1. Truth
Genre: Memoir
Our life is an apprenticeship to the truth that around every circle another can be drawn; that there is no end in nature, but every end is a beginning, and under every deep a lower deep opens.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

2. What is a memoir? “Memoir” has a Latin root, meaning “mindful”
It is how one remembers one’s own life
It is not like an autobiography (which is history, requiring dates and facts)
It is more about what can be gleaned from a section of one’s life, rather than the outcome of the life as a whole

3. How is a memoir organized?
Scenes or chapters are like short stories
They involve dialogue, plot, setting, character
The storytelling has a narrator’s voice

4. What is the goal of a memoir?
To be true to the essence of the experience (to recount it faithfully)
Even if we’re trying to be perfectly truthful, memory is still imperfect
There might be a large circle of truth we don’t perceive
Also, our perception of an event may be different from someone else’s

5. How accurate is our memory?
What was one announcement this morning at school?
What is on the cafeteria wall (the window side)?
What is one thing you heard on the news on the weekend?
What store is beside the Bargain Shop in downtown Elmira?

6. Writing a Memoir
Choose an event that you have experienced that is noteworthy
Is it: funny? reflective? sad? adventurous? nostalgic? memorable?
Imagine the experience being played out in your memory
Try to commit the memory to paper, describing the event

7. Remember descriptive writing…
Provide sensory details (allude to sight, sound, smell, touch, taste)
Choose interesting verbs, adjectives, adverbs
Use dialogue (but sparingly)
Create a tone in your writing (is it reflective, funny, sarcastic, sad, serious?)
Write like you are having a conversation with someone, telling him/her about this event