Trying the old way - what you did, and why it didn't work
6. A quiet chapter - ordinary life, a relationship, a place
7. Turning point 2 - the midpoint: you see the situation differently
8. Going deeper - consequences, cost, other people's side
9. The lowest point - the hardest scene in the book
10. Turning point 3 - the decision or realization
11. After - what changed, in actions, not just feelings
12. The closing scene - an image that answers (or mirrors) the opening

UNDER EACH CHAPTER:
  Scene:
  What changes:
  What I understand now:

Memoir outline example: the template filled in

Here is the same template filled in for the memoir about a father mentioned above. The story is invented, but the shape is the one most first memoirs need: an opening that raises a question, three turning points, and a closing image that answers it. Notice that each line is a scene, not a summary.

MEMOIR QUESTION: How did I learn to forgive my father?
STRUCTURE: chronological, with a present-day opening
OPENING IMAGE: my father in the back row at my graduation, sober

1. The back row - I see him at graduation and don't walk over
2. Before - Saturday mornings in his truck, age eight, before the drinking got bad
3. The first crack - the night he misses my school play and Mom covers for him
4. Turning point 1 - he leaves; I'm fourteen and decide I don't need him
5. Trying the old way - years of not answering his calls, and why it never felt like winning
6. A quiet chapter - my grandmother's kitchen, where his name was still allowed
7. Turning point 2 - his letter from the treatment center, unopened for a month
8. Going deeper - what my mother finally tells me about his own father
9. The lowest point - the hospital, and the apology I still don't get
10. Turning point 3 - I realize the apology isn't coming and visit anyway
11. After - Sunday phone calls, short and awkward, every week
12. The closing scene - his truck, now mine, and the back row I finally understand

A copyable autobiography template

An autobiography covers a whole life, so its outline follows life stages instead of a single question. Use this if you're writing for family or leaving a complete record. Expect 12–20 chapters. Split any stage that holds too much.

TITLE:
WRITTEN FOR: (children, grandchildren, myself)

1. Roots - parents, grandparents, where the family came from
2. The house I grew up in - rooms, neighbors, daily routine
3. Early childhood - first memories, one vivid scene
4. School years - teachers, friends, trouble, what I was good at
5. Growing up - teenage years, first job, first independence
6. Leaving home - where I went and why
7. Work, part one - first career, what I learned
8. Love - how I met my partner(s), marriage, friendships
9. Family - children, what raising them was really like
10. Work, part two - later career, business, turning points
11. Hard times - loss, illness, money, and how we got through
12. The world around me - historical events I lived through
13. Later life - retirement, grandchildren, new interests
14. What I believe - values, faith, lessons
15. Letters to the future - advice for the people reading this

UNDER EACH CHAPTER:
  Years covered:
  Places:
  People:
  Two or three stories to tell:
  Photos or documents to include:

How do you fill in the outline in one sitting?

Give yourself one evening. Don't try to make it good. Make it complete.

An outline with a few blank chapters is still useful: the blanks tell you exactly where you need to remember more, look through old photos, or ask a sibling what they recall. Treat every empty slot as a question to answer, not a failure.

1. Write your memoir question (or, for an autobiography, who it's for) at the top.
2. Spend 20 minutes listing memories, one line each, as many as you can.
3. Choose a structure using the table above.
4. Drop your strongest memories into the chapter slots. Leave empty slots empty.
5. For each filled chapter, write the scene, the change and the reflection in one line each.
6. Read only the 'what changes' lines in order. If the story doesn't move, reorder or cut.

How do you turn your outline into chapters?

In the Novelleo app (iOS and Android), choose "My own story" and answer a few questions about your book. Novelleo sets up a title, premise, the people in your story and a 4–20 chapter plan, which you can shape to match the outline you just made.

The AI drafts each chapter with you. Before the next one, you decide whether to follow the plan or add a scene, and you edit every line. Export the finished memoir as a PDF or Word file. The first AI chapter is free.