Memoirists Amy Goldmacher and Molly McCloy are working similar terrain—difficult fathers, inherited damage, reconciling trauma from childhood—through different structures. Goldmacher’s forthcoming Terms & Conditions fractures memory into alphabetized shards; McCloy’s Nine Grudges: The Spiteful Origins of the Happiest Dyke on Earth relies on a more traditional and chronological structure within a “Nine Grudges” container. The debut memoirists recently traded manuscripts and met to talk shop. What follows is an edited conversation about writing memoir and earning a happy ending.