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Try this online game for memoir writing
using extended word definitions
When you are brainstorming and drafting ideas, you
don't really have to (or want to worry yourself with
complex wording. You just want to get the stuff
down while you remember it!
But later, you will want to add more depth, more
thought, more substance to the descriptions. For if
the details just sit on a page without your
commentary, without your added ideas, feelings, and
attitudes, the readers might be dulled into
disinterest.
As we considered in the first game/lesson,
Using Crossword Puzzle Games to Stimulate Memory
and Generate Writing, we want to move beyond the
what by covering the "so what?" and by moving
beyond description to definition. Your definition.
With this game/activity, you will choose one word
and thoroughly explore it by writing all the different
kinds of ways to define that word.
Making Abstractions Concrete--for Readers
S.I. Hayakawa created what he called a ladder of
abstraction. He noted how words at the bottom of
the ladder--those closest to the ground and to
us--have a more understandable meaning/definition,
as they are more concrete. For example, the word,
"tree", would be at the bottom, as we all have a
fairly similar understanding of what "tree" is.
However, as we climb the ladder, the words get more
abstract. So at the top, for example, would be words
like "love," for which we have a multitude of
approaches and impressions.
So it is our job as writers to make the abstract
concrete--for our readers, the way you described all
the senses appealed to by a food in Tips/Tricks for
Our Elders to Write Your Life Story.
For this game*, then, do the following:
1. Click on the puzzle pieces below. This will take
you to an outside link. (So when you are ready to
return here, click your <-- BACK arrow at the top left
of your screen.)
2. Click on the flash card that appears. It will flip
over, revealing a second word.
3. Click *Restart for another card. There are 20
cards.
4. Choose one word that appeals to you, the writer.
(Maybe the word that has been a part of your life
lesson, maybe one you have always wanted to
explore further and write on.)
5. Once you have the word, you will define it in the
following ways (before you even touch a dictionary!).
Try to write a paragraph for each:
a. Your associations with the word. Make a list--if
it's easier--of every single thing that you see, hear,
think of when you see/hear this word.
b. How you would define the word. How would
you explain "love" if someone asked? And here's the
hard part: you can't use the word as part of the
definition...only as the word you are defining. You
can't say that "love is a feeling that includes loving
looks at the beloved."! For then you would have to
define "loving" and beloved."
c. What the word is not. Many brilliant definitions
and descriptions include the absence of
something...or the "anti-definition." So you could
say that "love is not complimenting a friend then
talking about her negatively once she walks away,"
for example.
d. The word as metaphor. What concrete thing is
the word like? Is love a package of green pens from
your two-job working Mom, cause she knows you love
to write? Is love a garden that needs water to grow,
evolve?
e. Then, if you are using a more intellectual tone
in your memoirs, you can even consult the dictionary
and use technical definitions (denotations) to further
your reader's understanding.
The trick is to get the reader to see it, smell it, taste
it, hear it, and feel it!
If you'd like, email me with your drafts. I will gladly
respond.
Ready to make your word concrete? Good luck and
have fun. Click on the puzzle pieces:
Memoir Writing Help, Memoir Writing Ideas
Free Lesson-Tips/Tricks for Our Elders to Write Your Life Story (Using Food to
Describe Senses)
Free Writing Lesson- Using Dates in History to Stimulate Memory and Generate
Memoirs
Free Writing Lesson- Using Games (Crossword Puzzles) to Stimulate Memory
and Generate Writing
Free Lesson-More Games (Word Cards) to Generate Memoir Writing
Free Activity-Finalizing the Order by Using a Topic Organizing Game
critical thinking text, Ergo, renamed Writing Logically, Thinking Critically... by the brilliant
Rosemary Cooper and Sheila Patten.
in the RoxanneWrites HOME page for art credits section.
