This is amazing Charlie. It brings so much more depth and dimension to understanding what the art of memoir is about—relationships, closure, healing, communication, perception, self-awareness. It sounds like for you memoir is almost a way of living life that honors your past and helps you integrate it into the present, along with those who have been and continue to be important to you in your life. Memoir is like the intentional making sense of oneself here and now by taking charge of your own stories. Do you relate to it this way, with all these personal development and relationship implications, or is the focus more on the craft of writing that surrounds great memoir?
Rick, it is becoming more and more about making sense of the past, though I did not think it would be that when it started. I set out to tell my story, but stories are subjective and malleable and can always change with the tiniest new detail. There is definitely a feeling of empowerment in learning more about my past.
Great memoir has to be both. It has to be focused on the craft of writing and it has to be focused on delving into your past and having honest, and sometimes hard, conversations.
Interesting that you wanted someone else's POV during that time of your life. I wouldn't mind getting my parents' or my sister's perspective regarding a traumatic event that occurred in my life when I was young; to fill in the holes.
This is amazing Charlie. It brings so much more depth and dimension to understanding what the art of memoir is about—relationships, closure, healing, communication, perception, self-awareness. It sounds like for you memoir is almost a way of living life that honors your past and helps you integrate it into the present, along with those who have been and continue to be important to you in your life. Memoir is like the intentional making sense of oneself here and now by taking charge of your own stories. Do you relate to it this way, with all these personal development and relationship implications, or is the focus more on the craft of writing that surrounds great memoir?
Rick, it is becoming more and more about making sense of the past, though I did not think it would be that when it started. I set out to tell my story, but stories are subjective and malleable and can always change with the tiniest new detail. There is definitely a feeling of empowerment in learning more about my past.
Great memoir has to be both. It has to be focused on the craft of writing and it has to be focused on delving into your past and having honest, and sometimes hard, conversations.
so brave
Interesting that you wanted someone else's POV during that time of your life. I wouldn't mind getting my parents' or my sister's perspective regarding a traumatic event that occurred in my life when I was young; to fill in the holes.