Sometimes writers look all over for inspiration. But you really need look no further than your own passions and interests, where a wealth of inspiration lies in wait. Read more in my guest post at The Write One Blog today.
The Body of Memory
What is your earliest memory? What is the memory that always emerges from the dim reaches of your consciousness as the first one, the beginning to this life you call your own? The first memory becomes the starting point in our own narratives of the self. As writers we naturally return again and again to these beginnings and scrutinize them. By paying attention to the illogical, unexpected details, we just might light upon the odd, yet precise images that help our lives make sense. from Tell It Slant, Writing and Shaping Creative Nonfiction, by Brenda Miller and Suzanne Paola
Calling up memories is a critical part of writing creative non-fiction, for most of us who are writing in this genre have stories to tell about our own lives, and we want to mine the depths of those lives to get the best and most valuable information. One of the best ways to access memory is through the senses...sound, touch, sight, smell, taste, feel. We all respond to sensory images - the way a favorite song recalls our first kiss, or how the smell of cinnamon brings to mind Grandma's oatmeal cookies. Writing about sensory memories is also an effective way to translate them for the reader. Everyone responds to these kinds of images, and so when you write about experiences savored with the senses, you're already connecting with your reader in a meaningful way.
Here's an interesting exercise from Tell It Slant that really works to help you call up memory in a new way.
In the preface to his anthology The Business of Memory, Charles Baxter writes, "What we talk about when we talk about memory is - often - what we have forgotten and what has been lost. The passion and torment and significance seem to lie in that direction." What have you forgotten in your life? What are the moments that keep sliding out of reach? Write for twenty minutes using the phrase "I can't remember" to start off each sentence. Where does this examination lead you?
You may find that by using this exercise you can back into the scenes and images you do remember but never knew how to approach. You can write some very powerful essays based on this prompt, exploring material that seemed to dangerous to examine head-on.
This was the first assignment in the creative nonfiction class I've been taking this summer. It seemed odd to think about things I didn't remember, but it worked in terms of helping me "back into" an event in my life that was quite important and that says a lot about my family and my childhood experience.
Try it, and see what happens for you.
You can read the essay that developed from this exercise right here.
Creative Nonfiction
Like a poem, a genuine essay is made out of language and character and mood and temperament and pluck and chance. ~Cynthia Ozick
I've always loved reading personal essays - love the way a good writer offers the reader a glimpse through the lens into a personal experience, and then broadens the angle so the view becomes a larger perspective on life in general, love the way creative expression and personal stories come together to illuminate a truth about the world.
So I'm very excited about a Creative Nonfiction class I'm taking this summer. It's an online class, taught by one of my favorite bloggers, who, in addition to being a wonderul writer, is a teacher and editor. Each week we're reading examples of personal essays and then writing our own essays in that genre, which we post for others to read and comment on. It's been a great way to stretch my writing muscles, meet some other people who are interested in this type of writing, and get great feedback on my work.
Just before the class started, I ordered a copy of Tell It Slant, Writing and Shaping Creative Nonfiction, by Brenda Miller and Suzanne Paola. Coincidentally, our first lesson used an exercise from this book, and we've referred to it in subsequent lessons. The title of the book is taken from a poem by Emily Dickinson, "Tell all the Truth but tell it Slant/ Success in Circuit lies..." This line describes the work of the Creative Nonfiction writer - work based in truth, but told with the slant of creative and artistic expression.
Creative nonfiction can focus on either private experience or public domain, but in either case, the inner self provides the vision and the shaping influence to infuse the work with this sense of 'pluck and chance.' In many cases, the essayist may find himself thinking aloud on the page. Then the essay becomes a continual process of unexpected discovery.
Imagination coupled with facts - that the recipe for the creative nonfiction writer.
Working (or not)
Here I am, on my first it's-official-I'm-not-working-anymore Tuesday. What am I doing? Working.
I'll qualify that by saying I'm working at home in my yoga pants and a soft tee shirt with the word "Paris" emblazoned on the front. I'll qualify that further by saying all the widows are open, and there's a deliciously cool breeze blowing the stacks of medical records around the room. And my two dogs are asleep at my feet, since they just had a very long walk/sniff around the neighborhood. It's nice.
I've been working about two hours now, and I'll probably be done in another 90 minutes. I took my lunch break outside on the back porch (ever notice how much better a turkey sandwich tastes when you eat outside?) and read a fascinating blog post by one of my favorite, most erudite book bloggers. In it she talks about fears - of learning new skills, and of answering the big, important questions about ourselves and our lives. It's all too easy to accept our preconceived notions about ourselves, the ones we've been holding onto all of our lives. The kinds of notions that say, "Oh, I could never be a teacher, psychologist, doctor, nurse, missionary...I'm too introverted, too squeamish, too intellectual..."
It's much more difficult to look at our past experiences and see them- and consequently ourselves-in an altogether different light. Lately I've been thinking a lot about what might be next for me. Because for the longest time I've been tied to a desk, shuffling papers, I've come to think of myself as a "behind the scenes" kind of person, always the "support staff" and never the one on the front line. Once upon a time, when I was in therapy years ago, I told my therapist I was thinking about going back to school to become a legal assistant. "Why?" she said. "Why aren't you thinking about becoming a lawyer?" Because I'm not smart enough, too shy, don't have the time...
In the past year or two at work, I've felt myself drowning under a sea of papers. Perhaps the urgent need I felt to crawl out from under that pile of paperwork was indicative of a need to stop hiding behind papers and do something more meaningful. I really AM too squeamish to be a doctor or a nurse...this I know for sure. But perhaps I can find another way to make a meaningful impact on people rather than just on piles of paper.
Food for thought on this lovely summer afternoon.
But for now, I'm back to the papers...
Trust Yourself
A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within, more than the lustre of the firmament of bards and sages. from Self Reliance, by Ralph Waldo Emerson
The tagline for my personal blog reads, "An American woman looks at life in general and her own in particular." It expresses the way I use writing to make sense of life and how what happens in the wider world comes to bear on my own small portion of it.
If you've taken up the writing challenge from last week and have been writing something each day, perhaps you've experienced the power of writing to help you discover new feelings, create new ideas, sort through problems, and inspire your actions.
If you're in the mood to add more challenge to your writing life, investigate the #Trust30 challenge, and online initiative that encourages you to "look within and trust yourself." Each day between now and the end of June, the site posts themes for writing based on quotes by inspiring thought leaders. The challenge itself was inspired by the work of Ralph Waldo Emerson, who urged people to trust their own intuition, rather than follow the world around them.
Being an independent thinker isn't always easy in the modern world where we're bombarded on all sides with media slanted thoughts and opinions. It can be difficult to discern our own individuality, much less honor it, in the midst of all the noise being propagated around us.
Writing is one way to connect with that still, small voice inside. By naming it on the page, we learn to know it, and to trust it.