Start your Memoir by understanding Cnf and Scene
Writing your stories or memoir starts with an understanding of CNF - Creative Nonfiction and an understanding of Scene
Hello
My little workshop, “Take a Bite into Memoir,” went well, and I enjoyed meeting the participants and their enthusiasm for writing their stories.
Today I will share with you ideas and thoughts on how and when to start writing your story.
Understanding CNF
Family stories and memoir are examples of CNF, or creative nonfiction, and you should start with a basic understanding of this relatively new genre of writing. There is a wealth of articles and courses that can explain it to you. The first eight-week course I took at U of T was Creative Nonfiction Part 1. For our purposes today, I will give you a simple definition and ask you to read one or both of the following articles by Lee Gutkind:
Creative Nonfiction is:
Different ways to tell the truth
“The truth well told”
Factually accurate with attention to literary style and technique
After you read the article(s), you will understand that there are many writing forms and literary endeavours that can “fit” under that umbrella of CNF
For my book, 21 Smithfield Drive, I decided on a collection of family stories and memoir. I employed several types of CNF - my different ways to tell my truth:
Short stories
Personal Essay(s)
Reminiscence(s)
List(s)
Letter(s)
My CNF components are what worked for me. You will have to decide what CNF will work best for you to accomplish your goals. It is also good to know that your family stories or memoir don’t need to be a collection, but instead, can be a whole book about one experience or a specific time in your life. In my coursework, I chose to read two whole book memoirs by Canadian authors who were also course directors of two of my courses:
Prisoner of Tehran by Mariana Nemat (Writing Memoir course)
Motion Sickness by David Layton (Writing through Reading course)
For those of you who may be interested in writing a book that is entirely made of letters or a diary, you may think of The Diary of Ann Frank as an inspiration.
Writing in Scenes
When I reflect on my book, the parts I like best are the short stories that employ all the literary techniques. When writing short stories, fiction, or CNF, the building block/cornerstone is a scene. Right now, as some of you may know, I am writing a mystery novel, certainly not CNF, but also, most certainly, writing scenes.
So, what is a scene? Well, once again, I will send you to articles on writing scenes, and then I will summarize what I try to include in all my scenes.
In my scenes, both CNF and fiction, I try to include
A great beginning that hooks the reader
A minimum of two characters so I can include dialogue which I can use to move the story forward and reveal the characters
Setting and description
A strong character who is taking action. What is the attitude or interior thoughts of the character?
A crisis, conflict or complication
Rising tension or emotion
A strong ending
Keeping the beginning and ending close
Whether you are writing your stories, your memoir, your truth - make it well told; use the best of literary techniques.
Important: I think of myself as still a beginner at writing great scenes. Knowing what I want to achieve and getting there is my writing journey. At times it t seems never-ending, and once in a while, perfectly fulfilled. My favourite story in my book is called Alice’s New Coat. I think Alice’s New Coat comes the closest to being a story with good scenes: “a truth well told”.
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Additional notes
At the beginning of my workshop, I played a song from a TV show of my childhood, I read from the beginning of one of my stories in my book, and distributed prompt cards to get the participants thinking about the childhood stories in their lives. We went around the table sharing and started to identify which prompt spoke to each of us and, accordingly, could be a starter for a personal true story.
Here is the childhood memories prompt card:
The games you played and the places
you played them: danger and fun combined
Your favourite childhood TV shows and
what you liked best about them
A significant event of nature:
e.g. Hurricane Hazel, tornado, winter storm
A childhood health scare:
e. g., polio, hospitalization, broken bones
Later in the workshop, I used this strategy again to get us thinking about young and in love. This time I started by sharing a humorous story from a colleague and then read from my book, the beginning of my young love story. I mentioned that, although my young love story is near the end of my memoir, it was one of the first stories I wrote.
My suggestion to you… Brainstorming or quiet contemplation about the stories of your life you wish to share. Make a list, pick one and give it a try!
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Next time: Steps for going forward from draft to a publishable piece.
I hope you found something helpful in this edition of Gates Open
Thanks
Gail
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