Learning from Sample One
Sample memoir chapters or essays are
provided at this site for several reasons, but the primary reason is to serve as
a learning tool. One of the chief ways that writers hone their craft is by
learning to READ LIKE WRITERS. When you read like a writer, you read primarily
for pleasure, but you also take note of what it is about the piece you are
reading that, as writers say, works. What is it about the piece that
makes it pleasurable and rewarding when you read it?
For
example, in the piece, "Facing Accidents on the Prairies Long Ago," Carole Koch
took a true story that had been passed down in her family and breathed life into
it. She did this by entering into the experience fully with her own imagination
and thereby fleshing out the details. She even added dialogue, using "poetic
license," if you will, to help the reader engage in the story as deeply as
possible.
Many beginning memoir writers worry about adding
dialogue or details that they can't remember exactly. They want the stories to
be based on truth, and indeed truth is a lofty goal. However, what is most
desired in a memoir, I think, is not historical and legal truth so much as an
aesthetic and emotional truth.
Yes, we strive to get the
historical and legal truth correct to the best of our ability; and we can refine
the details over time as our pieces are read by others who can provide facts
that we may have left out. But if I mention, in a memoir piece, that Grandma was
wearing a flowered apron, and in actuality she wasn't wearing an apron the day
I'm describing, it's okay. If Grandma might have been wearing an apron,
and typically wore an apron, then it's certainly okay to add that detail
in a given scene. As for dialogue, readers know that dialogue in a memoir can
only be an approximation in any case. Few if any memoir writers audiotaped their
lives! We're allowed to reconstruct, even invent, dialogue that helps to render
the truth as we remember it. You may wish to preface your memoir essays with a
disclaimer such as the following:
The following memoirs are constructed from what I (and
others with whom I conferred) can remember of the times depicted. While each and
every event may not be true in every detail, the events described contain a
larger truth that I call emotional truth. These are the ways the memories
presented themselves to me and grew in my mind as I dwelled on the gifts of the
past. I look forward to hearing from others who may remember things differently.
We can learn from each other.
If we limit our prose to that
which we directly witnessed, or can remember with 100% clarity, then our memoirs
will be thin and uninteresting. I recommend doing what Carol did in the sample
piece provided: Use all of your knowledge and life experiences to flesh out the
details to the best of your ability. You will find that as you do this, you will
find new details and/or memories popping into your mind. The writing process
itself can take you on a creative journey. The rewards will be for you
and for your readers.
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