“Listen
to the music of the carousel,
The
tinglelingle, lingle of the ice cream bell,
The
splishing and the splashing of a moonlight swim,
The
roaring of the waves when the surf comes in. . . .
Summertime
is here, wake up and come alive,
Put
away the scarf and glove.
Here
come summer sounds,
The
summer sounds I love.”
(excerpts
from “Summer Sounds,” Roy Benett/Sid Tepper)
The
day my mother died, my daughter Karen sent me those song lyrics in response to
a picture I had posted of her and her brother Matt with their grandma a year
earlier.
To
my surprise, that photo generated one of Karen’s most vivid memories of happy
times with her grandma.
Several
times when my kids were little, Mom loaded them into her car and drove across
the state to Spokane, Washington, to visit their great-grandmother and other
beloved relatives.
Mom
sang all the way across the state and the kids sang with her. Especially
memorable was “Summer Sounds.” All these years later, my kids can still hear
her singing those words.
Upon
seeing the picture and reading Karen’s words, Matt wrote, “When I hear this
song, I can also smell Grandma's Mercury Bobcat and hear the crinkle of brown
paper sacks that had rewards in them for each fifty miles of the Seattle-to-Spokane
trip.”
My kids’ memories led me to other memories: I could picture my mom behind the wheel singing at
the top of her lungs—and she would be leaning forward. She rarely sat back
against the seat, being the high-energy, intense person that she was.
And
that led me to another memory. Mom sprinted through life. If the phone or
doorbell rang, she jumped up and jogged to see who was there.
And
that led me to another memory: Her fellow schoolteachers used to call out
during recess, “No running on the blacktop!” But they weren't hollering at
students—they were calling out to Mom. She hurried through life at a trot—until
she had one leg amputated, but that's another story.
Just
think!
That one photo generated all those memories.
Pictures
can trigger your memories too,
memories
that are crucial in the development
of
your memoir’s significant people.
That's
important because you don't want—
and
especially your readers don't want—lifeless characters,
what
Carly Sandifer calls “cardboard characters.”
So,
find a photo of a prominent person in your memoir. Take time to study it and
let it stir up memories.
Rediscover—and
find words for—that person's quirks, gestures, body language, habits,
appearance, and talents.
Let
the picture remind you of the five senses: sights, smells, taste, feels, and
sounds.
Set
the picture aside and let your brain and heart work in your subconscious for a
day or so.
Then
get the photo out and let it inspire you to dig deeply into your story.
Who
were you back then?
What
was going on under the surface?
Find
words to describe the person’s heart, mind, character, and faith.
What
difference did that person make in your life?
What
if you hadn't had that experience with him or her? How would you have turned
out differently?
What
emotions does the picture bring to mind?
Photos
can help you write life and personality and depth
into
your story’s key people.
Create
multidimensional, memorable, compelling characters.
Your
readers will thank you.
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