I can’t offer any iron-clad advice without reading your manuscript but I would say this:

a. Editors often write hurried rejections that should not become guidelines for a specific revision. Does being “nervous about the style” really warrant tearing apart your unique narrative structure?

b. There’s no one formula or literary style for a memoir. But always try to make your story more clear, understandable, and inspiring. If what you’ve written is the form of vignettes, take another hard look and ask yourself: is this coherent and easy to follow?

c. Are there too many confusing flashbacks, flashbacks within flashbacks, awkward leaps in time, shifts in point of view or narrative voice, like from first person to third, to second, back and forth? Can you insert any glue or new transitions that would help?

These are some of the issues I would look at if I were working with you as a developmental editor.

Good luck!

-Alan

Thank you for all your useful advice. However, I seem to be facing a different challenge as a result of the style of my memoir. It consists of vignettes, much like Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street, and while my agent is receiving very positive responses to the writing itself, editors seem to be nervous about the style and want a more traditional narrative. I’m hoping to find a way to add to the manuscript without having to tear apart very carefully and chronologically constructed vignettes.

I’d love some advice…

Respectfully,

K. Levy