UNCLE JIM'S FOR MEMOIRS

Status
Not open for further replies.

Red Bird

Has a routine
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 5, 2009
Messages
1,124
Reaction score
45
Location
Ohio
Wayne,
Cheer up, you'll be good as new in no time. It's hard to think of you as being taken down by the flu after all you've been through. It's been my experience that men will dodge bullets faster than they recoup from a fever : )

Yes, no good thinking of turning myself into a character.

So, another question...Has anyone been told their story is too emotional. Aside from my mentor, three women and two men have read my wip. The women cried, but the men weren't able to deal with the content. I'm thinking this isn't a good sign at all. My mentor said what I want is a strong reaction. I guess it doesn't really matter what I want. I've only one story to tell.

Again, someone tell me why we do this to ourselves : )

I want to write about someone other than ME!

Cheers,
Red Bird
 

Bluegate

Clearly has too much time on hand.
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 18, 2008
Messages
1,203
Reaction score
102
Location
What is this? Some kind of stalker question?
So, another question...Has anyone been told their story is too emotional. Aside from my mentor, three women and two men have read my wip. The women cried, but the men weren't able to deal with the content. I'm thinking this isn't a good sign at all. My mentor said what I want is a strong reaction. I guess it doesn't really matter what I want. I've only one story to tell.
Cheers,
Red Bird


Personally I want them weeping in their beer. If they don't feel compelled to hug their children and send me cards with money then I shouldn't be writing.
 

sommemi

Uses loquacious in sentences
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 27, 2009
Messages
707
Reaction score
57
Location
Ohio
If they don't feel compelled to hug their children and send me cards with money then I shouldn't be writing.

:roll:

So... should I make sure when I'm done that there is an author's PO Box for cards with money?
 

Chrisla

practical experience, FTW
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 9, 2008
Messages
1,247
Reaction score
49
Location
Northern California
I've always been told that if you make your reader feel strong emotion, you're doing your job as a writer.
 

sommemi

Uses loquacious in sentences
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 27, 2009
Messages
707
Reaction score
57
Location
Ohio
I eventually got the hang of it, but for a long time it felt--fake, somehow. Partly because creating scene inevitably pushes you to enhance/embellish details. We don't walk around with tape recorders/cameras to act as reporters of our own lives. And sometimes you end up creating a representative scene that condenses the experience of many such scenes with the particular person, situation, etc. That was hard for me to accept at first, hard to give myself that much license.

QUOTE]

I suppose that's why we have the term "creative memoir" or "creative non-fiction." But the kind of scenes you describe can go far in developing characters. We don't really know them until we hear them speak. And it's in the speaking that we can show not only their thought processes, their speech patterns, their education level, and perhaps the region they come from, but also their mannerisms while they're speaking.

What I find ironic, is that if I were to tell a story in this way out loud, my listener would totally be rolling their eyes and waving their hand around in circles trying to get me to talk faster and shorter, and eventually look at me and say "get to the point!". But why is it, when it is written short and terse, it turns into a report instead of a story? LOL I think maybe that's why I love writing so much. I have stories that are so much fun to tell, but in everyday life, people just tell me to get to the point and I don't think stories are as entertaining when the only parts to them are...

"I left work. A guy cut me off on the way home. I decided not to ram him off the road after all. Hi Honey I'm home."

:Shrug:

The hard part is trying to decide what parts paint a picture when they are READ as opposed to what words paint a picture when you are speaking it. I truly believe reading and hearing are two different animals. Are they not?
 

Bluegate

Clearly has too much time on hand.
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 18, 2008
Messages
1,203
Reaction score
102
Location
What is this? Some kind of stalker question?
:Shrug:

The hard part is trying to decide what parts paint a picture when they are READ as opposed to what words paint a picture when you are speaking it. I truly believe reading and hearing are two different animals. Are they not?

Totally different animals though more closely related when you're telling fireside ghost stories perhaps. I think the difference is that when you're telling a story you're telling it. When you're writing and they're reading you're inside their head taking them on a ride. A person has to be willing to buy a ticket for your particular ride. Most people tell you what they did and what happened. They rarely make you feel like you were there with them so by the time you get to them their already hopelessly jaded.
I also think that when face to face with eachother people are pretty busy in their own heads thinking of what they want to say next and just waiting for their opening. But hey, look at me just yapping away. Were you saying something? :D
 

Chrisla

practical experience, FTW
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 9, 2008
Messages
1,247
Reaction score
49
Location
Northern California
Totally different animals though more closely related when you're telling fireside ghost stories perhaps. I think the difference is that when you're telling a story you're telling it. When you're writing and they're reading you're inside their head taking them on a ride. A person has to be willing to buy a ticket for your particular ride. Most people tell you what they did and what happened. They rarely make you feel like you were there with them so by the time you get to them their already hopelessly jaded.
I also think that when face to face with eachother people are pretty busy in their own heads thinking of what they want to say next and just waiting for their opening. But hey, look at me just yapping away. Were you saying something? :D

Pretty articulate yapping, I'd say.:) You nailed it, exactly. You have to build a story that the reader can live in--at least for a while. If you do it well, the reader finds himself reluctant to leave that place, even when it's 2:00 AM and he has to get up early. . .
 
Status
Not open for further replies.