Finding Topics to Write About
Because memoir writers are writing about themselves, many of the memoir experts suggest that it is worthwhile to think not only of events but also about being writers. Another urgency is not to allow the story to escape without detail. And sometimes writers have to write a bit to recall the detail. The following are some of the several invention strategies that experts find useful.
Free Writing: Learn about yourself as a writer by freewriting* about your own writing, and as you do, accept that you will lose control in that your writing may go a different direction from the direction your brain wants to take you. Here are some prompts to help you get started:
 | When do you usually write? What are the occasions? What time of day? |
| When do you prefer to write? What is the first thing to do when you begin to write? |
| What are you most fearful about when you begin writing? |
| Where do writing ideas come from? |
* Free write by writing with no restraint: don't stop until the time you have designated has ended (scribble if nothing comes to mind for a time); don't worry about any stylistic conventions; don't worry about staying on topic. Just write, and see what comes out. This practice can be done on computer, but there's something special that happens when the pen or pencil is in hand.
--Haines, 59
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Free Writing: Free write from a single word prompt (home, backyard, cousin). Then free write from a sentence prompt. Draw a visual of the topic, label parts, and then write, starting with merely identifying parts, for example, or overall impressions.
--Haines, 67-71; 90-91
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Interviews: To gain ideas for memoir writing, work with interviewing from three angles: with yourself, someone safe, and a stranger.
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For yourself, write out questions and answers as if you were someone else. |
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Ask someone you know to interview you |
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Think about interviewing a stranger: What questions would you ask on issues that you covered in your interview, and what answers would you think they would give? |
Use this information to develop an issue you are writing about, being sure to acknowledge that these comments are speculation.
--Roorbach, 114-117
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Oppositions: List the conflicts you've had and group them into any categories you discover. Can you see any opposing values--wanting to save money, on the one hand for example, and wanting a new car, on the other? Can you cluster sets or groups of these opposing values and give them headings?
Pick a set you're interested in an see where it goes? What's the first time this conflict occurred? How many times have these conflicts surfaced, for example?
--Rainer, 56-57
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Cultural Issues: Once you have an event or issue in mind, isolate the year it occurred. Then collect information about the year: unique happenings, president, economic outlook, social conflicts, news stories, technology, music, for example.
You may need to add a historical perspective:
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What led to the conflict of the time (if there was conflict)? |
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What had happened before this year that is relevant to now? |
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If you're studying a group, what's the history of the group? |
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What rituals occur? What is their significance? |
This cultural/historical perspective should give additional depth to your writing about the event, issue, or person.
--Trimbur, 185-186
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Mapping: Come to and idea to write about by making a map* of your earliest neighborhood. Get into details by listing who lived where, indicating secret places or favorite spots, revealing friends and strange folks, marking areas that were off limits.
Keep in mind as you write that even if the place still exists, the world that you have drawn is unique. It exists for no one else. Make it exist for others by writing about it.
*It might be interesting to check Google Earth to see if your old neighborhood is visible.
--Roorbach, 21-22
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Visualizing: Take a moment from the past. Mentally, photograph or videotape it. What was the item or detail you captured? The time? the season? the weather? What drew you to this?
--Trimbur, 182
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Perspective: Juxtaposing the past with present feelings can be valuable. After considering your feelings about X (a thing or issue or person) at the current moment, think about what took place in the past in regard to X. As you look back,
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How did X seem back then? |
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To what extent does thinking about the past from the present perspective change that perspective? |
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What would you do today (if you could) about the past, given your present perspective? |
Can you use the past to give depth to the present as you write? Will comparing the past with the present help readers understand your current perspective?
--Trimbur, 183
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Stepping Stones: If you are dealing with a relationship, list the main emotional incidents and the pivotal event in that relationship. Begin at the beginning--where your connection with the other person began. Use these incidents as stepping stones to move through your story.
--Rainer, 57
Works Cited
Haines, D. Writing Together. New York: Perigee Trade (Penguin), 1997.
Rainer, Tristine. Your Life as Story: Discovering the "new Autobiography" and Writing Memoir as Literature. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, 1998.
Roorbach, Bill. Writing Life Stories: How to Make Memories into Memoirs, Ideas into Essays, and Life into Literature. Cincinnati, Story P, 1998.
Trimbur, John. The Call to Write. New York: Longman, 1999.
