elders, you must tell that story. We want to
know your tale, as does your family. So here's a
free starter lesson for you.
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Does: Memoir Writing Help for
You, Our Elders, to Tell Your Story
which is a whole book that starts from the
start and ends at (or near) the end. But if
you don't want to take on such a huge task,
you can tell your story in snippets and
snatches, through memoir writing.
Memoir writing consists of--as the word, from
the Latin memoria, indicates--individual
memories.
The convenience this affords us is this:
--we can start at any place in our lives we
want
--we can write of an event, moment, idea,
person, place, or object...in isolation
--we don't need any order or convention to
inhibit our getting words on paper...to start.
Let the Memoir Writing Come
Don't worry about grammar, punctuation, or
any formatting or structure. Just jot down the
first thing that comes and go with it, whether
it takes you into another story, a description
of other things, or your opinion.
We will, over time, cover different ways to
remember, different ways to write, and then,
later, ways to put the pieces all together--if
you wish.
For now, let's start with a kind of memoir
writing that we can use in every piece we
write:
Description
We need description. Our readers need
description. And we need to get that
description out of our heads and into details.
Details Our Readers Can Sense
Our goal (and power as writers) is to turn
what we recall into what readers can feel,
see, taste, touch, and hear, so we can get
them as close to our memories as possible.
One Way to Describe
This is fun with a friend, but you can do it
alone, too, and email me your results.
Get the following items from your pantry or
ice box (or have someone bring them to you):
lemon
peanuts in shell
plain chocolate bar/drops/chips
marshmallow
kiwi
Pop Rocks candy or Alka-Seltzer tablets.
one small knife
a notebook and writing tool
Prompt
Work with one item at a time.
1. Look at the item. How does it look? Write
down the texture, color, size,
shape, and other words that
you think of when you look at
the item.
2. Touch the item. How does
it feel? What does the
temperature feel like, the
texture, the weight?
3. Smell the food item. How
does it smell?
4. Listen to the item. Does it have a sound?
How about when you add it to water,
put the knife to it, bite into it, or put it in
your tongue?
5. How does it taste?
Here is the Challenge:
yourself (or your partner) to go
beyond the obvious descriptive words.
For example, if you find that the marshmallow is soft,
what kind of soft is it? Is it
soft the way fresh laundry is soft? The kind of soft in
whipped cream? Is the sweet
a candy sweet or a sweet gherkin sweet?
Imagine that you are describing the item to someone
who has never seen/had one, someone from another
planet, and you need to get the person to retrieve the
item for you to save your life. (The same way you
would need to describe a medication, so the person
doesn't bring you a heart pill instead of a blood
pressure pill.)
Be as unique and original as you can with your words.
Refuse to be satisfied with just "crunchy," "sour,"
"cold."
Then, when we go to the next assignment, you will be
ready to bring to life the details of your past, your life
story.
Note: Did you notice that pushing yourself to describe
what you sensed inevitably evoked comparisons.
Descriptions lend themselves to metaphors. Writers
use metaphors to convey and express. You are now a
writer!
| I think it is all a matter of love; the more you love a memory,the stronger and stranger it is. ~ Vladimir Nabokov |
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