Yeah, I finally made it to the blog! Somebody hug me.
Ok, so getting down to business...an activity that works well for me in memoir is when students trace their hand on a piece of paper and then they write (around the hand) about the following:

1) What scars do you have on your hand? What are those scars from?
2) Who made these hands?
3) What are the best thing these hands have touched?
4) What is the most harm these hands have done?
5) What hidden talents do these hands have?

Then I take up these answers as a class in order to get the students to start thinking about the narratives that already exist in their lives. It works and they love it. Also, playing some music while this happens makes it all the more enjoyable.