Autofiction versus Memoir: What's the Difference?

Are you considering using events from your own life as part of, or inspiration for, your novel? You might be wondering how much truth to include and how much to embellish. How to share parts of your life without sharing too much. How to tell your story while respecting the privacy of others.

You might even be wondering under what genre such a story would fall. The answer might be autofiction. If this term is new to you, keep reading to learn more about this genre, its key characteristics, and how you can use it to tell your own story!

What is autofiction?

Autofiction is short for autobiographical fiction. Author Serge Doubrovsky penned the word “autofiction” in 1977. He was trying to explain the nature of his novel, Fils, which was neither entirely fact nor fiction. Novelists use this form of writing when they want to write about their lived experiences without keeping the events and facts strictly real. This creates a richer narrative and allows the writer to blend truth and fiction.

How is autofiction different from autobiography or memoir?

An autobiography is a nonfiction, factual retelling of a person’s life that typically spans the length of the person’s entire life. Memoirs, on the other hand, cover a specific time period or event in a person’s life. Unlike autobiographies, which tend to stick to facts, authors of memoirs delve into their thoughts, feelings, and reactions. 

Autofiction, however, incorporates aspects of an autobiography or a memoir while adding the element of fiction. Autofiction is a hybrid; it blurs the line between what is real and what is not. While the author draws from their lived experiences, using their experience as a foundation to reimagine or reshape the experience into a fictional form, they also take creative liberties. This is useful when an author wants to take inspiration from their lives while also exploring literary experimentation. 

When writing autofiction, an author might use their name for the protagonist or create a fictional character to represent themselves. Other key elements, such as characters and character names, places, or timelines, might be changed, enhancing the fictional aspect of the story.

Characteristics of autofiction

Some key characteristics of autofiction include an autobiographical foundation, blurred boundaries between fact and fiction, subjective truth, and self-reflection. Let’s take a look at each of these.

Autobiographical foundation

In autofiction, the author takes some element of their own life to use as the foundation for the novel. These could be key events from their experiences, childhood, relationships, or other aspects of the author’s life.

In Ben Lerner’s The Topeka School, the author draws upon his experiences growing up in Topeka, Kansas. Like the protagonist Adam Gordon, Lerner grew up in Topeka, had parents who were psychologists and participated in competitive debates with considerable success. Lerner used all of these personal experiences to create The Topeka School, in which he tackles the themes of toxic masculinity and how language shapes culture and identity based on his lived experiences.

Another example of this is Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar. Plath tells the story of Esther Greenwood, a woman who struggles with mental health issues and her identity as she navigates social expectations and the pressures of her time. Plath created the protagonist to mirror her struggles, making Esther Greenwood a fictional representation of her lived experiences. The reader is aware that the fictional protagonist represents Plath’s lived experiences but is left wondering how much of the tale is based on truth and how much is fabricated.

Blurred boundaries

Autofiction authors blur the boundaries between real events and wholly fictional ones, embellishing parts of their stories for greater effect. A great example of blurred boundaries is On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, in which author Ocean Vuong creates an autofictional narrative based on his experiences as a Vietnamese-American immigrant and the challenges of navigating cultural and generational gaps. While he draws upon his own experiences, he tells the story from the point-of-view of a fictional character named Little Dog. Vuong blurs the boundaries of his tale by weaving his memories and reflections with elements of fiction.

Subjective truth

When creating a work of autofiction, an author may tell the story through the lens of subjective truth. What does this mean? The writer's impression of actual events may be different than how they happened in another person's eyes. For example, a conversation between two people may have meant something different to each person— both individual's perceptions of the same event are "truth," even if they don't match up.

Marguerite Duras uses subjective truth in The Lover, a blend of autobiography and fiction. In it, Duras recounts a love affair she experienced during her younger years through fictional characters. Though they experience the same things, the events of the affair are perceived very differently by the young woman than by her older lover. 

Self-Reflection

Autofiction often delves into the inner world of the author, providing a deeper understanding of their inner journey and perspectives. An author’s self-reflection in autofiction may reflect universal themes that the reader can relate to, such as love, loss, relationships, traumatic experiences, and personal growth. 

In Outline, the first book in a trilogy, Rachel Cusk uses the protagonist, Faye, to share conversations and encounters with people she meets during her travels to Athens. Outline blends elements of memoir and fiction that allow Cusk to reflect on her own lived experiences through these conversations and experiences in her story. The characters’ conversations are a reflection of Cusk’s thoughts, feelings, and experiences on her journey, which allows Cusk to self-reflect on her experience through the eyes of the characters she creates. Pieces of her own life are revealed through these fictional, reflective conversations and experiences.

Ready to write autofiction?

When penning your own tale, include some key elements of autofiction, such as an autobiographical foundation. Make sure the blurred boundaries between fact and fiction will leave your reader curiously turning each page. Include elements of subjective truth and self-reflection to create a tale the reader can relate to. If you can manage to incorporate these tips, you’re ready to share your own fictionalized life story with readers!