One of the things that has helped me really get into the meat of my memoir is thinking objectively. I have been thinking of my friends and relatives in the book more as characters than real people. It has helped me tremendously in telling more… for instance, in certain cases I’d hold back with details, thinking people would be hurt or something about something I wrote. When I stopped thinking that way, details flooded out. The smallest of details added to the whole story.
So, at any rate, the funniest thing happened. Last weekend, I went to see Wolverine with a friend. I was running late because I was writing a chapter about adjusting to life in Oklahoma. While we were waiting for the movie to begin, I had told my friend the story behind the scene I was in the middle of writing when I had bolted out the door. (He was amused.) When I got home, I updated my Facebook status, as seen here:
My aunt Theresa had replied to my status. When I read her reply, I was like, “How the heck does she know how this chapter goes?!” I didn’t write it yet!
After a second of being weirded out, I remembered that she was in the scene. She was there. She lived that moment with me. As I mentioned above, I have tried to think of these people as characters, so that’s kind of what prompted my response. It’s neat writing memoir because much of what I am writing contains stories that people in my family may also be telling. Of course, we all remember details differently, which could be a whole other blog post.
Want to read the tornado scene? I posted a rough draft of these scene here. (This was not in my original draft- something new I am adding in….)
