If so, send me
your Christmas vignette by December 10 and I’ll select one or more to publish
here.
Spiff up your
rough draft (or start writing it), keeping in mind the definition of memoir
(click on What memoir is: Back to basics).
Remember, in
writing memoir we go beyond digging up memories. Within our memories, we peel
back layers to discover what was going on under the surface. Search for overlooked
significance. We work to make sense of what God was doing in and for and
through us, and others, at the time—and what it all meant.
“Rather than
simply telling a story from her life,
the memoirist both
tells the story
and muses upon it,
trying to unravel
what it means
in the light of
her current knowledge. . . .
The contemporary
memoir includes retrospection
as an essential
part of the story.
Your reader [is]
interested in how you now,
looking back on
it,
understand it.”
(Judith
Barrington, Writing Memoir)
“The author must
impose a coherence
on events he
chooses to include
that may not have
been present as he lived them. . . .
It’s that selectivity
that transforms a memoir
from a report to a
reflection
which gives
meaning to the events
which might not
have been evident to the author
as she lived them.”
(The Author’s DualRole in a Memoir, by Biff Barnes)
Capture sweet
moments, hilarious events, personality quirks, tragic loss, courageous
decisions, integrity, tenacity, or high adventure—all make for great reading.
Helpful tips:
Character
development: Each person is complex. Develop your main characters’
shortcomings, redeeming qualities, beliefs, prejudices, body language, tone of
voice, attitudes, and quirks.
Was he sentimental
or no-nonsense? Comical or dour? Consistent or inconsistent? Gentle or gruff?
Did she stand tall or did she slouch? Was he optimistic or pessimistic? Did she
stress the importance of table manners? What else was important to him?
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| picture in public domain |
Emotions: Incorporate
emotions—about happy, joyful events as well as scary things and grief. Not all
stories have happy beginnings or endings.
Allow readers
inside your heart and mind.
Include your
thoughts—even your struggles—to understand what was happening. Write of your
delights as well as your doubts. Ask questions even if you have no answers.
You’ll find tips
from Method Writing and from Kathleen Pooler’s post, Evoking Emotions: The power of Sensory Detail in Storytelling.
Also bring in
adventure and humor where you can. Click on How to Add Humor to a Sad Memoir,
Lisa Romeo’s post about how, why, and where to include humor in a sad memoir.
Sensory details: If
you want readers to enjoy your stories, you must include sensory details.
Invite them to see, hear, feel, taste, and smell what you experienced so they
can enter your story with you.
Don’t miss our
earlier posts, December’s Details for Your Memoir as well as Details: A must for your memoir. They’re packed with resources for you.
Your opening: A
story’s beginning can make it or break it. It can invite readers in—or send
them away. Most writers experiment with many openings before they get just the
right one. Spend lots of time on your opening. Some don’t even try to write it
until they’ve finished the main body of the story.
Check out these
helpful links about writing your vignette’s opening. (Keep in mind these posts are about crafting
the opening of an entire memoir, but they also apply to the opening of
chapters/vignettes.)
Links:
Important: Click on this link to look at
Please submit a
vignette that
has not been published before, or
is a story you published in the past
and it’s
copyrighted in your name.
Aim at writing
1000 words or less in a Word document sent as an attachment to
LindaKThomasAuthor [at] gmail [dot] com. (Replace [at] with @ and replace [dot]
with a period, scrunch everything together, and your email should reach me.) Please
write “Christmas vignette for SM 101” in the subject line so I’ll know it’s not
spam. Thanks.
Ready, set, go!
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