Today, I’m switching things up and sharing not one but three memoirs—all using an uncommon alphabetical or index, like an encyclopedia.

It’s a creative way to organize life stories, and I think you’ll find it inspiring.

Amy Krouse Rosenthal’s Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life is quirky and fun. Joan Wickersham’s The Suicide Index is more serious and uses an index format to explore her father’s suicide. Naomi Cohn’s The Braille Encyclopedia mixes essays and prose poetry to discuss her vision loss.

Each book proves you don’t need a traditional timeline to write a powerful memoir.

Would you ever tell your story this way? Why or why not? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section below.

Regardless of how you structure your memoir, always remember, the only way to do this wrong is to not do it at all!