Peder
Well-Known Member
How to write a memoir?
A topic with considerable advice.
“First, an outline,” one might think,
with indents, outdents,
and possibilities for infinite
arrangement and rearrangement;
but where is the narrative line?
Well, then, “tell a story --
and make it interesting
if it is meant to be read.”
You the hero, or at least the center
of your own story.
But if heroic is not the focus?
“Write what you know,
and who known better
than you to yourself.”
Memorable occasions only;
they will prove interesting.
“No minutiae,"
unless of course you are thinking boring history.
A proven three-part dramatic formula available:
Beginning, high point, conclusion.
Ready, set, go!
But what the theme, the unifying purpose?
And what of the many events and arcs overlapping,
all relevant in different ways at different times?
And where the room for different perspectives --
thoughts, reflections realizations and conclusions?
How combine the separate strands
into a single woven frabric?
Time flows from left to right,
keeping exact pace with the pen
as the nib slants and curls and dots
its linear way across the page,
and filled pages of story and thought are turned
from right to left, future to past
as the narrative unfolds.
A river too flows from its beginnings,
ever forward in time
no matter how wandering its path,
in rills and rivulets which splash along
leaping up and over boulders,
coalescing into streams and brooks and runs,
growing eventually into tributaries
which merge into single larger rivers,
flowing in gorges bending between cliffs
or passing by granite palisades looking for exit,
parting 'round islands in mid-stream
to recombine again, branch out
explore bayous and inlets along the way,
flow rapidly through shoals
placidly between levees.
and forge new channels
through accumulated momentum,
following time's arrow
toward eventual fulfilment in the sea.
And suddenly!
One character to another,
in some novel,
perhaps by Auster:
“Find your structure!"
And at last it clicked for me!
A river!
My story, My Structure,
My River!
A topic with considerable advice.
“First, an outline,” one might think,
with indents, outdents,
and possibilities for infinite
arrangement and rearrangement;
but where is the narrative line?
Well, then, “tell a story --
and make it interesting
if it is meant to be read.”
You the hero, or at least the center
of your own story.
But if heroic is not the focus?
“Write what you know,
and who known better
than you to yourself.”
Memorable occasions only;
they will prove interesting.
“No minutiae,"
unless of course you are thinking boring history.
A proven three-part dramatic formula available:
Beginning, high point, conclusion.
Ready, set, go!
But what the theme, the unifying purpose?
And what of the many events and arcs overlapping,
all relevant in different ways at different times?
And where the room for different perspectives --
thoughts, reflections realizations and conclusions?
How combine the separate strands
into a single woven frabric?
Time flows from left to right,
keeping exact pace with the pen
as the nib slants and curls and dots
its linear way across the page,
and filled pages of story and thought are turned
from right to left, future to past
as the narrative unfolds.
A river too flows from its beginnings,
ever forward in time
no matter how wandering its path,
in rills and rivulets which splash along
leaping up and over boulders,
coalescing into streams and brooks and runs,
growing eventually into tributaries
which merge into single larger rivers,
flowing in gorges bending between cliffs
or passing by granite palisades looking for exit,
parting 'round islands in mid-stream
to recombine again, branch out
explore bayous and inlets along the way,
flow rapidly through shoals
placidly between levees.
and forge new channels
through accumulated momentum,
following time's arrow
toward eventual fulfilment in the sea.
And suddenly!
One character to another,
in some novel,
perhaps by Auster:
“Find your structure!"
And at last it clicked for me!
A river!
My story, My Structure,
My River!