this is a good piece by Michael Larson about writing memoirs. i love the concept of writing your own history with some fiction thrown in for good measure. at my age, i certainly can't remember "exactly" what happened and when, i can only estimate some of the events based on the context of approximate periods in my life. aside from specific events that had a big impact on me, like November 22, 1963 and September 11, 2001, most life events tend to blur together. about 3-4 years ago, i was writing a story about our family Christmas morning tradition for an OASIS writing class. my description of the events was a conglomeration of many Christmases rolled into one, with some fictionalized descriptive passages thrown in for good measure. you know, the kind of verbiage that gives you a better sense of the surroundings. early, early in the morning on Christmas day, when the air is still frigid and it's still dark, how does snow sound when you're trudging thru it to get to the car to go to Christmas mass? what does your breath look like in the frosty air? are your nostrils frozen together yet?
there, do you feel cold yet? go have a cup of tea to warm up. Earl Grey. Hot.
Yes, I loved the idea of blending real life and fiction enough to make my first novel basically that. Maybe I would turn it around and say "A Kindred Spirit" was mostly fiction with some reality thrown in ;) Either way blending memories and virtual reality is fun and makes for the easiest and best way to write at first. That super controversial "memoir" (A Million Little Pieces) could have been avoided if Frey had just called his story a blend of fiction and memoir. All stories are embellished. I don't think anyone CAN recall the absolute Truth. And, after all, what is that? Everyone has a different version of history and events based on our own perspective. So write and have fun with it.
ReplyDeleteBTW, yes I could feel the cold in your great descriptions at the end of the post! Great job! And, Terry, shameless self promotion of novel and link in case someone is inspired to buy it ;)